World History of the Dance / Fall 2024

 Unit: African Iron Age Theme:  Dances of the Orishas    I     Capoeira Circle Capoeira is an Afro-Brazilian cultural practice – simultaneously a fight and a dance – that can be interpreted as a tradition, a sport and even an art form. Capoeira players form a circle at the centre of which two players engage with one another. The movements require great bodily dexterity.       Introduction Cultural retention, such as capoeira, is the act of retaining the culture of a specific ethnic group of people, especially when there is reason to believe that the culture, through inaction, may be lost . Many African-American cultures experience cultural retention as a result of the influx of Africans into the Americas during the slave trade. The larges group brought to Cuba, for instance, was the Bantu (colloquially referred to as Palo Monte, or the rule of Congo), then the Yoruba (colloquially referred to as Lukumi). While the Bantu importe...

  I   Unit: Iron Age Theme: Dokwasa / The Last Iron Master   Introduction The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. The concept has been mostly applied to Iron Age Europe and the Ancient Near East, but also, by analogy, to other parts of the Old World (1200 BC - 550 BC).     II  Learning Objectives   Understand why the Bantu migration was so important Explain the role of dance withing the iron smelting process  Gain an awareness of the function of a smelting master within a large ritual context Experience the creation of a three act dance/performance in which you re-enact the three stages of the smelting process   III Main Lesson 1 Nok Culture / Iron Age   The Iron Age is the final epoch of the three-age division of the prehistory and protohistory of humanity. It was preceded by the Stone Age and the Bronze Age. Th...