Response 9: Kykunkor, or the Witch Woman

JJ Janikis
DANC 163

Maureen Needham suggests that the work of Asadata Dafora has been “virtually forgotten”, however his incorporation of African dance in the “musical drama” has made a major contribution to presentation of dance and theater in America. In 1934 Asadata Dafora’s, Kykunkdor, or the Witch Woman, revolutionized the definition of African dance in America by becoming the “first opera presented in the United States with authentic African dances and music” (233). While the story followed many Western guidelines in the plot, the movement and the music came directly from Dafora’s home in Sierra Leone, West Africa. Kykunkdor challenged the way people saw dance by showing the audience something that had “never been performed in America” (236).
From the beginning, Kykundor was billed as a “Native African Opera” therefore the piece aimed to incorporate the themes of Western opera with the movement and core of the African culture and tradition. The authenticity of Dafora’s opera was criticized because “the musical aspect was secondary” and the “juxtaposition of Western melody with African rhythm was profoundly disconcerting” (247). However, others praised the work for preserving the illusion of the West African tradition and attention to the incorporation of the music in the dancers body and drums. Gilbert Seldes criticized the piece as a “study of folklore”. The contrast of African dance in the context of a Western opera inevitably created the success of the piece in which it was relatable to all audiences.
Needham defines the characteristics that separated Dafora’s work from a traditional ballet perspective that are similar to our practices of African dance in the classroom. Kykunkor used many “polyrhythmic” drumbeats and movements of the body. For example, “Rhythmic patterns … [may be] intricate with each separate body part creating layers of different accents and tempi” (238). In addition, Needham describes “West African dances use the shoulders and upper torso in percussive movements, hunching forward with energy and thrusting the neck at the same time, then rolling the shoulders back on the next beat” (240). This illustration of African dance in Dafora’s Kykunkor reinforces the elaborate polyrhythmic movements that we practice in class.
Asadata Dafora’s, Kykunkor, or the Witch Woman, started out playing to small audiences and then became a great success ending its run on Broadway at the Little Theatre and inspiring future works of George Gershwin. It is unfortunate that this work has been forgotten and not given the credit that it appropriately deserves since it is a great illustration and “positive” model for African dance and music.

JJ Janikis
3 November 2009