Abstract
Courtney explores aspects of Ethiopian culture and its use in the creative process of an urban contemporary performing artist. In this chapter, the author draws on his own embodied experiences within the African Diaspora to illustrate a few of the theoretical correlations between Ethiopian dances, African continental cultural dances, and popular social dances of the West. He discusses his own practice of Ethio-Modern Dance as a medium for cultural knowledge exchange.
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Notes
- 1.
An Australopithecus afarensis, founded in 1974, is known to foreigners as “Lucy” and to Ethiopians as “Deqenash”. She was discovered in Hadar in the Afar desert and is the female ancestor of the human race, who lived 3.5 million years ago (Adejumobi, 2007).
- 2.
Fourth century AD Coptic Christianity is introduced via Egypt (ibid).
- 3.
The first Muslims arrived in the Axumite Empire as early as the seventh century, migrating from Mecca. They were instructed by the Prophet to protect Axum and live in peace with the Christian natives.
- 4.
Ethiopia was never colonised although there was an Italian invasion in 1935–1941 (the second Ethio-Italian War) (ibid).
- 5.
Emperor Haile Selassie I, along with other African leaders, founded the Organization of African Unity charter of 1963 in Addis Ababa, now known as the African Union (ibid).
- 6.
The Ethiopian Monarchy dates back to the time of King Solomon of Israel and the Queen of Sheba of the Axumite Empire (approximately100–940 AD). Their love child David (Menelik I) was the first king of the Solomonic Dynasty (Kingdom of Abyssinia), which ended with the deposition of Emperor Haile Selassie I (formerly Rastafari) in 1974 (Brooks, 1995).
- 7.
Before the late 1800s, it was part of the northern region of Ethiopia. It was controlled by Italy after the first Ethio-Italian War 1895–1896 (Adejumobi, 2007).
- 8.
The Amhara; Tigray; Oromia; Afar; Somali; Southern Nations, Nationalities, and People (SNNPR); Gambela; Benishangal-Gumaz Regions.
- 9.
This was the first of two major performances that must be produced as a requirement for the completion of the PhD in Arts Practice Research at the University of Limerick. See YouTube video https://youtu.be/LRveDhYJUMg
- 10.
A fermented flat bread served with a variety of stewed meat and vegetable sauces.
- 11.
A language from Ethiopia’s Amhara region, which is derived from Ge’ez, a Semtic language of the Ethiopian Orthodox Church (Adejumobi, 2007).
- 12.
The Ethiopic syllabic script that is used to notate most languages of Ethiopia and Eritrea (ibid).
- 13.
I. Group dances with segregated sexes; II. Eskista; III. Couple dances.
- 14.
See Courtney, M. 2013. View the recorded performance at http://youtu.be/neOe_wgkTHo
- 15.
Choreography directed by Jeffery Page, an African American who uses the African traditions as a tool in his urban contemporary dance style.
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Courtney, R.M.(. (2018). Our Ethiopian Connection: Embodied Ethiopian Culture as a Tool in Urban-Contemporary Choreography. In: Akinleye, A. (eds) Narratives in Black British Dance. Palgrave Macmillan, Cham. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-319-70314-5_12
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