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Dogon Dance

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Dogon Mask Dance

Dogons are from Mali in West Africa. Dogon masks rank among the most respected within the world of tribal art collections and have influenced such Western 20th-century artists as Picasso and Braque, even the Cubist movement. The mask binds the Dogon people to the celestial world of heaven (where the afterworld exists) and Earth, which provides food, shelter and life.
An important Dogon tradition is the Dama or masked funeral dance. By masquerading behind masks, the dancers allow the souls of the deceased to escape to their final resting place and to join the ranks of their ancestors, thereby restoring order to the universe. Participation in the Dama is a great honor as it represents the final step in the passage from boyhood to manhood. Boys eagerly watch the infrequently performed ``Dama``, in anticipation of the day in which they may also participate in the dance. The village Elders, who are too old to endure the physical exertion of the dance, stand on the sideline, play the music, explain the meaning of the various masks, and keep the pace of the ritual going. The Dama is usually performed every five years or so. Another one is the ``Sigi`` The most significant celebration that take place every 60 years. The dancers of the sirige mask are considered the most skilled. They use their teeth to balance the 20-foot (6-meter) high mask, which is carved from the limb of a single tree. Dancers swing the mask in sweeping motions to represent the arc of the sun.The mask's design, a straight line, serves to connect the worlds of the sun and Earth through the conduit of the dancer and his body. Like all Dogon masks, the sirige belongs to the afterworld, the realm of where life and death meet. The skulls of the Dogon elders watch over a people barely hidden from a modern world just begin to comprehend that Africa is where human time began http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=whAY9R-_7ac 9` to 11` and 19’ to 20’. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jxKjSGpHhBg dance performance.
"Unique Dogon Culture Survives in West Africa." National Geographic. National Geographic Society, n.d. Web. 11 Mar. 2014.

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