Bezalel Academy of Art and Design

Music, Architecture, Time and Space

Second year
Yael Kaduri

Pro-Seminar
How Does Dance Influences Music
How Does Dance Enhances Music

Shira Shvadron
302233341
Visual Communication
Undergraduate
22/08/17
Table of Contents
1. Introduction 3
2. African Dance 4
2.1. Primitive Dancing 4
2.2. Dancing Before God 5
2.3. Elements of the African Dance 5
2.4. The Atlantic Slave Trade 7
2.5. From slavery to the stage 8
3. Ballet 10
3.1. Choreographers and Composers 10
3.2. Essential Elements for music for ballet 10
4. Contemporary afro-american dance and the Commercialization of dance 14
4.1. Connections among Hip-Hop Dance, African Dance, and Jazz 14
4.2. MTV 15
4.3. Motivational lyrics for dance 16
4.4. Motivational sounds for dance 17
5. Genres of contemporary music defined by dance 18
5.1. Footwork 19
5.2. Shangaan 19
5.3. Azonto 20
6. The additional influence of Dancers in a global context - Understanding the
power of dance as a marketing tool in Africa 21
7. Conclusion 23
8. Bibliographics 23

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1. Introduction
The question: How does music influence dance? has been discussed thoroughly. There
are countless articles, books, videos and more, dealing and examining that subject, but
when I started reflecting about the opposite question, which is the theme of my study,
How does dance influence music? surprisingly, I discovered it has been hardly dealt.

In finding out what is the role of dance in the creation of music, whether spontaneously by
the beat of the occasional african tribal drummer or by the commercial producer sitting in a
studio in New York, I tried to summarise the history of dance from primitive times, through
the ritual dances of the african tribes until the times of slavery where music and dance were
distinctive elements in the day to day life of each african. A dance that eventually will
become the Jazz of the 19-20th century as the result of the massive Atlantic Slave trade. I
compared the African dance with Ballet, the genre that most symbolizes dance in the
western world. I analyzed music for Ballet from the choreograph point of view, as Ballet
shifted from a genre that was accompanied by music, to a genre for which music is
composed especially.

In my research I move forward in time to the beginning of the Hip-hop movement in New
York in the 80s-90s of the 20th century, through the beginning of MTV, the rise of Michael
Jackson as an international popstar and his crucial role in the evolution of contemporary
dance. Next is the commercialization of dance in the last 20 years. Finally I shifted the
focus to 3 specific niche genres of dance which are pushing the boundaries of dance itself
and music.

Trying to put the finger on the exact move or element in a song that captures and is
derived from the action of the other, is not an easy task. In some cultures it is a natural
thing but in other cultures it is something that music creators dont even think about. For
the purpose of advancing my research, I interviewed dance music producers from Ghana,
Angola, Brazil, Israel and Japan about their process of creation. Their answers were only a
confirmation to the base of my study on the journey of African dance from primitive times
to this day. The approach of african producers from Africa as well as from the diaspora to
dance would be obvious, while producers from other countries reflected on this matter for
the first time as I was asking about it.

My main goal in this study is to try and show how dance was present all since the dawn of
man, and music wouldnt be appreciated as we know it today without dance. Dance
enhances music in a way its creators wouldnt have thought possible, the music creators
who would realise the power of dance and embraces it, would become the most
groundbreaking genres or they would be the most popular genres of dance in the world.
Dance music genres will cross cultures and generations for the only reason, which is the
movement itself.

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2. African Dance
2.1. Primitive Dancing
It is said that dancing is older than man.1 We know from various cave drawings that man
danced before he found other means of self expression. Havelock Ellis2 considered
dancing and building "the two primary and essential arts." We know early man strongly felt
himself a part of nature and the animal world, so he moved in imitation of various animals
and tried to reproduce their motions while in attack or flight, while in search for food or in
courtship. his desire to express himself, to communicate his joys and sorrows, to celebrate
and to mourn with the most immediate instrument at his disposal: his body. His instinctive
and organic life, his mental complexities, his spiritual desires demanded communication.

In the mind of primitive man the borderline between the concrete and the symbolic is
blurred. This is why in putting on a mask he tries to implant in himself another being, or the
spirit and magic of the god image. He sees the supernatural as a living force and needs to
identify with it. Since early man had no other means with which to express himself and,
above all, to communicate his "withinness" than through movement, the concept of the
dancing god has been in the foreground in many cultures.

It seems obvious that man must have found his own body the best instrument with which
to express what moved him and that he must have also sought shelter. Basically, dance is
rhythmic movement, and early man must soon have realized the importance of rhythm and
seeing himself surrounded by rhythm, he could not help being caught up in it and
expressing himself rhythmically. Primitive dances are still performed on South Pacific
islands, in Africa, in Central and South America.

No dancer in primitive society is a performing artist in our sense of the word, although in
time many tribes began to have their professional dancers, too. For all ceremonies and
feasts they were as important as the priests are for our churches. They were held in great
esteem, and their tribe cared for them.

They never danced for the mere sake of dancing. Their dancing always had meaning to all
members of their tribe. They could fully translate their feelings into movement. Several
dancers moved in a circle, some of them mumbling incantations. With the growing beat of
the drums, the chanting became louder, the movements faster, than frantic until their
consciousness disappeared. The evil was challenged, perhaps banned.

Primitive man also favored stamping, a gesture that has become universally accepted. In
general, stamping is a motor expression of exceptional intensity. Primitive man is
absorbed by the idea that he makes the earth tremble under his feet. Symbolically, he
takes possession of the ground, and we may even say that stamping is an assertion of
1
Sorell, Walter, The Dance Through the Ages, Putnam Pub Group, 1967. Pp 9-17
2
Havelock Ellis (1859 - 1939), was an English physician, writer, progressive intellectual and social reformer

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man's ego. Primitive man has no technique, no artistry. But he achieves complete, in some
ways disciplined, freedom of movement. And if today his dancing seems to us, in its
spontaneity, without form and limits in time, we forget that it stems from other sources and
is performed for other reasons than any dances of European man.

It may be said that with the loss of its religious motivation, with its gradual separation from
worship, dance lost some of its creative urge, meaningfulness and purpose. On the other
hand, it has gained refinement, stylistic variation and the stamp of individual originality.
Probably all art loses its deeper justification when divorced from religion. But all dance is a
rite and has retained its ritualistic roots even in such stylized forms as the ballet. The
dancer in our day may have forgotten his ties with man's early beginnings. But he can
never deny them.

2.2. Dancing Before God

Ritual activities still form an integral part of African cultures, and give them their true
dimension, Contrary to certain received ideas, African traditions are not fixed, and they
have often been adapted to new living conditions. Even today, in spite of enormous
difficulties - and possibly even because of them - rites and sacrifices are still performed,
not only in the rural areas but also in the towns, as a means of overcoming daily problems,
suffering and the malaise that mostly arises from an inability to adapt to foreign ways of
life. The rites, then, fulfil a psycho-therapeutic function, enabling the equilibrium that is
disturbed by death, illness, economic and social difficulties, and so forth, to be restored.
The ritual phenomenon is also spreading increasingly, among Catholics, Muslims and
especially in the independent churches, or sects, which have multiplied alarmingly in
Africa.

2.3. Elements of the African Dance

In African cultures, the dance served as an artistic means of communication, and gesture
constituted a language. Through the subtlety of their movements, dancers could address
social and religious issues, and express gratitude, friendship, or hostility. The dance
reflected the community and its social concerns; therefore, if a dance changed, it was "a
reflection of new developments in the lifestyle of the community, not a consciously planned
novelty."' The rhythmical nature of most African dances conveyed the rhythms inherent in
the various patterns of nature and were often repetitive, just as the cycles of life are.
Humanity's kinship with the Earth was a common theme in African dance.

The shuffle, the most common, step in African dancing3, was an example of this kinship.
African dancers kept their feet close to the soil in order to stay connected with the power of
the Earth deities. The shuffle later became one of the most basic steps in tap dancing.

African dances were sophisticated both rhythmically and stylistically and were guided by
drums. "Talking drums" interacted with dancers using different rhythms, as well as

3
Knowles, Mark, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing, McFarland & Company, 2002, pp. 22-24

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communicating messages with pitch and tone. African drummers could actually tune their
drums to `speak" linguistically specific sounds so that the drum music itself constituted a
sounded text. The musicality of various African words was so precise that they could
actually be written as musical notes.'
Even today, the complexities of primitive African rhythmic structure have yet to be
equaled. In the African cultures, music and dance were inseparably linked and basically
constituted one art form. This blending of the physical gestures of dance with audible
sound is apparent in tap dance, a contemporary art form that is both seen and heard.

Aspects of African Dance

A further investigation of some of the aspects of African dance will help to elucidate how it
contributed to the development of african american dancing.

1. African Movement Vocabulary. African dance moves all parts of the body, in contrast
to many European forms that rely mostly on arm and leg movement. Angular bending of
arms, legs and torso; shoulder and hip movement; scuffing, stamping, and hopping steps;
asymmetrical use of the body; and fluid movement are all part of African dance.

2. Orientation Toward the Earth. The African dancer often bends slightly toward the
earth and flattens the feet against it in a wide, solid stance. Compare this to traditional
European ballet's upright posture, with arms lifted upward and feet raised up onto the toes

3. Improvisation. Within the patterns and traditions of age-old dance forms, an African felt
free to be creative. A dancer could make an individual statement or give a new
interpretation to a familiar gesture.

3. Circle and Line Formations. Many African dances are performed by lines or circles of
dancers. Traditional European dance also incorporated lines and circles, and this
commonality may have been important in dance exchange.

4. Importance of the Community. Africans danced mainly with and for the community.
Solo performers were supported and affirmed by the group through singin, hand clapping,
and shouted encouragement.

5. Polyrhythms. African music included several rhythms at the same time, and Africans
often danced to more than one beat at once. Dancers could move their shoulders to one
beat, hips to another, and knees to another. This rhythmic complexity, with basic ground
beat and counter beats played against it, formed the basis for later music such as ragtime,
jazz, and rock'n'roll.

6. Percussion. In much of Africa, percussion often dominates music and in many cases
the drum is the leading instrument. In America, enslaved African created a broad range of
percussive instruments. Hand clapping, foot tapping, and body patting were also important
percussive sounds.

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7. Pantomine. Many African dances reflect the motions of life. Dance movement may
imitate animal behavior like the flight of the egret, enact human tasks like pounding rice, or
express the power of spirits in whirling and strong forward steps.

8. Something in the Hand. African ritual dance makes use of special objects, including
masks and costumes. In this country, African Americans continued to use sticks or staffs,
cloth, and other objects in dance. Handkerchiefs, canes, and top hats became part of the
dance, as did other objects in stage routines.

9. Competitive Dance. Competing through dance is a widespread custom in West and

Central Africa. In America, this tradition continued in "cutting" contests, challenge dances,
Cakewalk contests, Break Dance rivalries, Jitterbug competitions, Step Dance shows, and
other events.

As seeing that dancing is a part of daily routine by the primitive man and later by the
african man to this day. Emphasises the deep connection and explains the roots of the rest
of the world cultures. Creating music was for the ritual purpose and the drummers were
feeding of the dancers energy and vise versa. As we cover the origin of the dance we
understand, that african dance and music creators were driven most importantly by a
rhythm and they build their composition based on this element. The next phase of the
African history will be the Atlantic Slave Trade, A phase which will shape the world as we
know it today.

2.4. The Atlantic Slave Trade

Africans were brought to the Americas as slaves as early as the 16th century. By 1540,
10,000 Africans a year were being transported to the West Indies. By the end of the 16th
century, there were already 900,000 black slaves there. During the four centuries of the
Atlantic slave trade, an estimated ten million Africans were enslaved.

Africans were often enticed to board slave ships with the promise of rewards for
performing their tribal dances for the crew's entertainment. When the dancing was over,
they were taken below and given alcohol, only to find themselves at sea when they woke
up from their intoxication.

These Africans came from a culture that was rich in elaborately ordered tribal ritual, and
they had highly developed community celebrations. The slave trade forced them into the
restrictive disorder of slave ship holds and threatened them with the dissolution of their
cultural traditions.

When drumming was banned to prevent uprisings, African slaves were deprived of their
traditional means of communication. Denied their most prevalent, and indeed sacred
means of expression, the slaves substituted the forbidden drums with bone clappers,
tambourines, and most importantly, hand and body slaps, and foot beats. The most

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primitive of all instruments, the human body, became the main source of rhythm and
communication. Using the body percussively in an attempt to mimic the sophisticated
rhythms and cadences of drums included elaborate use of heel and toe beats and
eventually grew into what we know as tap dance. Even today, when two tap dancers hold
a conversation with their feet, they participate in the telegraphing of messages originally
done by African drums.

2.5. From slavery to the stage4

As they struggled to adapt to their new surroundings, slaves were often forced to accept
these European forms. When they did so, however, they infused them with their own
rhythms, steps and style. In this way, European dances were Africanized and therefore
transformed. Although the arrival of newly imported slaves helped to perpetuate the
African influence upon American dance forms, as early as the beginning of the 18th
century, African dances were becoming more and more secularized and less connected to
their roots in dance as a form of worship. Ceremonial contexts were dropped although the
dance vocabulary drawn from African culture was still used.

The African Origins of an American Art Form

Post-enslavement and throughout the twentieth century, African-American dance evolved

in several directions, one of which was jazz dance. While the term jazz dance was not
coined until the 1920s, the primary ancestry of jazz dance can be found by studying
African dance forms and how they changed in the context of plantation life. Africa is the
world's second largest continent, with more than fifty countries and several thousand
cultural groups. Which specific influences found their way into jazz dance? What were the
dances and movement aesthetics of the Africans who came to the Western Hemisphere
through this system of forced migration? What indicates the presence of the African
aesthetic within the lexicon of jazz dance vocabulary today? And what are the implications
of seeing African-based movement and aesthetics as the primary aspect of jazz dance,
with other cultural influences adding onto that base?

It is important to note that these cultural groups brought their own distinctive beliefs,
cultural practices, lore, and rituals including dance through the Middle Passage. By way of
example, consider the dance masquerade Gelede of the Yoruba people, a "lavish, colorful
three-day festival" that honors the spiritual potency of female energy and motherhood in
the visage of Iyanla, the "Great Mother." By contrast, the Zigbliti dance of the people of
Cote d'Ivoire commemorates the daily pounding of corn. Cultural groups also emphasized
different parts of the body while dancing. According to Jacqui Malone5,The Anlo-Ewe and
Lobi of Ghana emphasize the upper body while the Kalabari of Nigeria give a subtle

4
Knowles, Mark, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing, McFarland & Company, 2002, pp. 38-42
5
M alone, Jacqui, Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance, University of Illinois Press,
1996, pp. 150

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accent to the hips, the Akan of Ghana use the hands and feet in specific ways, strong
contraction-release movements of the pelvis and upper torso characterize both female and
male dancing in Agbor [Nigeria.]

Fish Bone. Camel Walk. Cakewalk. Ring Shout. Water Dances. These names all refer to
dances that emerged from the blending of various African cultural groups during the period
of enslavement. While the presence of drums and the act of drumming or using other
musical instruments (a central characteristic in many African cultural groups) was routinely
prohibited among enslaved people in various states, the presence of dance persisted on
plantations, whether openly for the pleasure and entertainment of slave owners or in
secret, sacred gatherings among the enslaved only. Additionally, while not all slave
owners encouraged or supported the dancing of enslaved people, the aforementioned
movement traditions still emerge in the historical record and have been noted by many
dance writers.

These dances have several characteristics in common:

The emphasis on patting the body/stamping the feet (to establish a staccato, consistent
rhythm) as in the Buck dance, Jig, and Juba (also known as "Pattin' Juba") .

The Jazz dance is a uniquely American art form because of the amalgam of largely African
and European cultural influences that blendedeither by force or by choiceon this
continent. While some recognize African cultural markers in jazz dance, others have
construed those aspects as a "contributory" force in the development of the art form, or
they have ignored them altogether. This perspective is dubious because it suggests that
somehow Africanist elements were appended to a preexisting movement vocabulary that
then gave rise to jazz dance.

It has been demonstrated here that the dominant aesthetic inclinations of jazz dance are
decidedly Africanist; it becomes clear that other cultural influences and dance styles found
today within the lexicon of jazz dance were affixed to African idioms and movement
approaches in order for the dance form we call jazz to emerge. By recognizing the primacy
of African-derived movements in the makeup of jazz dance and acknowledging the mixed
heritage of the form as ultimately the result of both cultural borrowing and appropriation
between African and European influences, the rich roots of jazz dance emerge.

We begin to understand this dance form as being grounded not only in an African-derived
movement vocabulary but also in an African cultural ethos that continues to inform the
dance today, even if its cultural roots go unacknowledged or are otherwise obscured. In
this way, we understand that African people in the West before, during, and after
enslavement contributed not to jazz dance but to the larger national and global dance
landscape through jazz dance. By de-centering the primacy of non-African cultural
contributions, we can understand jazz dance as an amalgamation of cultural influences
that remains persistently African at its core.

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3. Ballet
After reviewing the beginning of the dance in our culture in general and in Africa in
particular. I would like to shift our focus and make a comparison to the european genre of
dance Ballet. This genre of dance incorporates music especially for the dance. Its origins
are in the Italian Renaissance6. It was developed as a court entertainment During the 15th
and 16th centuries and became the most common dance in Europe and the most looked
up to in the history of european dance. We will see in this review the basic elements that
required for creating music for ballet through the eyes of the choreographs.

3.1. Choreographers and Composers

As ballet dance genre started to gain success around Europe and reached Russia it
required music that will accompany it more specifically. Ballet was one of the first genres
of dance for which music was composed and would complement, reflect, motivate and
enhances the movement. The flow of the movement, the physical peaks and valleys in
relation to the music is a large part of the visual stimuli to which an audience reacts.

Composers such as Ludwig Minkus and Riccardo Drigo were accused of writing "yard
music." They would be given detailed instructions concerning stage action, meter, and in
many cases even the number of bars needed by the choreographer. They would then
retire to write music by the yard to these exacting and restricting specifications. While
some of this music may be inconsequential, it served the needs of the choreographers at
that film, and much of it remains in the international dance repertoire.

There is an abundance of music by tchaikovsky, Prokofiev, Ravel, Bartok, Debussy, and

Stravinsky, to name but a few composers, which certainly holds its own on the "serious"
concept of stage as well as in a pit at a dance performance.

The process of composing music for a dance in Ballet and Modern dancing, is out of the
usual. Choreographs are trained to not to be constricted to music, they have the freedom
of creating a dance not inspired by music. And by that they have to compose alongside a
composer music specifically for what they are trying to express in their dance, while
thinking about the dancers themselves, their motivation and the way they breath in a
routine.

3.2. Essential Elements for music for ballet

There are a few essential elements of music for dancing7. A piece of music suggests a
story, a mood, or a quality of movement that they develop into a dance. Usually, classroom
accompanists are asked to reverse this process: We see a phrase of movement and are

6
https://www.britannica.com/art/ballet
7
C avalli, Harriet, Dance and Music: A Guide to Dance Accompaniment for Musicians and Dance Teachers, University
Press of Florida, 2001, pp. 4-14

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required to match its physical qualities with corresponding musical ones. No matter which
way the process goes, music inspiring movement or movement inspiring music,
choreographs and composers mutual goal is to evoke images and help dancers want to
embody our music.

The melodic, rhythmic and dramatic aspects of music are those most closely allied to the
human body and personality: melody, through its original source in the breath and the
voice; metric rhythm, through the change of weight of the feet and the pulse; dramatic
sound, through the enormous range of emotion, always accompanied by a physical
reaction. In dramatic music I include all mood sounds, from the most fully expressed
emotional composition to the sparsest, and from elaborate musique concrete to the merest
suggestion of tension of the plink-plunk school.

Rhythm
Of all the ingredients in the art of the dance, rhythm is the most persuasive and most
powerful element. Rhythm is the prime moving force for a dancer. It must be as constant
as his pulse, and just as vital. It sets the pace for his dance and must never be vague.
In Ballet and modern dance rhythm is also one of the least used and least appreciated
tools in the dance. All the major forms of danceballet, ethnic and modernstress other
factors much more, such as technique (those higher extensions and faster turns), drama,
originality, purity in the medium, charm and personality or style, and endless other facets
of the diamond that glitters across the footlights. The people who really know the worth of
rhythm are the tap and jazz dancers.

Rhythm so permeates every aspect of human beings, and indeed, of the known world, that
it might be compared to the ambience of existence, like the water in which the fish moves.
First, the breathing-singing-speaking apparatus which leads to phrasing, and phrase
rhythm. Then the partly unconscious rhythms of function: the heartbeat, peristalsis,
contraction and relaxation of muscles, waves of sensation through the nerve ends.
Another, is the propelling mechanism, the legs, which man discovered would support him,
one after the other, while moving in space, and which provided also a conscious joy in
beat as the weight changed. Lastly, there is emotional rhythm: surges and ebbs of feeling,
with accents which not only supply strong rhythmical patterns but are a measure for
judging emotional rhythms in others. If I feel these tides of passion, then all other men
must feel them too, in some degree. For dancers, the motor mechanism is certainly the
most important. Here is where the original dance beganwith the feetand here is where
it still carries on, in the main. Not only that, but the awareness of accent, energy
punctuated by beat, stems only from this change of weight in dance, and would not exist in
music or language or visual arts had it not been established by the feet of men.

Meter/time signature
Meter/ Time signature is vital to everyone involved in dance, because meter is reflected in
how one counts a piece of music that will eventually be danced to. Meter is the way in
which rhythm is organized.

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Melody
The addition of melody can soften the rigidity of the percussive rhythm without detracting
from it. The sensitive use of melody can contribute a great deal to a dancer's progress
through improved breathing Surprisingly. dancers sometimes forget about breathing
because of the art form's rigorous technical demands, but a truly musical dancer will often
sing along with the music. breathing with the melodic phrase, which often corresponds with
the movement phrase. Melody can often mirror the choreography in frappe. petit
battement, and petit allegro combinations.

Tchaikovsky was very fond of it; maybe it was just a relief for him to get away from the
waltz feeling in the huge number of waltzes he wrote. Hemiola is very much in evidence at
the ends of the Waltz of the Flowers and the waltz Finale from Nutcracker. Dancers who
have to count can be confused by this change in the melody; if they are told that the basic
underlying waltz rhythm is still there, they will know what to listen for and be more secure.

Harmony
Harmony provides music with additional texture. This added richness helps a dancer to
feel more breadth in his movement.

Tonality
The subject of tonality often elicits interesting opinions, branching off into esoteric
discussions of the color of E-flat major, the emotional content of g minor, and so forth. As
accompanists become more experienced, they will become aware of the necessity of
changing keys from combination to combination. Transposing and the changing of
registers are extremely effective ways of adding a lift and a renewal of energy for dancers.

Phrasing
Phrasing is to dance and music what syntax is to language: the arrangement of words for
effective communication.

Tchaikovsky wrote this music to be danced to, and musically sensitive choreographers
can't help but observe the phrasing as they create movement. Music for dance like ballet
has to see mini-phrases of movement within maxi-phrases of dance combinations, and to
play selections that correspond to them. This will remind the dancers that there are indeed
phrases of movement, not just long strings of stepsand it will remind them to breathe.

Dynamics
Dynamics the spice of music, and their markings are self-explanatory. Awareness of the
peaks and valleys will help prevent the movement of both the music and the dancers from
becoming static and colorless. Music builds up momentum too, just as movement does.
This is especially true in music for dance, and is reflected in the classroom not necessarily
by an increase in tempo but by an increase in dynamic intensity.

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Line
Line is found everywhere in the performing arts: A dancer works to perfect his body line; a
singer or musician practices the lines of scales endlessly; an actor studies his lines; and so
on.Lines in music for dance are a helpful way to show a dancer how to move effectively
from one St, phrase to another. To illustrate line in music. The soprano, or melodic, line is
the most obvious, as is true With adagios.

A sensitive dancer will be led by that sound, and will make movements grow with the
ascent of each scale. Lines such as these, whether in the melody, harmony, or rhythm, are
hereafter referred to as leading lines.

Style
Of all the elements in music for dance, style is surely the most difficult to understand or to
define. And so it is with dance: One of the most fundamental visual lines in classical
dance, the arabesque, must be executed in a variety of different ways appropriate to the
style and emotional content of each dance work, but the basic form rarely changes.

As composed for Dance they cannot afford the self-indulgence of being :Chopin
specialists Dance account or "schmaltz specialists" or "impressionists." They must
understand and know many styles of music, and must have a keen eye for judging not only
what music would be stylistically appropriate for any given combination, but also when to
play it.

For example the atmosphere in a ballet class is so often governed by what accompanists
play, and a first-class accompanist will play what he senses, from the teacher's mood
and/or the dancers' vibes, would be appropriate.

Choreographs need to understand in building their composition with the composer the
changes of mood, if any, with their approximate length; the tempi of various parts, along
with crescendi8, decrescendo9 and ritardandi10; the rhythm; and the ending.

As we can see, In the history of dance in Europe, choreographers and composers

understood the power of the music that enhances the dance and tried to break it down to
different elements. Ballet as a genre is the complete opposite to the African dance, where
the moves aspired to be long and far from the ground, the position is straight without and
bend of the knees. The rhythm is rarely a motivation for the dancers and they compensate
the lack of the rhythms with melodic changes that suppose to instruct dancers of when to
breath and shift their energy.

8
Crescendi - A gradual increase in the volume or intensity of sound in a passage.
9
D ecrescendo - A gradual decrease in force or loudness.
10
R
itardandi - Gradually slowing in tempo;
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 In the African dance, on the other hand, the motivation is the rhythem, the moves are
closer to the ground and bending of the knee is a key posture. The rhythm is held in every
human being body and that is why it can be one of the many reasons that explains how
the global movement called Hip-Hop has now taken over the world.

4. Contemporary afro-american dance and the

Commercialization of dance
4.1. Connections among Hip-Hop Dance, African Dance, and Jazz
Hip-hop is a cultural movement that attained widespread popularity in the 1980s and 90s;
also, the backing music for rap, the musical style incorporating rhythmic and/or rhyming
speech that became the movements most lasting and influential art form.

Although widely considered a synonym for rap music11, the term hip-hop refers to a
complex culture comprising four elements: deejaying, or turntabling; rapping, also known
as MCing or rhyming; graffiti painting, also known as graf or writing; and B-boying,
which encompasses hip-hop dance, style, and attitude, along with the sort of virile body
language that philosopher Cornel West described as postural semantics. Hip-hop
originated in the predominantly African American economically depressed South Bronx
section of New York City in the late 1970s. As the hip-hop movement began at societys
margins, its origins are shrouded in myth, enigma, and obfuscation.

The beginnings of the dancing, rapping, and deejaying components of hip-hop were bound
together by the shared environment in which these art forms evolved.

Rappers understood the power of dance as the enhancement for their work, they had their
friends or popular dancers in their community as part of their group or performances.
There were also crews and dancers that freelanced for different artists, These dancers and
community crews gave birth to the `80s and the `90s social dance style, creating dances
and influencing fashions as well as hairstyles. These influences led to an international
community of hip-hop dances and practitioners.

In the 1950s, 2 researchers conducted a study that brought together four dancers from
three countries: Sierra Leone, West Africa; Trinidad, West Indies; and the United States.
The observation revealed many similarities in corporeal expression, which can all be
traced back to the African roots.

As each man demonstrated dances of his native culture, it stimulated a response from the
others. Hip-hop, as with jazz, can be used as a way to express concerns, frustrations,
aggressions, ideals, and exuberance.

This is how the African, Afro-Caribbean, and African-American people have expressed
themselves for centuries. Which led to create what is called in general a social dance.

11
https://www.britannica.com/topic/hip-hop
14
A social dance like Hip hop manipulates the movement principles to create the aesthetic.
These social dances feature multiple rhythm with movement that generates and expands
from multiple center points; it does not use movement practices from modern, ballet, or
broadway/ hollywood jazz.

Hip-hop in our time is a globalised movement where studies shows that thanks to the
commercialization of it through MTV and the Media over the internet became the leading
genre of music around the world.

4.2. MTV
Dance in Music Videos in pop culture has become a must have ingredient in each clip and
it sets the tone for how creative, futuristic and ambitious the video is.

The Impact of Music Videos Sparked by the emergence of MTV12, the music video
producers of the early eighties inverted the conventional relationship among sound, story,
and image. In music theater and film musicals, songs were written for the story. Ideally,
songs enhanced those moments when what the character felt was too much for mere
words. In early music videos, the relationship was the opposite: the visual element was
designed to enhance the song. However, because MTV provided an important and
attractive new outlet for videos, the music video became more than a promotional tool.
Songs could be conceived with their potential as videos in mind. Acts could create song
and video as an integrated and balanced whole, where the song is more than a
soundtrack, and the visual elements are more than enhancements of the song. Music
videos were a new genre.13

The 1980s gave birth to the music video, but the mix of popular music and video broadcast
directly into lounge rooms across the world had a profound impact on the teenagers
watching it. A pop song can change the world. It seems like a silly notion, but with the rise
of the music video in the early 1980s, a new form of expression and awareness emerged.
Fusing together popular music and video art had an unexpected consequence: the rise of
a new youth culture.

Thriller sealed MTV's reputation as a new cultural force; dissolved racial barriers in the
station's treatment of music (though MTV has always denied they existed); revolutionised
music video production.

Michael Jackson would be first Pop-star who would understand the power of the music
video, launching the Iconic music video Thriller in 1983 on MTV. Would unleash the power
of this medium, and would be the point of reference of dance in a Music video for the
generations to come.

12
MTV - Music Television is an American cable and satellite television channel of music videos, Launched on August
1, 1981
13
Campbell, Michael and James Brody, Rock and Roll: An Introduction, Schirmer, 2007
15
The impact of his career will live on forever, But perhaps even more influential than his
sounds were his dance moves. Each iconic and irreplaceable move will never be topped.
How could they be? They were revolutionary. A special kind of rhythm fueled his
choreographies in music videos and live performances. He had, after all, been an
international superstar since the age of 6, right up until the day of his untimely death in
2009.

Jackson who made the moonwalk his own, sharpening it up with a snappier heel and a
slicker glide. In this and many other ways, he changed the face of dance.

The dancing wasn't just an accompaniment to words and music, it was also a key part of
the whole performance. As compelling as he was in the group, it was the solo albums Off
the Wall and Thriller that especially defined Jackson as a dancer.

Jackson's dancing also changed the format of the music video its style, its story, its
production values and its audience. For swagger and attitude, the gang scene in Beat It
simply beat its counterpart in West Side Story, from which it drew inspiration. And then, of
course, there was Thriller. It wasn't just the horror-film plot and effects the grizzly
zombies busting out of graves were literally groundbreaking that made this the
best-selling music video ever, it was the dancing: taut, perfectly rhythmic and cool. With
Bad, he introduced his infamous crotch-grab and in Smooth Criminal he executed the
gravity-defying lean. The moves became iconic.

Jackson's influence spreads far and wide. From film dance in Bollywood to the sharply
choreographed boy bands of the 90s, the patterns of his smooth formation drills have
become a part of modern pop culture. Without Jackson, a whole generation of people
might not have been involved in dance today.

MTV and Michael Jackson together would unlock the power of the dance and bring it to
the front stage of the world. It will start an era of massive commercialization of the dance in
different genres and will promote it as a tool of marketing for anything from clothes to cars
and of course for unknown music creators who would like to get famous. It will force
musician to collaborate with dancers in a global way that was happening mostly on live
performance or parties. And eventually will create music which is whole purpose is
motivation of dance.

4.3. Motivational lyrics for dance

MTVs rise has brought to the global music countless hits. But only a few have managed to
create only through dance its international success where people from all ages would
recognise the song because of its moves.

These songs without the moves that accompanies them wouldnt become the
phenomenons they are today. From different sources it shows that their creators knew

16
what they wanted to achieve, and their choices of music jointed with specific dance is not
by chance.

These songs would be so popular, that they would play not only in the mainstream music
outlets. They will become a must have song in big celebration parties like School parties,
prom, weddings, sports games and etc.

One of those hits was the Macarena. The 1995 Macarena by Los del Ro from Spain.
Where the art director explained that his vision in the video was to create focus on a few
dancers which will look from around the world on white background and they will create an
environment of a Dance lesson. They wanted everyone to relate to the dance and chose
to choreograph distinctive moves that a child, an old person, a king, a paysan or a
president saw my Macarena dance only one time, he or [she] would remember the
moves, soul, joy and happiness spilling out of the video!. Now we can see new
generations who dont watch MTV anymore knows these moves probably by watching
their moms or sisters in family gatherings.

5 years later a new kind of hit will take over the world and it would be Cha Cha Slide by
DJ casper, The song was heavily inspired by the Chicago stepping movement (which later
would become the Footwork). DJ Casper understood the potential of a simple dance
where everybody can pick it up and dance together to create a feeling of unison in a
crowed. In his song which is comprise by simple beat with hardly any melody, DJ Casper
voice instructing the dance moves which are also very simple To the back, To the right...
His video features a group of 30 people dancing enthusiastically on the street, creating
something like a Flash Mob.
This song in the beginning of the 2000s would be an international hit playing
simultaneously in School parties and in step aerobics class.

Two examples of hits from these days like Gangam style by Psy and Watch me by
Silento. They will based their songs and videos on specific moves that eventually make
them to the biggest hits of the last 5 years. Where different people would dance to it and
upload it to the internet which eventually will become a mim. They will become Viral both
in the physical world and the virtual world and would be remembered by their specific
dance moves.

4.4. Motivational sounds for dance

Not only words are an essential immediate dance motivator. Also a specific sound Like the
clap sound that features in the genres Disco to Hip-Hop to Electronic music such as
Techno.

Claps
The sound of two hands clapping. It is also one of the all-time great rhythmic devices in
pop.

17
 Music creators from Miles Davis to Ol' Dirty Bastard, Gary Glitter to Gary Numan, Charlotte
Church to, er, Joy Division till this day of production use the sound of hands clapping.
In disco and funk, group handclaps would reinforce the snare drum, usually on the second
or fourth beat of a bar.

With the advent in the early 1980s of handclap-emulating devices like the Simmonds
Clap-Trap, claps in hip-hop replaced the snare entirely. The playground rhyme catchiness
of handclaps in 60s girl-group hits, meanwhile, lives on in retro-loving, faux-naive
indie-pop. Other than just emphasising the rhythm in western pop though, keplok clapping
is a crucial rhythm pattern in Javanese gamelan. In flamenco and sevillanas, two Spanish
musical genres, clapping is called palmas and often sets the rhythm and is an integral part
of the songs.

The tradition of clapping dates back to 1473 and the original outbreak of cholera. Slapping
your hands together was a signal to those around that you were infected. Eventually it
became a token of applause, a way of keeping time, and then, by the 1800s, a musical
device in its own right. Some holistic doctors reckon that engaging in a bit of clapping
stimulates certain areas of the brain, which could explain its popularity in forms of musical
prayer, from bhajan to gospel. In Japan, rhythmic hand clapping, or tejime, is used
ceremonially, to celebrate the end of a special event.

It is one of the classic sounds in dance music because anyone who has hands can do it.
It's an easy way to teach or learn rhythm, and it always lends any music this weird ecstatic
bounce that somehow can't be found in anything else. A type of synthesized clap is
popular in many rap and hip hop songs as well. This is derived from and mimics the
technique used in older popular music (e.g. disco and funk of the 1970s), in which multiple
instances of real handclaps were recorded or a single recording was made of a group of
performers clapping in unison. This was usually done for the purpose of reinforcing the
snare drum beat on the 2nd and 4th beats of the bar (offbeat). Modern R&B, hip hop, and
rap often omit the snare drum, making the claps a more obvious and central feature of the
beat. This encourages unconsciously the dance to either clap or feel good by the sound of
a clap as an engagement of people to the music.

5. Genres of contemporary music defined by dance

After reviewing the history of dance, of how it become what it is today and the essential
elements for creating the music for dance. We are at a point in music history where the
peak of connection between dance and its music, is by pushing each other boundaries of
speed. We can see it in 2 genres of dancing who are performed both by African-American
Footwork and South-African Shaangan.
These two types of dancing have one thing in common: you gotta be quick split second
micro-moves can decide the fate of a performance.

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5.1. Footwork
In Chicago, a city known for its impact on modern dance music, a style called footwork is
picked up steam to this very day from the 90s. The people making the music, pushing the
dance style forward and spreading the word about their homegrown scene.

As a dance, footwork is a blindingly fast-paced movement of the feet in which dancers

string together combinations of twists and turns with seamless transitions. Like krumping
or jit, Footworkers use these combinations to battle each other, competing in the middle of
a circle of dancers for money or street cred.

R.P. Boo considered as footwork's inventor. Boo came up in the scene as a dancer and
producer, and says he spaced out the music's beats as he noticed dancers responding.
He says that the dancing still drives the direction of the music. "The more I see these
dancers out here doin' these things, the more I feed off of them, and my music gets
better," Boo says.

Like Boo, Footwork producers almost always begin their careers as dancers, graduating to
DJs that spin other people's records at parties, and eventually producing their own
footwork tracks. The fate of these productions lies in the hands of the next batch of
dancers. A track that receives a weak reaction will have a short lifespan. "It's the dance
that applies the evolutionary pressure," says Nate Boylan, a high school science teacher
and producer. And where dance drives innovation in the music, competition drives
innovation in dance.

5.2. Shangaan
Shangaan Electro is a dance movement and musical style born from a 21st-century reboot
of local folk traditions in South African townships, Tsonga Disco and Kwaito House. The
movement has been spearheaded by DJ Khwaya and the producer Nozinja in recent
years, who has turned it into an iconic Afro-futurist strain of electronic dance music.
Shangaan Electro is also called "Tsonga Electro" in the Limpopo province of South Africa.

Shangaan, the name given to the people of Gaza Empire are now part of the Tsongas, a
diverse population that includes the Shangaans, Thonga, Tonga and several smaller
ethnic groups which influence the Shangaan Electro Dance such are the Zulu dance
ceremonies, Xibelani dance or the Pantsula dance, a more urban street culture emerged in
the 50s and 60s. The performers are often wearing costumes and masks resembling
fertility rituals where they use it to better interact with the public leading most of times to a
great group communion on stage.

19
Created primarily for dance, Nozinja's productions have pushed the speed of the music up
to 190bpm14, and with less focus on bass than other dance music styles, Shangaan electro
has a "rapid-fire kineticism" that is stylistically linked to Footwork.

Traditional Shangaan music is a mix of fluid guitar lines and live drumming. It was
considered until not long ago a disrespectful music in South Africa, Until people came to
realise it is not destroying but enhancing the culture. Nozinja tells in an interview that he
started his productions around 145 bpm but if you can believe it, he reached up to 190
bpm. He is inspired by the dancers, as they are the ones who sets the tone for how fast
this genre can get. I wont create this fast paced music if not the dancers and each time
Im making a new track Im eager to see how they will respond to it. The way they dance
and move; it's like they don't have any bones!" He's trying to describe the Shangaan dance
style, which is the fastest music to dance to in the world right now where The faster the
better is their motto.

In both of these genres who are groundbreaking for their innovative approach to music and
dance, theres a common ground. The dancers and the creators are of African origins, it is
another evidence that African culture and mentality has had the most tremendous
influence on the culture we know today.

5.3. Azonto
An interesting example from the current times in the African continent, specifically in
Ghana is A move that defined the pop music scene in Ghana and now has taken over the
world. This movs established a specific genre to suit the rhythm of this dance in order to
popularize it faster. This move is called Azonto.

Azonto is a dance and music genre from Ghana. The dance is known to have originated
from a traditional dance called Kpanlogo associated with the coastal towns in the country
such as Chorkor, James Town, La, Teshie, Nungua and Tema, in the Greater Accra
Region. As a music genre songs identified as those with Azonto beats are usually ones
dedicated to the dance.

The dance involves a set of hand movements that either mimic everyday activities or are
meant to amuse an audience. It begun with one or two step movements but has been
advanced to more complex and almost acrobatic movements. Just like most African
dances, Azonto involves knee bending and hip movements. The dance has effectively
evolved from a few basic moves to miming actions such as ironing of clothes, washing,
driving, boxing, praying, swimming, and others.
Azonto was popularized on social media by the music videos that portrayed the dance
form with fast-pace tempos, home-made dance instructional videos uploaded on YouTube
with no commercial intent, and group choreographers done by mostly Ghanaians and
other African nationals living in UK, Germany and U.S.

14
BPM - the pace of music measured by the number of beats occurring in 60 seconds/ 1min.
20
 The success of Azonto dance created a genre of music called azonto that is inspired by
this moves, and is created to fit the rhythm of the move. In 2013 most Ghanaian music
videos were full of Azonto dance and later spread to most African countries and other
parts of the world. The dance is also applied on other genres other than Azonto.

6. The additional influence of Dancers in a global context

- Understanding the power of dance as a marketing tool in
Africa
6.1. Dancers are the radio for the afrobeats genre
If once radio was the main means of distributing and marketing music, today big African
pop artists such as Mr. Eazy (A nigerian-ghanaian popstar) find that dance in general, and
specifically encouraging fans to connect movements and dance to the rhythm of their
tracks. Id say thats why its the wave, that, and because you cant take it away from
dancers. Dancers are like the radio for the Afrobeats genre and theyre putting up videos
that flood social media and you cannot help but notice it. Theyre spreading the wave and
its looking catchy.15 It has become a very significant music distribution device in Africa,
actually a real marketing tool.

I asked the producer Gafacci16 from the Jowaa couple about his track "Banku
Dade". He talks about dance and some of his great influence on creating music. "Yes,
when I start working on a Track I first imagine myself dancing, I try to add the effect with
the sound and add the complexity of the beat to make people dance in a certain way."

The virality of music in Africa today is not just a bunch of YouTube views, but videos
of hundreds of ordinary people filming themselves dancing and uploading it to the web.
African commercial artists have realized that in order to create a hit and engage their
listeners and fans to their songs, they need to create an involvement and give the
audience the opportunity to take part in the work. For this purpose, they create Dance
Challenges on different platforms: sites, facebook groups, and Instagram users upload
videos of ordinary people dancing and asking viewers to rate them in comments, it
became an integral part of the music concept, and creating dance language and distinct
movements throughout the continent. Movements like Azonto, Alkaida and others, which
dictate rhythms to the songs, creating a mutual situation of music that influences dance
and the impact of dance and movement influence music.

15
http://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/04/04/mr-eazi-afrobeat-artist/
16
Gafacci - A Ghanaian pop and dance Music Producer.
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7. Conclusion
In concluding this work and answering the question How does dance influence/ enhances
music we have to take a wide look on genres of music around the world and then zoom in
our focus to the dancer. As we go through the history of mankind we can see that the
carrier of the music is our own body. The dancers are the activators17 of the music, they
give it a shape, an image, a massage that can be carried through generations only by a
specific swift of a hand. This move in ballet can be the composer of a melody or it can
inspire the polyrhythmic beat in Azonto music.

In order to understand Dance we had to go back to when it began in primitive times, where
man was an animal himself or he had to act like one for different reasons. He didnt have
any instruments to play except his body and his beating heart, a rhythm. When man
understands the beating of the heart as a rhythm from that point on, African music in
rituals would be rhythm based and they will carry it with them from outside of Africa to the
rest of the world until this day and age. By comparing the African music through
generations to The european Ballet, one can understand why a genre that was made up in
the Bronx by African-American dancers and musicians in the 80s-90s is now the most
popular genre in the world.

The rhythm is within our own bodies, which means that before instruments would come to
use, there was music within ourselves. The rhythm is what drives music from its beginning.
Genres of music that understand the role of dance as the manifestation of the rhythm
would be also the ones that pushing it to the limit like the South African Shangaan.
That will also explain why such a wide question of How does dance influences music can
be answered by the journey of the African dancer and it will also do a round back to the
continent as we are witnessing use of the Dance, Music and the globalization of the world
to their needs.

The perspective in Africa of music to dance is beyond words to explain, only by moves.
With the understanding of the power of the dance, the African continent is advanced in its
use and thinking. Musicians and commercial musicians listen to the cultural tides and
create their own as well. They understand the power of dance and use it through the social
media outlets and the television. As a result they affect their fans beyond their music, they
make them dance in a specific way, and connect them in a way they remember it in their
body.

They are aware of the connection of dance with its past and choose to incorporate it with
innovative new moves. These moves create a solid and immediate connection with the
audience. Therefore their inspiration is endless and the abundance of talent across the
continent is almost obvious, yet should not be taken for granted.

17
As Jace Clayton said in his book, UPROOT: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture: The focus was on the
sound, as activated by us dancers.

22
Finally, In this work Im curios to see how can dance music genres would evolve once their
creators would be fully aware that dancers are their true and authentic motivation.
Listening to our bodies and pushing our boundaries before creating the music, can lead to
the creation of new genres that are intertwined in ways that werent before and will
eventually unlock an unimaginable potential.

23
8. Bibliographics
Academic Resources

Campbell, Michael and James Brody, Rock and Roll: An Introduction, Schirmer, 2007

Cavalli, Harriet, Dance and Music: A Guide to Dance Accompaniment for Musicians and

Dance Teachers, University Press of Florida, 2001

Clayton, Jace, UPROOT: Travels in 21st-Century Music and Digital Culture, FSG

Originals, 2016

Guarino, Lindsay and Wendy Oliver, Jazz Dance: A History of the Roots and Branches

Paperback, University Press of Florida, 2015

Dagan, Esther A., The spirit's dance in Africa: Evolution, transformation, and continuity in

sub-Sahara, Galerie Amrad African Arts Publications, 1997

Humphrey, Doris, The Art of Making Dances, Princeton Book Company, 1991

Malone, Jacqui, Steppin' on the Blues: The Visible Rhythms of African American Dance,

University of Illinois Press, 1996

Mitoma, Judy, Elizabeth Zimmer, Dale Ann Stieber Routledge, Envisioning Dance on Film

and Video, Routledge, 2013

Knowles, Mark, Tap Roots: The Early History of Tap Dancing, McFarland & Company,

2002

Sorell, Walter, The Dance Through the Ages, Putnam Pub Group, 1967

Teck, Katherine, Music for the Dance: Reflections on a Collaborative Art (Contributions to

the Study of Music and Dance), Praeger, 1989

Wiley, Roland John, Tchaikovsky's Ballets: Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker,

Clarendon Press, 1991

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Non-Academic Resources

Fonko, Gran Olsson, Lamin Daniel Jadama & Lars Lovn, 2014, DVD

Footworkin' in Tokyo,THUMP Specials, Youtube, 2017

https://www.britannica.com/

http://www.highsnobiety.com/2017/04/04/mr-eazi-afrobeat-artist/

http://www.savoystyle.com/african.html

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