What are the four aspects of African black dance?

African black dance is embodied in four aspects: religious dance, imitation dance, symbolic dance and mass dance.

(1) Religious dance: It is often performed in religious sacrificial activities, such as praying for gods, offering sacrifices to ancestors, praying for a bumper agricultural harvest, and prospering people. This kind of dance often appears in the form of mask dance. It includes worship dance, exorcism dance, funeral dance, rain praying dance, blessing fishing and hunting dance, etc.

(2) Imitation dance: African dance mostly imitates farming, hunting and war activities. For example, the "Kumbramufu Dance" in Congo is a dance that imitates hunting animals. Ekongo dance is a kind of dance that imitates war. African imitation dances are vivid, such as rain dance. Africans spill a ladle of water on the ground, and then people use dance steps to simulate the sound of slowly falling raindrops, use fast dance steps to simulate raindrops getting bigger, and use the dynamic movements of women's dance skirts to express downpours.

(3) Symbolic dance: Symbolic dance embodies people's certain wishes, such as praying for a bumper harvest, rainfall, successful hunting and seeking children and grandchildren. For example, in the gourd dance of Kuiwala Festival, dancers pass new green gourds to each other and throw them into the air from time to time. At this time, the gourd has become a symbol and sacred object thrown by people. It contains religious thoughts and is a container for storing magical power.

(4) Mass Dance: This is a collective activity for Africans to vent their excess energy and have fun through rhythmic sports.