Thirteenth International Conference on The Arts in Society

Abstract

The medium of dance as performance and expression of political, social, and spiritual communication has historically played an integral role in the construction of cultural traditions. Thus, dance is a cross-cultural issue that incites comparison. This research compares the Chokwe Mukanda performance in Angola in the second half of the nineteenth century, with the Expressionist Totenmal performance in Germany in the early 1930s through historical and art historical research. The Chokwe utilized Mukanda as a means to enculturate the youth and embody ancestors to foster a sense of community. Similarly, Totenmal offered healing after WWI, advocated support of militarism and nationalism, and restored the sense of community to Weimar Germany. In either case, the performance serves as a fulcrum between the material world and ethereal universe, conveying the spiritual and emotional state of the respective societies during social and political crisis. Thus, perceived as different in Western English scholarship, both the Chokwe and German societies made use of dance and masking during significant social, political, cultural, and spiritual societal change.