Highlife - Pondogo (Ghana) These notes ©2015, Andrew Carnie. Originally taught in the USA by Kwasi Badu and Dick Oakes to the Aman Folk Dance Ensemble. Here's what Dick Oakes says about the dance in his notes (see the link to his notes below): Dick Oakes learned this dance from members of the AMAN Folk Ensemble (aka, AMAN International Music and Dance Company) of Los Angeles, California, and subsequently taught the dance to folk dancers around the United States. The Ashante drum specialist, Kwasi Badu, formerly of the University of Ghana dance performance group and instructor at the UCLA Music Department from the late 1960s to the early 1970s, taught motifs of the dance to AMAN for one of their performances. During the colonial period from the latter part of the 19th Century to the mid-20th Century, the West African local cultures were strongly influenced by the European colonizers. The amalgam of European social dance and the indigenous folk dance inevitably arose and is called by the general term "Highlife." Dances of this genre occur in a variety of tempos and rhythms -- the common denominator is that Western instruments are combined with African instruments to get a new hybrid music not much different in many cases from types evolved under similar circumstances in the West Indies. "Pandogo," the version described below, is a village form of Highlife from South Ghana that is composed principally of elements from the folk dances of Ewe, Ga, and Ashanti tribes of Ghana, with an admixture of Yoruba elements. Highlife is a musical genre that originated in Ghana in the 1900s and spread to Sierra Leone, Nigeria, and other West African countries by 1920. It is very popular in Liberia and all of English-speaking West Africa, although little has been produced in other countries due to economic challenges brought on by war and instability. Highlife is characterized by jazzy horns and multiple guitars which lead the band. The music on the recommended record is played by the AMAN Folk Ensemble and was learned from Kwasi Badu. The stress on drums and absence of European instruments is characteristic of the village situation in Ghana. Music: Festival FR4113; Sanna Longden CD 1: Folk Dance for Kids and Teachers. Meter: The dance is traditionally notated as 8/16, but to my ear the drum beats sounds more like 1,2,3,&4. The footwork only falls on the major beats (1,3,5,7 if it's counted as 8/16). I'm going to count it out here as 4 major beats per bar with extra counts as & counts. So in effect, the original counts of 12345678 are translated as 1&2&3&4& here. Formation:Individuals in a circle. Arms bent at the elbows, forearms parallel to the floor, Index fingers pointed at the floor. Introduction: 2 bars no action Part 1: Basic Step Bar 1: Touch R heel forward, elbows and shoulders push forward (1), Step R foot in place, elbows and shoulders pull back (2) Touch L heel forward, elbows and shoulders push forward (3), Step 4 foot in place, elbows and shoulders pull back (4) Bars 2-10: Repeat bar 1 9 more times. On bars 7-10 move slightly forward towards center. Part 2: Sawing Bar 1: with weight on both feet, turn knees to point to the R, and bounce four times, hands saw forward and back on each bounce. Bar 2: repeat bar 2 but with knees pointing to the left Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2. Part 3: Praying going down Bar 1: Putting hands in a praying position (palm to palm), repeat footwork of part 2, bar 1, but bending lower on each bounce. Bar 2: Repeat bar 1, but with knees pointed to the L, Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2. Part 4: Mixing Bar 1: With knees bent, put R hand up in the air, and L hand under R elbow. "stir" with the L hand. Bar 2: repeat bar 1 with opposite hands and with knees pointed to the L Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2 Part 5: Praying Going up Bars 1-4: repeat part 3, except straightening up. Part 6: Basic Step Bars 1-4: repeat bars 1-4 of Part 1, except backing up. Part 7: Small drum beating Bar 1: Step R to R (1), close L next to R with weight (2), Step R to R (3), touch L next to R (4); arms circle up and down one by one as if beating an invisible drum in front of you. Bar 2: repeat bar 1 with opposite footwork Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2 Part 8: Big drum beating/Side to side Bar 1: Step R to R (1), cross L over R (2), Step R to R (3), Kick L forward (4) arms are the same as in part 7 except much bigger. Bar 2: repeat bar 1 Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2 Part 9: Small drum beating Bars 1-4: repeat part 7 Part 10: Basic Step Bars 1-4: repeat part 6 backing up Part 11: Big Chicken In and Out Bar 1: Step R into the center turning body to face L (R shoulder to the center), put both hands on front of hips, pull elbows back (1), Pull elbows back again twice more (2,3), pause (4) Bar 2: repeat bar 1, but step out on R foot to put R shoulder pointing away from the center facing to R Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2 Bar 5:Step R into the center turning body to face L (R shoulder to the center), raise arms up so forearms are parallel to the ground, flap arms up and down (1), flap arms again twice more (2,3), pause (4) Bar 6: Step L into the center, turning body to face R, flap arms as in Bar5 Bars 7-10: repeat bars 1-4 Bars 11-14: repeat bars 1-4 of Part 6, backing up. (Note, this is what Karen Faust does in the video below, in Dick Oakes' notes, bars 5-6 are repeated, making this sequence 16 bars) Part 12: Swimming Bar 1: Bounce on both feet 4 times, bringing R arm over head as if swimming. Bar 2: repeat bar 1 with L arm swimming Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2 Bar 5: Using the same arm movements as Bar 1, jump on both feet four times moving forward. Bar 6: Using the same arm movements as Bar 2, jump on both feet four times moving forward. Bars 7-8: repeat bars 5-6 Bars 9-12: repeat bars 1-4 Bars 13-16: repeat bars 1-4 of Part 6 backing up par 13: Waving Chicken/washing the windows Bar 1:Step on R towards center, turning to face R, R shoulder into the center, bounce 3 times while waving R hand in front of body as if you're washing the windows. Bar 2: repeat bar 1 with opposite footwork and waving L hand Bars 3-4: repeat bars 1-2 Bars 5-7: repeat bars 1-3 of Part 6, backing up Bar 8: stomp on R foot forward, pushing R hand forward in a "stop" motion.