Afrocentric Dance Company

'We danced it'
'We are dancing it'
And we will continue to dance it
Happy New Year,people........

Happy children's day

May you Dance into great opportunities this 2014,Happy new year.

We share this dance with all our muslim friends today............Happy Eid mubarak

International Dance Day
April 29, 2013 in the World


On April 29, 2013 International Dance Day, also known as World Dance Day, is celebrated through promotion by the International Dance Council (CID). The day was introduced in 1982 by the International Dance Committee of the UNESCO International Theatre Institute. The date was chosen to commemorate the birthday of Jean-Georges Noverre, who was born in 1727, a French dancer and ballet master and a great reformer of dance.

The annually observed World Dance Day should increase the awareness of the importance of dance among the general public. Its goal is also to persuade governments all over the world to provide a proper place for dance in all systems of education.

Around the world, there are events on World Dance Day, such as open-door-courses, exhibitions, articles concerning all kinds of dance, dance evenings, street shows, and special performances, etc. Above this, every year a message from a well known dance personality is circulated throughout the world.

The CID is a non-profit umbrella organization for all forms of dance in the world. It was founded in 1973 within the UNESCO headquarters and has its headquarters in Paris, France. CID advises the UNESCO, national and local government agencies, international organizations and institutions. Currently it is represented in over 120 countries.

World Organization for the Performing Arts
International Dance Day 2013
Message from Lin Hwai-min, Founder/Artistic Director, Cloud Gate Dance Theatre
It is said in the Great Preface of "The Book of Songs,"
an anthology of Chinese poems dating from the 10th to the 7th century BC:
"The emotions are stirred and take form in words.
If words are not enough, we speak in sighs.
If sighs are not enough, we sing them.
If singing is not enough, then unconsciously
our hands dance them and our feet tap them."
Dance is a powerful expression.
It speaks to earth and heaven.
It speaks of our joy, our fear and our wishes.
Dance speaks of the intangible, yet reveals the state of mind of a person and
the temperaments and characters of a people.
Like many cultures in the world, the indigenous people in Taiwan dance in circle.
Their ancestors believed that evils would be kept out of the circle.
With hands linked, they share the warmth of each other and move in communal pulses.
Dance brings people together.
And dance happens at the vanishing point.
Movements disappear as they occur.
Dance exists only in that fleeting instant.
It is precious. It is a metaphor of life itself.
In this digital age, images of movements take millions of forms.
They are fascinating.
But, they can never place dance because images do not breathe.
Dance is a celebration of life.
Come, turn off your television, switch off your computer, and come to dance.
Express yourself through that divine and dignified instrument, which is our body.
Come to dance and join people in the waves of pulses.
Seize that precious and fleeting moment.
Come to celebrate life with dance.

THE HISTORY OF SAMBA DANCE.
The samba is a rhythmic, rolling dance that Brazilians have made popular around the world. The dance's origins began with African slaves, and it was later combined with Brazilian Indian and European influences. The modern version arose in the beginning of the 20th century and has evolved since then into several branches.

African Influence

1. Slaves were imported by the Portuguese into Brazil from Africa, principally from the Yoruba, Congo, and other West African tribes. They mixed their religious beliefs with each other and with Christianity, creating a religion variously called Candomble, Macumba and other names. Their African music also combined with Indian and Portuguese music to create a Latin rhythm.

2. The word "Samba" originally meant to pray, and the dances were designed to invoke the dancer's personal god or saint.

Suppression

3. The Christian Portuguese considered the African dances sinful and made several attempts to suppress them. Emperor Manuel I banned the Batuque, a precursor to the samba, in the early 1800s, but both whites and blacks continued to dance to the musical rhythms.

Indian Influence

4. As the Portuguese and African slaves had more contact with the Native Americans living in Brazil, some of the local tribes' steps were included. The body rolls and swaying of the native Lundu were incorporated into the dances, and later became a key characteristic of the samba.

Europeanization

5. In the 1800s, the local dances were incorporated into the Brazilian Carnaval celebration similar to the Mardi Gras. The Portuguese and other European settlers introduced their own moves, including holding your partner. By 1885, this developed into a dance called the Zemba Q***a, and then into the Mesemba.

6. In the early 1900s, the dance was combined with another popular dance called the Maxixe, and became the earliest version of the modern samba.

Modern Samba

7. The Europeanized version of the samba became popular in Brazilian high society and eventually began to spread to Europe, especially France.

8. In the 1930s, a Europeanized form of the Samba called the Carioca was revived in England and spread to the United States. Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers performed it in their first movie together, and Carmen Miranda used the dance in many of her films.

9. Ballroom samba, a more sedate version of the dance, was introduced in 1956 by Pierre Lavelle. Since then, the dance has evolved into several different branches, ranging from ballroom-style to the gyrating version of professional dancers at the samba shows in Rio de Janeiro.

AFRICAN DANCE INFORMATION
Dance has played an important role in African history and tribes AFRICANfor centuries. Many tribes considered dances as useful rather than as entertainment. They used dances to protect the tribe, tell stories, remember history and as religious expression.

AFRICAN DANCE INFORMATION.
Dance has played an important role in African history and tribes for centuries. Many tribes considered dances as useful rather than as entertainment. They used dances to protect the tribe, tell stories, remember history and as religious expression.

Religion

1. Most African religions use dance in some way. They see dance as a means to communicate with their deity, expressing feelings, desires and requests to the gods.

Slave Dances

2. African slaves used dances to communicate with each other, pass messages, retain their culture, pass the time and entertain themselves. Slaves in Europe had more freedom to dance than slaves in North America, but even North American slaves maintained dance as part of their lives and culture.

The Influence of African Dance

3. African dance has influenced many popular American dances such as the Charleston, the Lindy Hop, the Jitterbug and the Twist. Many Western choreographers incorporate elements of the rhythm and style of African dance into modern dance.

Drums

4. African dance is highly percussive. In addition to the rhythms created by the dancers themselves, drums used by musicians and dancers accompany African dance. The musicians are usually so integrated that they become part of the dance.

Dance as Exercise

5. African dance is highly energetic and certain communities use it as a form of exercise.