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Performers in dress room  before

 Black History Month African-Caribbean performance

at The Tabernacle in London

The domination of the African culture and an adaptation of the other cultures have played an eminent role in influencing the creation of the rich, unique indigenous Caribbean dance styles. 

 

 Stickfight / Kalinda dance


IndigenousTraditional Dance styles 
 

Kalinda ( stick fight),
Bele ( influenced by the minuet), 
Pique (French influence),
Jorop, Castillian,Sebucan or the Maypole,( Spanish influence), 
Jahroo ( Indian Stick dance), 
 Bongo ( West African influence which  depicts the celebration of the dead),
Limbo,
Calypso / soca,
Old Time Carnival characters  ( such as Jab Molassie,Dame Lorraine, Jab Jabs, Sailors),
 Reel and Jig, Quadrille (British influence),
 Shango 
 Social: Ska, Castillian, Pasea

And many other dances.  

 

We also fuse Caribbean dance styles with ballroom, street , contemporary and other cultures

 

SOME CARIBBEAN DANCE HISTORY

                                                                    PIQUE

 The flirtatious movements  of this French influenced dance with a strong African influence was used in a recent choreography. The dancers wore Spanish influenced costumes.

The dance piece was presented at a Costume Designing presentation at Croydon College.  The dancers used the movements to compare the romantic relationship between male and female and that of a bullfighter and the bull.