Rhythm & Culture in Dakar
By Sophie Schouwenaar
The
first time I went to Senegal, I didn’t know anything about sabar
dancing nor drumming. So when my teacher in the second week of our
dance workshop proposed we dance sabar, I was not very enthusiastic.
A typical Dutch saying is what the farmer doesn’t know, he
doesn’t like. I remember quite well the drummers who started
playing and my teacher telling me to ‘just respond to your inner
dance impulse’. I didn’t know how to dance on these rhythms. The
only thing I heard was a lot of uncoordinated noise. Later on that
week we were invited to a baptème (a baptism ceremony). I was
dressed up by my teacher’s wife in an yellow grand boubou in which
I felt incredibly uncomfortable. The other Dutch lady who
participated in the workshop felt much more at ease. I was stuck to
my chair, intimidated and amazed by the women who seemed so passive
would jump up out of their chairs and give an amazing, acrobatic
performance. Everyone would start to scream and giggle when the other
Dutch lady would jump in as well, apparently very much at ease in the
setting. Another reason why I clung to my chair and during the whole
baptème I wouldn’t get off it.
About
two years later, after having danced in Mali and Burkina Faso where I
would always miss the sabar drums and the explosiveness of its dances,
I went back to Senegal. This time fully equipped with a lot of
experience in sabar-dancing. During my stay in Toubab Dialaw (on the coast just south of Dakar) where I
took classes with one of Africa’s most renounced choreographers
Germaine Acogny, I got to know her
dancers very well. At the same
time I entered my master’s phase in which I would have to make
decisions concerning my research. I already wrote my bachelor’s
thesis on dance, but in a very theoretical way. Now I decided that
this would be my year, in which everything would come together. So on
the third of May 2006, almost a year later, I went to Senegal to do
my master’s research on sabar dancing after preparing my research
proposal for months. Arriving at the airport, inhaling Senegal’s
air, being surrounded my Wolof speaking people… The first thing
that went through my mind was: home!
I
stayed in Yoff, kind of a suburb on which Dakar is in fact founded,
where I rented a small room with a tiny window with only a mattress.
Only months later I bought myself an air conditioner. I still don’t
understand why I let myself suffer by waking up every day bathing in
sweat. I chose Yoff because my family in law lives there. I thought
that at the same time as my research, I might as well take the
opportunity of really getting to know these lovely people. Also, Yoff
is a relatively quiet place (compared to Pikine for example) and I
knew it already from last year’s visit when I met this family. My
eventual plan of doing my research in Toubab Dialaw changed
completely. I figured that I already knew the people and
the village, and that it would be an interesting place since it is a
fishermen’s village where traditional gender-patterns are clearly
observable. But I discovered while being there that first of all
there were no sabar events taking place in Toubab Dialaw. Second,
nothing happened, except for preparing thieboudien (Senegal's national dish - a rice & fish stew) every single day.
Bottom end is that I got very homesick (that is to Dakar) and I
couldn’t wait to go back there in the weekends to dance in the
tanebeers (nightly sabar events) and nightclubs. Plans are made to
change I was told during my preparation courses on the University of
Amsterdam.
.... Stay tuned next week for Part II.....
About the author:
Sophie Schouwenaar is a 24 year old Netherlands native. She started dancing sabar three
years ago, after being a salsa dance instructor and a djembe dancer. She has traveled
all over the world to dance. Her experiences finally came together during her
research period in Dakar, where she spent 4 months researching sabar.
She is now a master in anthropology and graduated from the Universiteit
van Amsterdam in January 2007.
Her documentary about Sabar can be viewed by following this link in Root: Sabar Dancing
You may reach Sophie via email: sophieschouwenaar@hotmail.com
Portrait of Germaine Agogny by Antoine Tempé
Images courtesy of L'Ecole des Sables & Sophie Schouwenaar
Sophie, is there a Sabar dance group here in Holland I could visit with my 2 daughters 7 & 12?
Just heard about sabar from a friend in N.Y. who dances and she told me that there is a big group in Holland???
any info would be appreciated,
thanks,
lisa v.d.Plas
Posted by: Lisa van der Plas | April 26, 2010 at 06:04 AM
Hello! Thank You for sharing this information with us!
I am an elementary school dance teacher in America. I am going to teach my young students about Sabar dance. Can you please point me in the direction to some valuable resources as far as websites, books or movies you think would be helpful?
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