Where Does African Body Percussion Come From?
You might think the answer to this question is rather obvious. But in fact body percussion has roots and origins in many cultures around the world. Many tribal dances on every continent use clapping, stamping and tapping as a way of making and enhancing music. Today there are many styles of body percussion, from hambone to step dance to stomp! Body percussion dancing is very popular in America, but not quite so well-known elsewhere. The form of body percussion that inspired Tribal Groove comes from the diamond mines of Southern Africa. The black workers were not allowed to talk, so they tapped and slapped their gumboots as a way of getting messages to each other. Later it evolved into a dance form that honoured their struggle. You can find out more about history of gumboot dancing at www.gumbootsworldtour.com. We learned this style of body percussion when we visited Swaziland in 1999 as part of a project linking schools. One of our friends there taught us lots of steps which we adapted
