African Dance Technique

About the course

The course provides students with an African dance experience with emphasis on epistemology and its somatic explorations.  The course is both theoretical and experiential, with students receiving information on all that might relate to the understanding of a particular dance; such as its relationship to its history, culture, or music.

This course introduces African dance technique to students, with experimentation of the technique rooted in indigenous knowledge and philosophies surrounding the relationship of the body to the topography of ethnic settlements as well as the spiritual foundations of the body. It introduces students to the historical and cultural contexts of dance in Ghana and other parts of Africa as is evident in music, movement, drama and poetry, along with some basic linguistic concepts and cultural values.

This course is given online via Zoom with recordings and live session. In total there are 12 lessons, each lesson is one hour with English-Chinese translation. The first cohort starts in July 2022 and takes place every Friday. The course is part of the of Inspirees Dance Therapy training program and free of charge for Inspirees students in training to expand their movement repertoire. Other participants need to pay the fee.

African dance performance by Kofi Anthonio

General Learning Outcomes  

The student will be able to:

• Perform some African dance technique with expressivity
• Memorize and perform choreography with clarity to detail
• Recognize and demonstrate the correlation of the African dance to the music, history, and social, cultural norms of the country of origin

Course Content

Each class will incorporate a moment of conversation as an introduction and context, demonstration and practical exploration. Locomotor activities allowing students to investigate and develop technical, expressive, and creative skills.

Course Requirements

Notebook, journal, writing implements, computer, reading materials available online, comfortable clothing suitable for exercise.

Course Expectations

Students are expected to be present at every session on line, as well as engage in personal practice time.

To inquiry and register for this course, please send email to education@inspirees.com

Trainers

Sylvanus Kwashie Kuwor

Sylvanus Kwashie Kuwor is a master drummer, music, dance and theatre practitioner/scholar who lectures at the University of Ghana, Legon. He has had a decade of experience in Britain as a cultural educator where he used African drum music and dance in inclusion programmes aimed at integrating African refugees into mainstream society. He has also shared his experience in the United States with African music and dance lectures and workshops at University of Dayton, Ohio, Binghamton University in New York, Coastal Carolina University in South Carolina, and CEANA Conference 2019 at North Carolina. He holds a Diploma in Dance Studies from the University of Ghana, Master of Arts Degree in Creative and Professional Writing from Brunel University in London, a Postgraduate Diploma in Ethnochoreology from Norwegian University of Science and Technology (NTNU) and a PhD in Dance Anthropology from the University of Roehampton in London.

He is also the Editor in Chief of Journal of Performing Arts at the University of Ghana. Dr Kuwor is currently the Head of Department of Dance Studies at the University of Ghana. His current research focuses on Anthropological investigation of Ghanaian and African dance forms as well as re-choreographing these dances to highlight their contemporary relevance. He is also a member of the International Committee of International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Alfred Elikem Kunutsor

Alfred Elikem Kunutsor is a Ghanaian who holds an MA and BA in Dramatic Arts from Wits University, Johannesburg-South Africa. He is currently a PhD candidate in performance studies at the CTDPS-University of Cape Town where he also tutors in movement and African dance. Majoring in Physical theatre, Elikem’s approach to the performing arts has been deeply rooted in embodied physical presence rather than genre classifications. He is an educator, theatre maker and a performer who believes in a holistic approach to performance where boundaries and segmentations are blurred. He has taught at Wits, University of Ghana, Tema International school and UCT.

Kofi Anthonio

Kofi Anthonio is a practitioner, dance educationalist and a Choreographer. An assistant lecturer at the Department of Dance Studies, University of Ghana. He holds an MFA degree in Dance from the University of Ghana and currently a PhD candidate at the Institute of African Studies, Legon. His special area is video technology as a teaching tool in dance. He did extensive research titled “Exploring the Potential of Video as a Tool for Teaching Damba Dance of Northern Ghana” which took him to northern Ghana. Some of the courses he teaches in the School of Performing Arts Dance Department includes: Dance Forms of Ghana, Introduction to Traditional Dance, Intermediate Dance Technique, African Dance Performance, and Dance Performance Laboratory. He is currently finishing up his PhD in the Department of African Studies, University of Ghana.