In my last blog I made a comparison of the South African Pantsula dancing and Irish Clog dancing from a reference of my Art in Education performances. Historically, Africans when transported by Irish sailors during the Middle Passage, were forced to exercise and entertain by dancing. This created an interchange of culture resulting in the African slaves adopting dance movements from the cultures they witnessed ie. Spanish/Latin America, French/Haiti, Portuguese/Brazil. The new African-American slaves often performed/created dances of Juba and The Jig with the influences they learned from the Irish. Well now the tables have turned…
In my search for Irish Clogging I came across this video of a 2009 Clogging competition where many of the youth team competitors have included Hip-hop influences in their choreography. If I am not mistaken, usually Irish dance when performed, the upper carriage or torso remains erect while the feet/legs make intricate rhythmic patterns. In observing this video, the dancers are performing with a curvature of the spine and flexion of the pelvis, specific to the African style of dancing.
Will there exist a need for Cultural Sustainability as we have a melding of DNA heredity and cultural norms? This may very well be a topic for purists in sustaining an art form, or a revolution for segregationists, who oppose the blending of culture.