Anna Briggs - Yoruba Dance

This week's article about the Yoruba dance and culture I found to be very interesting because it illuminated links across various different things we have discussed so far.  In particular, I was intrigued by the notion that body language and body signs are more communicative than verbal signs because the link between sign and signifier is not arbitrary.  Verbal and written signs are innately problematic, as they are only arbitrarily linked to their signifier and so are defined relationally to other signs.  Body signs, on the other hand, can be more clearly expressive as the signs have a physical connection to the signifier they are communicating.

This theory that bodily communication is more effective than verbal communication reminded me of the crumpers from "Rize".  Their reason for crumping was to express through dance their intense emotions in a way that they could not with words.  What is obvious to those viewing the crumping is the energy, the sense of freedom, but at the same time the sense of rebellion involved in the dancing.  This concepts come across concretely through their movement, whereas through words their message might not be as clear.