Black Dance in London, 1730-1850

Examines the importance of dance in African culture and analyzes why and how African dance survived the Atlantic crossing and the traumatic experiences of the slave trade before finally taking root in the Caribbean - where plantation slaves learned, used, and adapted European dance forms.

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The survival of African cultural traditions in the New World has been a subject of academic study and controversy for many years, particularly the traditions of African dance, music, and song. Yet in the midst of all this controversy, the dance culture of blacks in London has been largely neglected. This book attempts to fill that void in the academic literature by examining the history of black dance culture in London during the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries.It begins by examining the importance of dance in African culture and analyzing why and how African dance survived the Atlantic crossing and the traumatic experiences of the slave trade before finally taking root in the Caribbean - where plantation slaves learned, used, and adapted European dance forms. It then looks at how these dance traditions were transplanted and transformed once again, this time in mid-eighteenth century London, where a growing black community carried on the newly creolized dance traditions of their Caribbean ancestors. After examining the development of these black communities and looking carefully at their Caribbean origins, the book then sets out to analyze the various ways in which the London black community used the quadrille and other dances as a means to establish a unified self-identity, to reinforce their group dynamic, and to critique the oppressive white society in which they found themselves.