Capoeir Brazilian Art Form

The modernize approach of religion and traditions of the old African culture now converted into an Afro-Brazilian culture that still has an impact and exists today which is also still celebrated in Brazil. I believe that without slavery, many of the importance of both sides of society selling slaves and buying slaves would not have shaped humanity in the modern world. “Two centuries had seen African and European cultural religious and linguistic habits merging into unique Afro-Brazilian social and religious customs, music, and storytelling (Nellis 62).” The cultural influence of Afro-Brazilians has persistently grew from celebrations like carnaval into a mainstream popular culture. Brazil holds a variety of different ideas, culture and people. These ideas and traditions include musical interests, dancing, different food dishes, literature and art, festivities, and religious practices.

“Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, and excerpt from Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader, was written by Brenda Dixon Gottschild. Gottschild is a well-known author, dance historian, performer, and choreographer as well as a professor of dance studies at Temple University. She has also written multiple books including The Black Dancer Body, Waltzing in the Dark, and Digging. In her article “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, Gottschild explores the similarities and differences in the characteristics of Africanist and European technique, and how they draw from each other.

Tap dance is an uniquely American dance form. The percussive use of one’s feet combined with the use of rhythms and amplification of sound, has a complex history that involves the intercultural fusions of English, Irish and African musical and dance traditions. The evolution of tap dance in America is further complicated by issues of race, class and gender. Unlike ballet with its formal technique, tap dance emerged from people listening to and watching each other dance, in a variety of settings, where steps were shared, stolen and reinvented. Through its metamorphosis the dance form has progressed from local entertainment, to Vaudeville shows, to Broadway shows, to the Silver Screen and to Concert Halls across the world. The legacy of the art form is characterized by the rise, fall and reemergence of popularity. Savion Glover, a 21st century American dancer, is credited with bringing tap into a new era of popularity as he has wowed the masses with his unique style focusing on African American rhythms. Tap dance, uniquely American in that it is a true melting pot of dance forms, is a dance form rich in rhythms, sounds and amplifications and has transcended social and cultural barriers.

Rick Bragg’s “French Quarter’s Black Tapping Feet” takes place in New Orleans in the year 1998. The story talks about young children and their tap dancing feet. Many of the children come from very little and they have learned how to make a living by tap dancing to support their families. People think that it is a way to exploit children and have them work at such a young age for so little, but others think that it is a way that the children enjoy themselves and it is another way to keep the French Quarter tradition alive. Rick Bragg wanted to shed light on the children and stories about having to do such a grown-up thing like supporting their families at a very young age. The author uses personal stories from the children, including how they feel about tap dancing and the backgrounds in which the children were brought up, to educate people on the subculture and tradition, and he brings in professors from two different schools to get professional views of the children tap dancing to support their families.

Given that this “visit” was more like a virtual experience, I was still able to access a couple of my senses, just as if I was at the actual exhibition. Through the use of anecdotes and detailed images, I am able to see all of the personal experiences an individual had while practicing a particular dance and what it meant to them. In this exhibition, there are ten different dances displayed, including the: Yup´ik Yurapiaq and the Quyana (Thank You) Song Dance, Yakama Girl’s Fancy Shawl Dance, Cubeo Óyne Dance, Yoreme Pajko’ora Dance, Mapuche Mütrüm Purun, Tlingit Ku.éex ' Entrance Dance, Lakota Men’s Northern Traditional Dance, Seminole Stomp Dance, Hopi Butterfly Dance, and finally, Quechua Danza de Tijeras (Scissor Dance). All parts of the exhibit were insightful, but the two that sparked my interest the most were the Yup´ik Yurapiaq and the Quyana (Thank You) Song Dance and the Quechua Danza de Tijeras (Scissor Dance).

These men and women train every day, they eat, sleep and breathe boxing. The sport has become a part of the culture in American life, with women like Rhonda Rousey coming up in the ranks there is a path for women being paved. Since the 19th century, boxing has come a long way. Gorn discusses the many examples of why people play such thrilling and adrenaline rush giving sports, the sport of boxing along with others is attractive to athletes because it gives them an adrenaline rush, a sense of danger, it allows them to commit to something and feel pride in what they’re

“Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, an excerpt from Moving History/Dancing Cultures: A Dance History Reader, was written by Brenda Dixon Gottschild. Gottschild is a well-known author, dance historian, performer, and choreographer as well as a professor of dance studies at Temple University. She has also written multiple books including The Black Dancer Body, Waltzing in the Dark, and Digging. In her article “Stripping the Emperor: The Africanist Presence in American Concert Dance”, Gottschild explores the similarities and differences in the characteristics of Africanist and European technique, and how they draw from each other.

Court Dances explores dance in the royal courts of the world and shows how its function lives on in European ballet, Japanese Bugaku, and the dance of the Asante kings of Ghana (West Africa).

For the purpose of this project, I have chosen the Puerto Rican Bomba Dancing as my artifact. This artifact is not something you can physically hold in your hands or go to a store and purchase, it is intangible and yet pure. It represents a culture and embodies the idea of freedom. Unlike most dances where the person follows the rhythm, in Bomba dancing, the dancer leads the drummer with the tap of their feet and movement of the hips and shoulders. The parties involved mostly dress in white with the females wearing plantation style outfits and head scarves. The lyrics sung normally evoke a sense of freedom and an escape from the hardships of slavery. (Bomba, n.d.). The most important elements of Bomba Dancing are the lyrics, the drums and the traditional outfits. The combination of these 3 elements truly enhance the experience. Moreover, Bomba dancing is one of those things that the medium of experience should be in person. This is due to it having the potential to take you back in time to the 17th century where you

After hundreds of years of evolution and development, tap dancing has become a truly authentic American artform. However, no two people can agree on exactly how or where the discipline began. Emmy-award winning tapper Jason Samuel Smith still holds an enormous amount of respect for the history of his artform. “Tap culture is all about celebrating the past and accumulating its vocabulary over time,” he says. “If we don’t maintain our history, we lose what is valuable about tap.” Despite the questionable and often debated origin of tap, the discipline stems directly from African roots due to articulate rhythmic and stylistic patterns of African dance, techniques consisting of gliding, shuffling and dragging steps, and the introduction of

These chance meetings, allowed her the opportunity to join and tour with Mastre Acetunio's Brazilian Dance Company "Fogo Na Roupa" and his Capoeira Company "Omalou Capoeira" for 3 years. She was also recruited by Master Casquelord as a dancer in his company "Fua Dia Congo", where she danced for 3 years until his passing in

As a child of newcomers to the United States, the importance of our Hispanic heritage was embedded into my mind. In order to portray my love for my culture, I have performed in a Folkloric Mexican dance troupe known as “Fiesta Mexicana” since the age of three. Envision the ambitious ambiance of people witnessing you perform the historically rich machete dance. The sound of the music constantly piercing your

Much like the U.S., Brazilian culture is extremely diverse. Brazil’s current population of 190 million represents various nationalities from European to African (Country Facts). Brazil has an extremely diverse culture with some common pervasive threads that grouped together give Brazil a national identity.

When looking at Italian, Carlos Julião, Enslaved market women, Rio De Janeiro, ca. 1170s, watercolor, and Dutch, Albert Eckhout, [Mameluke woman with a basket of flowers], 1614, both images give us an insight to the way each artist viewed Brazil. By looking at certain parts of Brazil’s history and comparing these two images we will see how each artist depicts the female body, costume and commodity in a way that demands a specific reaction from the intended audience. Eckhout, a master of flora and fauna, uses his style to express Brazil's beauty and economic implications, often times favored by the Dutch. Julião’s work emphasizes inequalities between individuals from different classes

Capoeira is the common name for the group of African martial arts that came out of west Africa and were modified and mixed in Brazil. These original styles included weapons, grappling and striking as well as animal forms that became incorporated into different components and sub styles of the art.