Stories of West African and House Dance Pedagogies: 4E Cognition Meet Rhythmic Virtuosity

Abstract

ABSTRACT Rhythmic virtuosity or moving with “percussive attack” is an ultimate performance quality for Black/African dance. The practice of musicality is a window into a dynamic system of intersubjective communal creativity. Drumming, for example, provides percussive sensorial information that directs a dancer’s somatic and choreographic response. Cognitive scientists are interested in the intersubjectivity of learning. To add to this conversation, I want to describe how thinking, creativity, and artistry are actuated within two ethnographic vignettes of African diaspora dance that exemplify how thinking, creativity, and artistry are an intersubjective process. Hence, the focus of this article is to examine and reflect upon how rhythmic virtuosity is taught and achieved in Guinea and House dance, and what revelations are gained about how a dancer’s thinking is situated, extended, and galvanized by music.