Free like the other?
Year: 2021
Type: article
Abstract: This article focuses on the different conceptions and experiences of freedom emanating from the teaching of African dances in Europe, more specifically around the Senegalese dance called Sabar. While African dances are frequently promoted as a vector of self “liberation”, in connection with exotic stereotypes about Africa, the ethnography of Sabar teaching situations reveals that these visions are subject to criticism and that a reform of pedagogies and views of the other is also taking place in these classes, particularly around the teaching of the musico-choreographic “game” of Sabar. Through misunderstandings and disappointments, learning the codes of Sabar improvisation sometimes gives rise to fleeting moments of successful choreographic conversation between students and musicians, and to practices of freedom based on a fragile alignment of the codes and emotions of the participants.
Source: Journal des anthropologues
DOI: 10.4000/jda.11397
Author: Alice Aterianus-Owanga
Institutions: University of Geneva, University of Cape Town
Language: English
Topic: Arts and Performance Studies
Subfield: Visual Arts and Performing Arts
Field: Arts and Humanities
Domain: Social Sciences
SDG: Quality education
Open Access status: green
OpenAlex ID: W4226063141