Master Piece Project Breakdown

For my masterpiece project I told a story on African Dance. I approached the story in the
format of a Diary. I chose the country of Nigeria because many West African cultures have
popular dances and traditions that are well known and unique. Plus, I really enjoy the culture of
Nigerian People. The theme of the story is the Yam festival a common festival that takes place
yearly in most West African countries. The young girl by the name of Yaya is unfolding her first
real experience of the Yam festival.
This story relates to our class in several ways. The story talks about the dance, cultural,
and traditional aspects of African Dance. All of these topics have come up and some ways or the
other in class. We talked about Culture in dance. In addition to, how dance influences culture on
a daily basis. We talked about African dance styles and the characteristics of it. Furthermore, we
discussed the influence of African dance and culture on American culture. Many of the slaves
that were taken from the western areas of Africa due to the slave trade have some of the biggest
influences on American dance culture. Which could explain how dances such as Jazz could have
many elements of African culture .Moreover, we did discuss a little bit about tradition. In some
cultures they have dance traditions .In the story you see the tradition of sacrificing a chicken as a
blessing to the gods and spirits .Then after the sacrificial ceremony they go into a celebration of
good things to come which include dancing, singing, and playing instrument. I mean there is
plenty of tradition among the African culture.
Another thing we talked about in class was the idea of dance being a universal language
and connecting others they may different from us and even around us. Likewise, the story
illustrates how the village comes together as one. Dance can connect all people even those
around us. Just think about when people go out and dance. People dance with friends, family and

sometimes even strangers it is an easy way to socialize. Plus it also helps people to step out of
their comfort zones. Just like the story Yaya was afraid to dance at first because she didnt know
what to expect. However, as soon as her Mother and the people around began to cheer her on and
started to join in with her she immediately got into the groove. To me I feel thats what dance can
do although you will have a few that may not want to dance because they're really shy; overall
dance pushes people to step out of the box.
Lastly, another way this story has helped to see the things we have learned in class is the
idea that African dance is not a tribal dance. I see African dance as more connected to the mind
and body. They tell stories through the use of their body as well as use essential body parts to
make strong movements. Moreover, African dance can be spiritual there is a lot of faith, religion,
and customs in the African culture. With that in mind the African culture elaborates on those
principles and behaviors through dance.
Overall, the biggest thing I have learned from this project is to step outside of the box and
to try new things. I am not the most creative person in the world however; I thought it would be
different to take an approach such as this. Writing a story was different for me and it is not
something I would do normally, but it allowed me to apply the things I learned throughout class
in a different way. Also writing the story kept my mind moving with ideas, and the ways I was
going to write the story. It actually became difficult to come up with one narrative and aspect of
African dance and culture. It allows you to take different artistic approaches that you may not be
able to do in other artistic forms/styles.

Bibliography:
Coursey, D. G., and Cecilia K. Coursey. The New Yam Festivals of West Africa.
Anthropos (1971): Pgs 444-484. Web. 6 Dec 2015.
"Nigeria | History - Geography." Encyclopedia Britannica Online. Encyclopedia
Britannica, 29 May 2015. Web. 7 Dec. 2015.