The ethnicity of movement

This week while dancing, friends commented on my obvious joy of dancing to African music. A discussion followed about moving to music from different ethnic traditions and whether learning a dance style such as African (or more specifically Ghanaian or Zulu dances, as there is certainly not one "African" dance) affects how you relate to the music.

That was an interesting thought, that there might be an authentic way of moving to a particular piece of music or rhythm and that learning a style might limit your interaction with that music. I hear the voice of the individual here seeking freedom from tradition and boundaries, a very valid quest.

I have studied many different "ethnic" dance styles (and by the way, ballet is an ethnic dance for me, representing historical upper class European culture - I have had people try to tell me it is a universal dance form - boloney!). I can't say I have tried to find my own authentic way of dancing to music but rather I sought to invest my body awareness in trying to absorb how the teacher/dancer felt in her/his body so that I could feel the music the way they did. What I discovered is that there are very different ways of moving and being human.

Look at the lilt of the Celtic dances. Observe how the centre of gravity is higher in the chest and the feet keep the beat of the music and skip, as if over rocky terrain. Look at the dances from Africa, how the centre of gravity is low in the hips and how that frees the chest to beat with the rhythm, not just the feet. I feel profoundly different doing these dances, and yet I love both. I can express two different ways of being human. This is another path to freedom for me, freedom to explore the "other" from within their own cultural boundaries.

Do you have connections with different dance traditions? Have you "studied" that style or do you just like to move to it in your own way? What did you learn?

By the way, stay tuned if you are in the Peterborough area, as I will be teaming up with Mayelin Semmler to offer a modern/Afro-Cuban fusion class this fall.