African Dance: An artistic, historical, and philosophical inquiry

This book is a compilation of essays by distinguished writers, critics, and artists in the field of Dance and African American Studies who address several areas and disciplines of African dance both on the continent and in the diaspora. Sir Rex Nettleford, the distinguished Jamaican choreographer, professor and writer, stresses in the foreword to the book, the continuity between all dances that derive from Africa and the significance of this book. African dance, he argues, is a dominant, pervasive and empowering force in African communities. The four areas covered in the book are tradition, tradition and continuity, tradition transformed, and tradition contextualized. African, Brazilian, Caribbean and African American scholars each focus on some aspect of African dance which provide the patterns that connect. African Dance is text and, as such, it is a document that can be used for historical, philosophical and aesthetic information. Besides Sir Rex Nettleford, other contributors to this book include Pearl Primus, Mawere Opoku, Katrina Hazzard-Gordon, Myriam Evelyse Mariani, Cynthia S'thembile West and Omofolabo Soyinka Ajayi. Dr. Kariamu Welsh Asante received her doctorate from New York University in Dance History. She is an associate professor in the Department of African American Studies at Temple University where she teaches African and African American dance as well as courses in aesthetics, social philosophy and art.