● Court = monarchy and nobles● Displays power, patronage, and pageantry● Maintain cultural and spiritual role after court loses military power● Court dance: outside church, performed in private homes, traveling entertainers, and the first dancing masterYORUBA, NIGERIA DANCE● Lineage based society● Physicals serves the spiritual which is in contrast to christianity● Dance connects to 400 gods and ancestors, “invisible audience”● Christianity spread to africa and created a co-mingling○ Example. Aladura (the ones who pray) church with ecstatic dance■ Worships that use words and body to communicate with deity. Among nigerian christians thatperform ecstatic dances. These churches represent a creative synthesis between missionariesin west africa in the middle of the19th century and european religious practices. With hymnsbefore the altar whote robe whosippers inviting the holy spirit who are trained. When it comesdown, they speak special vocalizations that are out of world but can be coded● Ask god and ancestors for favors● egungun, festival of the ancestors○ return to the community to receive homage and exhibit their powers through dance○ When a dancer puts on a mask in a secret ritual, he assumes the identity of the ancestor andemerges as an Egungun.Involves masks of human and animal features.● Ohsun, river goddess; favors to have children○ If the problem is barrenness, an appearance in front of Oshun will bring a child, a child to dance with,and the child will survive. Oshun is the protector of children.○ Their movements express the character of Oshun: graceful, flowing, unhurried, soothing○ Oshun's character is gentle○ The cloth that devotees wear is usually white○ In their dance, they are elegant and gentle like Oshun○ The dance is never chaotic○ movement in everyday life, they are never in a hurry○ If Oshun is pleased with the dances done in her name, she may express her pleasure by possessingone of the dancers. And makes her way to the river and offer her favorite foods and spices● Diaspora, slavery spreadsFrom video● Among the Yoruba people in Nigeria, where dance is a part of everyday life, Christian worshipers infuse anAnglican service with reverent movement● no problem in Yoruba traditional religion about the body being the house of sin or being something you haveto run away from. No. The physical is there to serve the spiritual.● "A man is no use when he is alive. It's when he dies that he acquires more potency, more power. It is thenthat he becomes a spirit."● "move forward, move sideways, move so-and-so."HINDUISM, INDIA, DANCE● India is home to religious dance in many forms: procession, performance, supplication, possession● Gods themselves are dancers● “Hinduism is a form of multiculturalism”○ In India, the dancing body occupies a place of honor. In the Yerba world, it presupposes steady trafficbetween the realm of the living and the deities. HInduism suggests that the two realms are in essenceone and unity is formed by dance○ Unlike Judaism and Christianity, No beginning or identifiable founder, no single scripture; findsexpression in large body of written material from 2000 years○ Diverse experiences that can be looked at as a tradition of multiculturalism with many sects with manyapproaches to divinity● Gods Shiva (Creator of universe) and Krishna dance○ Snake dance performed by the lower caste of pullavas; this is important because it takes awaysmisfortune○ Control breath to bring mind and body union○ Moral religious, offense/defensive training○ Dances offerings to please deities and storiesMale: solo man in front of stone wall w green faceFemale sole: about god krishna who likes to have sexNATYA SHASTA 2000 YEARS OLD ; all codified w rulesPerformance video- Snake dance- virgin girls to become snake women. First, they have to fast.- the minds of human beings and snakes are identical. The girls' minds are identical to the snakes'minds; why they are summoned- With the floor painting, using ground spices as pigments, the pulluvas transform a family courtyardinto a sacred space.- The painting, called a mandala, represents the ancestral home of the snake gods in the forest- the mandala becomes a table set for the gods- The girls concentrate their attention on the snakes. They get a feeling in their left foot or their leftthumb which slowly rises to their head, and they begin to dance. they become blind and can onlyhear, just like the snakes.- Possessed by the snake gods, the girls erase the mandala- Girls dance for a long time without = snake gods are satisfied. They accept the offering and take theritual drink- Once the snake gods have accepted the offering, they tear down their pavilion. Only then can thegods return to the forest and the villagers resume their everyday livesAll bodily exercise depends upon the control of the breath. Moment you control your breath it has invariably arelationship to your nervous system, and the nervous system, therefore the brain, and therefore the mind- Kathakali- an offering- have kathakali almost every day- the story goes that the god comes and sees the kathakali. When everybody is watching, the god issupposed to be there- highly stylized gestures and movements- is visual poetry that is in that world of fantasy, in a world of gestural communication- Talking is ridiculous and gesturing is normal- They should not walk like a human being. They should walk only in a stylized manner- Bharatanatyam- evolved from sacred dances, once performed as offerings before the image of the deity in Hindutemples- a young woman falls in love with a young man who is actually the Lord Krishna.- The sexual union of the lovers represents the longed-for union of all creation with the