This dance….
is called: Sabar
The Sabar refers to a Serere - a Senegalese language term that designates a percussion instrument, a style of music, a dance form and a traditional festivity, popular in Senegal and Gambia.
Societal relevance
The Sabar dance event happens in the frame of social festivities. Sabar dance events are first and foremost social spaces. The dancers at a Sabar event do not see themselves as performers but simply as guests or participants.
The event follows a certain overall structure, although there is quite a lot of room for variation:
The public forms a big circle that creates a place in the centre of the space. The musicians are placed in the public. The music is performed by a group of approximately 10 men playing the Sabar drums.
The Sabar dance is a female solo performance as analysed here. Nevertheless, there is also festivity events where men perform this dance.
The dancers act on an individual basis. Yet the whole performance is a group activity. The dancers performing are part of the public and enter the space individually for a period of time, then go back joining the public.
They enter the performance space one by one for a few seconds/minutes to perform a solo.. At times there can be one or more dancers in the space. Some dancers also dance together. There is no organized order concerning the entry or exit point of the performers. They act in an improvising manner. It looks like we in western culture call an Impro-session. The public cheers and supports the dancers. A special applaud is heard when the dancer finishes his performance and goes back into the public.
The dance event follows a certain overall structure, where traditional dance rhythms are played in more or less the same order. Similarly, to the rhythms, all dance solos make use of traditional movement materials that can be varied and combined in different ways, but also the solos largely follow habitual structures.
Most of the dancers are not consciously performing anything to anyone, but rather simply enjoying themselves through social dancing in the company of their friends and relatives. Nevertheless, because the Sabar is a solo dance, dancing also gives the women an opportunity to present themselves. Dancing at a Sabar dance event is for many women the only situation where they can present and express themselves individually in front of a large number of people. At Sabar events it is not only about dance movements but also about the way one looks, dressing up, and having a beautiful hairstyle and makeup, which are all ways to construct an image of ideal femininity. The frame of performance of a Sabar dance event also allows the expression of sentiments that one would not show openly in everyday life. Similarly, the ways of expressing oneself through dance commonly takes forms that would not be considered appropriate for women in other contexts. Already the act of dancing in front of others, putting oneself in the centre of attention is against the local ideals of femininity and respectable behavior.(2) The frame of the dance event thus offers a possibility to express oneself in ways that would not be deemed appropriate in everyday contexts, even to construct alternative selves and realities.(3)
Costumes
The dancers perform in their everyday or traditional clothes.
[1] Talks with Seydou Camara ( Dancer from Senegal)
[2] Researchcatalogue.net, Letzter Zugriff: 24.02.2022, www.researchcatalogue.net/view/452941/452942
(1)Seye 2012, Neveu Kringelbach 2013: 87–89 ; (2)Heath 1994, Neveu Kringelbach 2013: 90, Seye 2014: 49, 108; (3)Elina Seye
is called: Sabar
The Sabar refers to a Serere - a Senegalese language term that designates a percussion instrument, a style of music, a dance form and a traditional festivity, popular in Senegal and Gambia.
Societal relevance
The Sabar dance event happens in the frame of social festivities. Sabar dance events are first and foremost social spaces. The dancers at a Sabar event do not see themselves as performers but simply as guests or participants.
The event follows a certain overall structure, although there is quite a lot of room for variation:
The public forms a big circle that creates a place in the centre of the space. The musicians are placed in the public. The music is performed by a group of approximately 10 men playing the Sabar drums.
The Sabar dance is a female solo performance as analysed here. Nevertheless, there is also festivity events where men perform this dance.
The dancers act on an individual basis. Yet the whole performance is a group activity. The dancers performing are part of the public and enter the space individually for a period of time, then go back joining the public.
They enter the performance space one by one for a few seconds/minutes to perform a solo.. At times there can be one or more dancers in the space. Some dancers also dance together. There is no organized order concerning the entry or exit point of the performers. They act in an improvising manner. It looks like we in western culture call an Impro-session. The public cheers and supports the dancers. A special applaud is heard when the dancer finishes his performance and goes back into the public.
The dance event follows a certain overall structure, where traditional dance rhythms are played in more or less the same order. Similarly, to the rhythms, all dance solos make use of traditional movement materials that can be varied and combined in different ways, but also the solos largely follow habitual structures.
Most of the dancers are not consciously performing anything to anyone, but rather simply enjoying themselves through social dancing in the company of their friends and relatives. Nevertheless, because the Sabar is a solo dance, dancing also gives the women an opportunity to present themselves. Dancing at a Sabar dance event is for many women the only situation where they can present and express themselves individually in front of a large number of people. At Sabar events it is not only about dance movements but also about the way one looks, dressing up, and having a beautiful hairstyle and makeup, which are all ways to construct an image of ideal femininity. The frame of performance of a Sabar dance event also allows the expression of sentiments that one would not show openly in everyday life. Similarly, the ways of expressing oneself through dance commonly takes forms that would not be considered appropriate for women in other contexts. Already the act of dancing in front of others, putting oneself in the centre of attention is against the local ideals of femininity and respectable behavior.(2) The frame of the dance event thus offers a possibility to express oneself in ways that would not be deemed appropriate in everyday contexts, even to construct alternative selves and realities.(3)
Costumes
The dancers perform in their everyday or traditional clothes.
[1] Talks with Seydou Camara ( Dancer from Senegal)
[2] Researchcatalogue.net, Letzter Zugriff: 24.02.2022, www.researchcatalogue.net/view/452941/452942
(1)Seye 2012, Neveu Kringelbach 2013: 87–89 ; (2)Heath 1994, Neveu Kringelbach 2013: 90, Seye 2014: 49, 108; (3)Elina Seye
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How to dance the dance
There is a basic step pattern inherent to Sabar. The dancers’ solos consist for a large part of a few movement motifs although this might not be obvious to due to the wide individual variation in the execution of these motifs. Subsequently there is no set beginning or definite end point of performed movements.
Sabar involves the body in its whole entity. The dance is performed in a very rhythmic manner with de- and accelerations, stops, surprising moments of change and turns yet creating and overall flow. The dance consists of small and big jumps, at times some turns. The arms accompany and support the jumping patterns, with a pattern of arm circles. The dancers perform with great effort, energy and strong impetus. We see highly energetic, fast and strong movements that seem to flow out freely. The body attitude is very strong and powerful, enjoying freely the dance and the energy.
Within a Sabar dance event, the dance rhythms are always played in more or less the same order. There are also optional musical elements that may be included at certain points as well as new variations of older rhythms or new musical creations that may be introduced if the drummers find them fitting for the particular event. Similarly, to the music, the dance solos of participants largely follow habitual structures and make use of traditional movement materials that can be varied and combined in different ways, but also new elements (typically deriving from dances seen on pop music videos) may be incorporated.
This repetitiveness is the prerequisite for the communication between dancers and drummers. It is the duty of the lead drummer to interpret the dancer’s movements musically, to make them audible as the dancer is dancing, meaning that he actually has to anticipate the dancer’s movements. Therefore, the dancers’ improvisatory solos cannot deviate too much from ‘tradition’, the habitual patterns of Sabar dancing, if they expect a musical response to their movements from the lead drummer. Furthermore, it is not enough for the dancer to just dance in rhythm, to follow the beat, but the dance solo should also make sense musically. The Sabar tradition is thus reconstructed at each Sabar dance event primarily through the choreomusical interactions of the Sabar drummers and the dancers.(1)
[3] Researchcatalogue.net, Letzter Zugriff: 24.02.2022, www.researchcatalogue.net/view/452941/452942
(1)Elina Seye
You can learn a basic step pattern with this video
There is a basic step pattern inherent to Sabar. The dancers’ solos consist for a large part of a few movement motifs although this might not be obvious to due to the wide individual variation in the execution of these motifs. Subsequently there is no set beginning or definite end point of performed movements.
Sabar involves the body in its whole entity. The dance is performed in a very rhythmic manner with de- and accelerations, stops, surprising moments of change and turns yet creating and overall flow. The dance consists of small and big jumps, at times some turns. The arms accompany and support the jumping patterns, with a pattern of arm circles. The dancers perform with great effort, energy and strong impetus. We see highly energetic, fast and strong movements that seem to flow out freely. The body attitude is very strong and powerful, enjoying freely the dance and the energy.
Within a Sabar dance event, the dance rhythms are always played in more or less the same order. There are also optional musical elements that may be included at certain points as well as new variations of older rhythms or new musical creations that may be introduced if the drummers find them fitting for the particular event. Similarly, to the music, the dance solos of participants largely follow habitual structures and make use of traditional movement materials that can be varied and combined in different ways, but also new elements (typically deriving from dances seen on pop music videos) may be incorporated.
This repetitiveness is the prerequisite for the communication between dancers and drummers. It is the duty of the lead drummer to interpret the dancer’s movements musically, to make them audible as the dancer is dancing, meaning that he actually has to anticipate the dancer’s movements. Therefore, the dancers’ improvisatory solos cannot deviate too much from ‘tradition’, the habitual patterns of Sabar dancing, if they expect a musical response to their movements from the lead drummer. Furthermore, it is not enough for the dancer to just dance in rhythm, to follow the beat, but the dance solo should also make sense musically. The Sabar tradition is thus reconstructed at each Sabar dance event primarily through the choreomusical interactions of the Sabar drummers and the dancers.(1)
[3] Researchcatalogue.net, Letzter Zugriff: 24.02.2022, www.researchcatalogue.net/view/452941/452942
(1)Elina Seye
You can learn a basic step pattern with this video