As an aspect of discovering Gabon, learners can be encouraged to explore various elements of African life and culture.
Learners could:
- Watch the dance/ drumming skills videos and practise elements of this performance work in class. This could be done over a period of time, to be decided by the practitioner.
- Choose a range of movements/ drumming techniques and develop their own dance sequences/drumming sequences.
- Research the origins of African dance and present findings to the class. These websites might help:
- African dancing
African dancing has both historic and social traditions.
- History of African dance
African dance has traditionally played an essential role in the culture of tribes.
- Find out about some famous drummers/ African musicians and how and why African drumming has influenced music world-wide.
See other drumming videos on YouTube.
- African drumming lesson - marketplace
In this YouTube video, Hope Academy teaching artist Toeknee Bailey demonstrates the two rhythms that make up 'Marketplace'.
- African drumming lesson - Luba
In this YouTube video, you can find out more about the rhythms that make up 'Luba'.
Work collaboratively or as individuals to discover some African folk tales and use the African drumming and dance sequences within the acted out stories.
For ideas on making African masks to enhance your work: see the Arty factory website.
For ideas on African folk tales, see the Africa website.
