MAAS (Xitsonga) / Ehansi ka Senthara ya M.E. R. Mathivha ya Tindzimi ta Afrika, Vutshila na Ndhavuko / This study attempts to describe and understand the nature of Xangani traditional dances in Chiredzi District of Zimbabwe. Regrettably for the Xangani not so many literal works have been produced on their dances and it is this lack of documentation that has created gaps. This research has been designed to narrow such notable gaps within the Xangani culture. In this research the major prevalent among the Xangani people, the socio-economic and political values of dances as well the instrument, dress and music that accompany the Xangani traditional dances shall be looked into significantly. To achieve this, a sample of the population was studied and the results were inferred to the generality of the whole community population. Permission was sought from the community leaders and sampled people were interviewed, their views were collected through observation. The research was triangulate to minimize bias and also ensured that efficiency was enhanced. The study considered desktop data as well as written and oral tradition as sources of information on this research.

Against the backdrop of the 1933 and 1959 Cuban Revolutions, dance became highly politicized as performers interacted with the state and expressed ideas choreographically about race, gender, and social change. Starting in the 1930s, citizens invested in ballet as a means for cultural progress. In the 1940s and 1950s, a growing cadre of ballet professionals and their supporters advocated for the government to subsidize the form. Simultaneously, carnival, cabaret, and concert dancers sparked widespread discussion about nation and racial formation, specifically the place of blackness and whiteness in Cuba. As a result, performers and patrons established the political valence of dance as means for reflecting on larger questions about self and society. After 1959, dancers adapted to the regime change while pursuing longstanding projects. Ballet dancers performed aggressive choreography in fatigues, along with traditional ballets from Europe and Russia, as part of their revolutionary repertoire. Dance teachers built upon previous pedagogical efforts and contributed to new social engineering projects to “improve” Cuban youth. In parallel, modern and folkloric dancers choreographically critiqued patriarchy and race relations in a supposedly post-racial society. These performances developed a Cuban way of dancing and watching dance, the latter characterized as engaged and talkative. Dancers and publics built a vibrant establishment that eventually transcended national borders with Cubans dancing and teaching abroad in the 1970s and 1980s. Meanwhile, dancers contributed to the growing tourist industry and pushed for institutional changes at home in the late 1980s. In 1990, Cuba entered a crisis that destabilized the relationship between dance and politics that had developed over the previous six decades. During this period, different dance forms including cabaret, carnival, ballet, modern dance, and folkloric dance received various levels of public and state support. I argue that there were important continuities in dance hierarchies with ballet holding the greatest cultural and political capital starting in the 1930s. I also contend that dancers of different genres employed similar tactics to navigate sociopolitical shifts and expressive parameters across the decades. They consistently shaped dance institutions and asserted the value of their work to revolution and nationhood. This social and cultural history of Cuban dance sheds light on the reach and limitations of state power in Cuba as numerous constituencies engaged with the revolution, maneuvering for agency within a limited public sphere.

The primary objective of this thesis is to review literature written about poi in order to construct an historical overview of poi from pre-contact Maori society until the 1920s. The mythological and Polynesian origins of poi, traditional and contemporary materials and methods used to make poi, early travellers, explorers, and settlers accounts of poi and two case studies on the use of poi in the Taranaki and Te Arawa areas will be included in this thesis. The information will be used to show the changes in poi that have occured since Maori and European arrival to New Zealand until the 1920s.

Nga mahi a Tane-rore me Te Rehia (traditional Maori performing arts) is one of the most visible aspects of Maori culture. Traditional Maori performing arts is one of the key elements seen on the marae and it marked the first experiences between the Maori and European explorers. However, since the arrival of tauiwi (foreigners) the art has evolved, largely as a result of outside influences. Many of the changes that have been introduced to the art have been a product of the struggle of Maori to maintain their language and customs, despite the onslaught of cultural domination. An example of one such change is the introduction of a Western style competition, that is, a formal style of competition that includes judges, assessment criteria and/or competition rules, and prizes. This thesis will explore the evolution of traditional Maori performing arts with particular reference to how this traditional art form has been affected by the 'Western' notion of competition.

published_or_final_version / Education / Master / Master of Education

This study investigated children's attributions for their performance in creative dance and folk dance. Eighty-six grade 5 and 6 children from a suburban elementary school participated in five creative dance and five folk dance lessons as part of their regular physical education program. After participation in each dance type, children completed a questionnaire which assessed their perceived success and attributions for their performance. After rating their perceived success in creative/folk dance, children gave an open-ended attributional statement for their performance, and then scored their statement along the four causal dimensions (personal control, locus of causality, stability, external control) (Weiss, McAuley, Ebbeck, & Wiese, 1990). Thirteen dance lessons were videotaped and the teacher's behavior was analysed. Results showed that children in both creative and folk dance tended to: (a) perceive their performance as successful, and (b) make functional attributions by attributing their performance to factors which they perceived as being personally controllable, internal, and not under the control of other people. Results indicated no significant effects of dance type or gender for perceived success and the four causal dimensions. However, two significant effects were found for grade, as the grade 5's perceived their performance to be more successful than the grade 6's, and also attributed their performance to factors that were less under the control of other people. Results from children's open-ended attributional statements and the observational recordings of the teacher's behavior supported the notion that creative dance and folk dance are two distinct forms of dance. The overall results appear to have positive implications with respect to the influence of creative dance and folk dance on the motivation of children. The findings therefore support the inclusion of dance in elementary physical education programs.

This study investigates the content of izigiyo (specified personified solo dance songs) texts that Zulu women perform at social occasions in KwaQwabe, a rural area near KwaDukuza (Stanger) in Northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Though this study focuses on izigiyo, the KwaQwabe have different oral performances that are performed at specific social occasions. In the KwaQwabe area there lives people who practise subsistence farming. The common crops that they (especially women) grow are maize, beans, groundnuts and imifino (herbs). The cattle and goats that the KwaQwabe men keep are mostly slaughtered for the amadlozi rituals. The study proposes that izigiyo as oral texts are largely responses to issues of heritage, culture, women abuse and domestic violence that lead to pent-up emotions, envy, witchery, gossip, and malpractices that can destroy a community-oriented life-style (Turner, 1998) that features in most African communities. The study hypothesises that Zulu women of KwaQwabe need to be treated with dignity and inhlonipho (respect) within the parameters of the Zulu tradition (Msimang, 1975). The study explores issues surrounding the izigiyo performance in order to establish whether Zulu women have always been silent (Bukenya, 2001) when it comes to issues that affect their lives, pertaining to issues that impinge negatively on their lives (Gunner and Gwala, 1991). The intended receivers of the messages (Ndoleriire, 2000) are always implied in the izigiyo texts and aim at serving as social regulators (Gumede, 2000). The language of izigiyo is in most cases metaphorical so as to avoid confrontation. In the midst of the izigiyo expression men and women relay their perceptions, experiences, and feelings about the way of life in their families and communities at large. This study, however, limits itself to the izigiyo texts that are enacted by Zulu women and does not include men’s. / Thesis (Ph.D.)-University of KwaZulu-Natal, Durban, 2009.

Thesis (M.Ed.)--York University, 2004. Graduate Programme in Education. / Typescript. Includes bibliographical references (leaves 152-157). Also available on the Internet. MODE OF ACCESS via web browser by entering the following URL: LINK NOT YET AVAILABLE.

Proefskrif (MA)-- Stellenbosch University, 1985. / No abstract available

The selection of the subject "The effect of European Festivals on American Entertainment" was prompted by an assignment in a College of the Pacific Summer School course, "Supervision in the Elementary School." The project was the planning of a patrictic program in an immigrant community. Each nationality represented in the class was to provide a national impression of the homeland of his ancestors, by means of costume, song, and dance typical of the country. After an hour of very interesting entertainment which gave an introduction to the background of the foreign members of the class, all lustily sang "America," led by the Spirit of Freedom, whose lineage could be traced back to the Fathers of the American Revolution. That imaginary class, composed of many nationalities, was really a miniature of our nation which is referred to as "The melting Pot." In order to keep this thesis within bounds, investigations have been limited to six European countries --- namely, Greece, Rome (and modern Italy), England, Germany, France, and Spain. We in America have a tendency to hold a satisfied opinion of things American, forgetting that the basis for many of our so-called "American" customs comes from distant shores. Therefore it is rather enlightening to take such a universal celebration as Christmas and learn that very little of our "American" Christmas really originated here. In regard to the adaptations of the ancient festivals found in the United States and their influences on both the native and foreign population here, it has been a revelation to me to see how varied and numerous have been the references to them. Without the investigation and study which I have made on the subject, allusions made to its various phases on the radio, in lectures, in conversations, in current literature, and in advertising, would have passed by un-noticed.