Ballet and traditional Zulu Indlamu dance come from very different origins, but both date back to the 17th century and began with royalty. When colonization took place in South Africa, ballet was introduced. Even though Indlamu dance was created in South Africa, ballet was the only dance performed in the major concert theaters because it was more highly valued and written about than any other dance form in the 1920s-1940s. This was due to South Africa's socio-political climate caused by colonialism and apartheid. Say no to plagiarism. Get a tailor-made essay on “Why Violent Video Games Should Not Be Banned”? Get the original essay According to Homan, when Italian Florentine Catherine de' Medici married French King Henry II, Italian and French cultures became integrated and this is where the history of ballet begins. (2010:1724) During the 16th century, France experienced many conflicts – which concerned civil and religious issues – the kings of France sought the arts to quell the violence that resulted from these conflicts. (Homan 2010: 1725) In the 17th century, ballet remained central around the court where the French Florentine queen Catherine de Medici increased the number of ballets performed at court and her son King Louis XIII became a great dancer and later his heir, King Louis. XIV. (Homan 2010:1727) To increase the authority of the king, the image and body of the king in the ballet became important since his body was considered indivisible and sacred. “He reigned,” the theorists asserted, “by divine right: he was already, by his birth and his blood, closer to the angels and to God. » (Homan 2010: 1728) King Louis XIV devoted himself to dancing. He danced in over forty major productions beginning in 1651, at the age of thirteen. He didn’t dance “just as a youthful adventure; it was a question of state. (Homan 2010: 1728) “These performances flattered his couriers and captured the hearts and minds of his people” (Homan 2010: 1728) King Louis XIV used noble dances to boost his confidence and ambition, in various performances such as the Ballet du Temps (1655) where he played the role of War, Europe, the sun and the god Apollo (evoking power and empire). (Homan 2010: 1728) “Under Louis XIV, dance became much more than a blunt instrument with which to display opulence and royal power. It made it an integral part of life at court, a symbol and requirement of an aristocratic identity so deeply rooted and internalized that the art of ballet would be forever linked to his reign. It was at the court of Louis that the practices of royal spectacle and aristocratic social dance were distilled and refined; it was under his auspices that the rules and conventions governing the art of classical ballet were born. (Homan 2010: 1728) He also founded "the Royal Academy of Dance to improve the standard of amateur and professional dance and to establish scientific principles for this art." » (Baker, Gaynor & Hilton 1981: 9) In the 17th century, while the beginnings of ballet were being performed in France, at the same time in South Africa, a new dance was flourishing called Indlamu. Another similarity between these two very different types of dances is that they both come from royal lineage. Ballet originating from the kings of France such as King Louis XIV and Indlamu, originating from the reign of King Shaka, renowned for being a great king and conqueror. “Zulu Indlamu dress was most publicized during the Shaka regime in the 1800s.” (Shawn Manyeneng, 2015) Even if these two dance phenomena were formed simultaneously inAt a time when there is a surplus of transcriptions and archives of the ballet and especially its history, there seems to be a dearth of writings on Indlamu dance. “Through colonialism, domination and economic exploitation, alongside systems of political control, systems of control were introduced. African culture has always been considered vicious and primitive, which caused Africans to flee their traditions and adopt Western cultures. Consequently, most of the traditions were lost and not preserved for future reference by African generations. Most of the available literature on traditional costumes focuses on colorful images and illustrations, without much supporting literature explaining the evolution of costumes and construction processes. (Shawn Manyeneng, 2015) So I had to do my research on what I could find about various elements of the dance form, such as the Indlamu costume, to support my work. When colonialism happened in South Africa in 1652, they brought their Europeans dancing with them. For Europeans, dance was a social form of communication, recreation and entertainment, just like folk or court dances. “Darwin's theories of evolution reinforced European attitudes of racial and cultural superiority. The culture of the indigenous black population was seen as simple, underdeveloped, and generally at a lower level of "civilization" than that of the European settlers. Their music and dance were considered primitive and unworthy of understanding or imitation. These attitudes persisted and are still found today. The ethnocentrism of much of the dance community has allowed them to see indigenous black dance as only "repetitive" and "boring", instead of learning to appreciate the structural subtleties, rhythmic complexity, complex footwork, sudden weight changes and the counterpoint of juxtaposes. body parts. Hence the lack of writing on traditional South African dances such as Indlamu, due to the settler colonialist attitude which resulted in a revulsion towards the culture of indigenous South Africans. (Glasser, 1991: 114-115) According to Manyeneng, the Zulu Indlamu dance originated from the battlefields. Later, it was a dance used to celebrate events such as the victory of a war and the inauguration of a king. (Shawn Manyeneng, 2015) This traditional dance was greatly influenced by King Shaka. "All cultural experts agreed that the strong warrior culture anchored in the history of the Zulu nation by the military and organizational abilities of Shaka played a major role in the evolution and development of the Zulu Indlamu costume ." (2015) “Originally, the Zulu Indlamu dance was a military exercise intended to teach and instill discipline in the men of the Zulu nation. It also prepared the members of the regiment for war (Asante, 2000: 68-69)” (Shawn Manyeneng, 2015). Much like ballet and the way King Louis “Zulu dance, and particularly war dance, served as a symbol of power representing self-control and domination (Brill, 1977: 113); as a result, the Zulu Indlamu dance originated from the war dances of Zulu warriors (Dlamini, 2008). (Shawn Manyeneng, 2015) Similar to the origins of ballet, which was performed by royalty such as King Louis XIII and King Louis XIV, royalty such as kings also performed. “The skin..