The dances performed in Congo Square, save the European styles, shared features with those found in parts of the French and Spanish West Indies. Dance descriptions from those areas often confirm or provide context and descriptions for the dances performed in New Orleans. African choreography, accompanying musical instruments, rhythmic patterns, and singing styles largely continued – despite the change and sometimes interchange of names, multiple spellings of names, and varied dance descriptions. The conditions of slavery – the uprooting of Africans from their homelands, the colonization and enslavement under rulers of different nationalities and languages, the trafficking of enslaved Africans within and outside of regions and countries, and the documentation of information by people of different cultures and languages – all led to such discrepancies.
Gatherers typically formed circles around the main danc ers and musicians, who stood, sat, squatted or stooped inside. Those who encircled the dancers also participated by singing, clapping, rocking and playing rhythmic instruments like gourd rattles. The image below, “The Bamboula” by E. W. Kemble, is considered the iconic representation of the gatherings in Congo Square. While parts of this depiction hold truth, other parts do not. Kemble’s sketch was published in 1880, approximately 30 years after the gatherings may have ended. This and other sketches accompanied an article in Century Magazine written by George Washington Cable.
The Calinda was the earliest African-based dance documented in Louisiana and variations of it were still expressed years after the gatherings ended. Other dances included The Bamboula, the Congo dance, the Juba and more. Like the songs that accompanied them, there were sacred as secular dances.
More Information
Music of New Orleans, Vol. 3: Music of the Dance Halls (Various Artists): Features the rich history of dance band music in the Big Easy.
https://folkways.si.edu/music-of-new-orleans-vol-3-of-the-dance-halls/jazz-ragtime/album/smithsonian
Robert Farris Thompson, “A Tango” with Ned Sublette
Afropop Worldwide
https://afropop.org/articles/robert-farris-thompson-interview-2005
Second Line Dancing Steps. Music Rising at Tulane University – The Musical Cultures of the
Gulf South.
http://musicrising.tulane.edu/watch/video/161/Second-Line-Dancing-Steps (0:41)
Damyé / Ladja Martinique This video footage was recorded in 1936 by Katherine Dunham. Ladja or Danmye of Martinique are the same art form and both names are used interchangeably.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bcDFtHvkZdk
Kin Cuba Afro-Cuban Ta Makuende Yaya, Palo Kongo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=06re9VGL_CY
Kumina Dancing, premier cultural dance of Jamaica. Manchioneal Cultural Group, Jamaica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Q6gnqNLACRo
Kumina Drummers in St. Thomas |part one| Cultural Diversity
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AQCAAZGpYXw
Kumina Drummers at Play| part one| Cultural Diversity, Jamaica
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5q3ic6KSkk
La Tumba Francesca 1961. Music Rising at Tulane University – The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South.
http://musicrising.tulane.edu/watch/video/168/LA-TUMBA-FRANCESA-1961
Martinique - Bèlè **Mabélo**
Traditional Martinique performed by people from the Martinique Island
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UtG2uLDEUUI
Michelle Gibson. Second Line Aesthetic in Jacmel – New Waves! Ayiti 2014
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TTe1G44eZkI
Young Congo Dancer from Portobelo
https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=the+congo+dance
Panama Congo Dancing, Portobelo. Congo dancers perform during Carnival in Portobelo, Panama.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AFy51E2KKe8
Rumba Guaguanco (Cuba). Music Rising at Tulane University – The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South.
http://musicrising.tulane.edu/watch/video/172/Rumba-Guaguanco (3:10)
Rumba Columbia. Music Rising at Tulane University – The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South.
http://musicrising.tulane.edu/watch/video/173/Rumba-Columbia (14:56)
Rumba Mantanza. Music Rising at Tulane University – The Musical Cultures of the Gulf South
http://musicrising.tulane.edu/watch/video/174/Rumba-Mantanza (13:36)
Candombe (History, maps, photos, links for CDs)
This source explores the history of candombe, also called tambo or tango, which were banned and participants punished considering the dances a threat to public morals. In 1808, citizens of Montevideo requested that the governor repress these dances and "prohibit the tangós of the blacks."
http://www.candombe.com/english.html
Daniel, Yvonne. Dancing Wisdom: Embodied Knowledge in Haitian Vodou, Cuban Yoruba, and Bahian Candomblé. Chicago: University of Illinois Press, 2005.
DeFrantz, Thomas F. Dancing Many Drums: Excavations in African American Dance. Madison: University of Wisconsin, 2002.
Dewulf, Jeroen. From the Kingdom of Kongo to Congo Square: Kongo Dances and the Origins of the Mardi Gras Indians. Lafayette: University of Louisiana at Lafayette Press, 2017.
Emery, Lynne Fauley. Black Dance in the United States from 1619 to 1970. Palo Alto: National Press Books, 1972.
Fiehrer, Thomas, "From Quadrille to Stomp: The Creole Origins of Jazz." Popular Music, 10 (January 1991): 21-38.
Glass, Barbara. <i.African American Dance: An Illustrated History. Jefferson: McFarland & Co., 2007.
Mendy, Greer Goff. Black Dance in Louisiana: Gaudian of a Culture. New Orleans: Tekrema Center for African Diasporic Cultural Literacy, 2018.
Moreau De Saint-Mery, Mederic-Louis-Elie. A Civilization That Perished: The Last Years of White Colonial Rule in Haiti. Translated, abridged & edited by Ivor D. Spencer. Lanham, Md.: University Press of America, 1985.
___. Dance. Translated by Lily and Baird Hastings. Philadelphia : A Dance Horizon Publication, 1976.
___. Description Topographique, Physique, Civile, Politique et Historique de la Partie Francaise de l’Isle Saint-Dominque. Philadelphia: Chez l’auteur, 1797.
Neth, Mary. Stealing Steps: African American Dance and American Culture. American Quarterly, 1988 Mar; 50 (1): 158-65.
Thorpe, Edward. Black Dance. New York: The Overlook Press, 1990.
Simpson, George Eaton. “Peasant Songs and Dances of Northern Haiti.” The Journal of Negro History,Vol.25, No.2 (April, 1940): 203-215.
Sloat, Susanna, ed. Caribbean Dance from Abakua to Zouk: How Movement Shapes Identity. Gainsville: University Press of Florida, 2002.
Nettel, Reginald. “Historical Introduction to ‘La Calinda.” Music & Letters. Vol. XXVII. (1946): 59-62.
Winans, Robert (ed). Banjo Roots and Branches (Music in American Life). Champaign: University of Illionis Press, 2018
White, Michael. "Recovery and Rebirth of a New Orleans Jazz Life." Smithsonian Folkways
Magazine (Winter-Spring 2015).
http://www.folkways.si.edu/magazine-winter-spring-2015-recovery-and-rebirth-of-a-new-orleans-jazz-life
___. White, Michael G. 1984, "The New Orleans Brass Band: Nature Style and Social Significance." Xavier Review. New Orleans: Xavier University, 1984.
___. "Evolution of a Cultural Tradition." Cultural Vistas (Winter), 1991.
