Eating Disorders: An Analysis Of Josephine Baker's Dance

The sound of the netted string of beads rattling against the hollowed gourd as the player passionately shakes it rouses the entity to take control of its “horse”. Anyone can clearly see that some of the dancers have indeed been taken over by what certainly seems to be a force separate from themselves. What begins as a violent shaking eventually refines itself to an elegant dance that extends from the contractions of the pelvic section all the way to the toes and fingers. Conga drums simultaneously resonate their staccato beats mimicking the tones and inflections of the human languages of Africa. Soon the dancers’ moves start to evoke a particular feeling of refinement and elegance, even coquettishness and seduction. The dancers’ hips sways, and perhaps one dancer’s hand will move in pantomime over the head simulating flowing hair. As the while, a singer is calling out an assortment of praises and insults in a creole version of the Yoruba language to the Yoruba deity of love, Oshun. This will hopefully get her attention enough to completely descend upon the dancers. The dancers that are being affected in this manner are initiated priests or priestesses of the Afro-Caribbean religion commonly known as Santeria. Eventually, these dancers …show more content…
She began performing at a very young age in vaudeville performances in the Midwest. Due to the racial tensions in the USA, she moved to France and began performing on stage. She cleverly offered stereotypes but also mixed in elegant African dance. Baker had arrived in Europe during a time that had recently seen Africans displayed like animals in a zoo. Mathew Pratt Guterl observes that her performances offer a pastiche in that they exploit the stereotypes long associated with “savages”. He notes that she became everything associated with the third world. He also notes her gifted dancing abilities and her ability to shine in elegance despite all of