“Slave labor started in the 1500s, so Africans brought their dances with them to the North, Central, and South America, and the Caribbean Islands. On the west side these dance styles of Black ethnic groups merged with white dances, forming the extension of the African aesthetic in the Americas. Dance has always been an integral part of daily life in Africa. In the Americas, it helped enslaved Africans connect with their homeland keeping their cultural traditions alive.
Before enslavement, Africans used dance for many special occasions, such as a birth or a marriage, or as a part of their daily activities, dance affirmed life. After the Middle Passage, Africans in the Americas sang and danced while working as slaves, and as they converted to the religions of white-Europeans and indigenous people, they incorporated these traditions into these cultures. Blacks who worked in the colonies of Spain, Portugal, the Caribbean, and South America were given more freedom to dance than enslaved Blacks in North America. Many white-American slave owners barred Africans from most forms of dancing. Since lifting the feet was considered dancing, many dances included foot shuffling and hip and torso movement.”
