Hallie Gammon - DANC 0163 - Yoruba Body Attitude in Communication

What struck me the most in this article is the way that, according to the author, Yoruba beliefs and attitudes are actually lived out in their physical life. In many ways, the values espoused by the Yoruba people are in line with those we in the western world claim to adhere to: we are forever talking about valuing inner beauty over outer beauty, about finding balance in our lives, respecting our elders, etc. But our words and our bodies tell very different stories - outer beauty is clearly highly valued in our culture, often, though not always, at the expense of personality and inner beauty. We claim to seek balance, but we are a culture constantly on the move, running toward our futures, reaching for our goals. The complementary balance to that, stillness, is practically a sin, looked down upon as laziness or lack of direction. If the author's points accurately reflect the daily life of the Yoruba, rather than the ideals they are likely to talk about (in much the same way that we all have high ideals), then they are a culture whose behavior is admirably consistent with their philosophy. They "walk the talk" far more genuinely than we in western culture generally do.

The concept of ìwà l'ewà (presence is beauty) is particularly relevant to dance, not only in Yoruba culture but in all forms of dance including the western world. As far as I can discern (this being my first dance class and first real exposure to performance-type dance), dance has a somewhat different aesthetic from the rest of the culture. Although physical beauty may be valued, what makes a beautiful dance (and by extension a beautiful dancer) is a kind of "presence" in the dance - more of a spiritual quality than a physical one. The dancer values balance, both physical and mental, and inner strength, beauty and energy. This similarity between Yoruba philosophy and the philosophy of dance brings up a question for me: are the Yoruba a culture of dance (dance being undeniably socially important to them), or does dance as an art, regardless of place and culture, invariably adhere to this type of aesthetic?

One could argue that, since much of American dance has arisen from the African diaspora, in which the Yoruba very likely played a part, dance took its aesthetic values from those of black dance/culture. On the other hand, I think we see a similar phenomenon in typically European dance forms like ballet. Neutral, skin-tight clothing, tightly contained hair, and an aesthetic that values extreme skinniness are in some ways, I think, ways to downplay the actual appearance of the body and subordinate it to the appearance of the movements. A ballerina's slender form and tight clothing, while exposing the body to the viewer, ultimately turn the attention away from the body itself to the movements of the dance, since every muscle and bone is articulated. One is not so much looking at a person as at motion itself. When you talk about a beautiful dancer, I would argue that, no matter the form of dance, what you really mean is a dancer with grace, spirit and presence, regardless of what their face or figure looks like. In this way, the culture of dance is the truest manifestation in the western world of a philosophy the Yoruba apply to all aspects of their life.