History of Bele Folk Dance

Bele dance originated in West Africa; slaves continued and added to the dance in the West Indies

The Bele dance incorporates traditional music and movements stretching back to traditional slaves brought from Africa to the Caribbean. The dance, characterized by flowing motions, colorful costumes and bold steps, blends traditional African dance into an Afro-Caribbean flair.

Slave Roots

In 1510, the first sizable shipment of slaves--around 250 Africans--arrived in Hispaniola from Spain. The enslaved Africans, in the Dominican and other Caribbean islands, brought dances from their West African homeland to the West Indies. The bele dance formed from a combination of traditional African moves and a Caribbean traits due to the changed landscape, musical instruments, and tumultuous lifestyle.

Original Significance

In Africa, the Bele dance had origins in festivals associated with mating and fertility. A male and female (in Creole, the "Cavalier" and the "Dam") show off their dance skills to the other dancer, hinting at their sexuality in chants led by a "chantuelle" meaning singer and the refrain or "lavway" given by a chorus of spectators. The French named the dance "Belaire," or good air, which shortened to Bele.

In the West Indies the dance incorporated into work and periods of festivity and lamenting. Because the Bele dance ranged through so many diverse events and life-events, the dance and music continued to evolved over time from slavery into freedom.

Terms & Other Names

As the dance moved throughout the Caribbean islands, the dance adopted new names and moves as it passed along. In the French Caribbean, in northern Martinique, the dance is known as the "Bele Lino" or "Bele Lisid." As a set-dance, or dance with layered moves and sections, it comprises the belia, the gwanbele, and the bidjin bele movements. Danced to the bele drum, the dance is regarded as a "rural" or folk dance.

Music & Instruments

The Bele folk dance incorporates "call and response" songs known in Creole as "Lavway" that is used in Bele. The traditional dance incorporates the fiddle, accordion, banjo and African drums. Goatskin, stretched across hollow wooden frames carved from tree trunks and sugar factory casks, formed original drums or '"gro kas'" in the French territories.

Modern Bele Folk Dance & Music

Caribbean Carnival performers continue to celebrate Bele folk dance and music. Women wear brightly colored dresses with large, flowing skirts that add power and engaging visuals to the rhythmic dance.Some twentieth century music styles emerge from Bele dance and music like forms of calypso, zouk, soca, and reggae,

References

• Tabankacrew: Caribbean Dance Index (Terms)
• Lennox Honychurch: Mas Dominique: A History of Carnival
• Muraldo D.C.: Dance
• Rhapsody Revue

Resources

• Smithsonian: Folkways: Tracks
• Island Mix (Video)