Throughout history, the “Baamaaya” which is traditional dance from Ghana has overtime changed. This dance was popular among the Dagbamba people who lived in Ghana. “Baamaaya” translates to “Fields are wet”. This dance originated as a dance for rain. There were many different reasons as to why this dance was performed. Some examples of this is that it would keep mosquitos away at night, it referred to a popular dish of beans wrapped in leaves, and the men would twist their hips in the dance to make fun of women. The origin of this dance began after a crime against a women was committed. This resulted in the gods becoming angry and putting a drought over the land. As a result, the gods made the men dress like women and dance until the rain came back. The name “Baamaaya” came from a boy shouting it after the rain returned to announce that the fields were wet again. Today, this dance functions at funerals, festivals, and celebrations. The tempo that was once slow, has no become a fast tempo for the dancers. By having a faster tempo, it signifies that the song has now become a happier more festive dance. Men still reenact this dance, as well as instruments are still continued to be used. The men still dress as women. I think the changes that have happened are positive. Something positive is that the dance was originally used as a punishment to teach the men a lesson and is now used during festivals and celebrations. It is a way to celebrate the happiness that occurred after doing the dance.

Another piece we focused on was, “Branle des lavandieres”, otherwise called “Washerwoman’s Branle”. This dance was based on a peasant dance that was preserved by Arbeau. The dance signified a washerwoman doing laundry on the riverbanks. During this time, it was common to scold the washerwomen, which is why the is a scold your partner section. Within the dance, the clapping represents the beating of laundry along the riverbank. During the time period this was created, it was important for people to know how to dance in order to meet a mate. It was believed that it would often attract a partner. So this dance was taken very seriously and often people would learn the dance very well. After watching the video the other day in class, we can see that today the dance is not taken seriously. It was performed by a group of high schoolers who seemed to not care and were dancing horribly. They seemed to be very lazy and did not present the dance well. If this dance was used to help find mates, the dancers who perform the dance today would not be able to find a mate. The similarity is that the dance is performed the same way and is still performed in a circle. There is a male and female partners and they all dance together. The music remained the same. The changes that occurred are negative because this dance use to be a very highly seen dance. People use to actually care about the dance and wanting to attract a partner.