#dinki mini

We've been losing touch with our tranditions but Jah bless to those who keep our culture alive. Never been able to hear the drums and not move. Goosebumps every time and if you're sensitive enough, you can just feel a brush with our ancestors.

Jamaican traditional dances falls roughly under three categories:

African derived, European derived and Creole, that is, a mixture of both types.

The African derived dances are mainly religious ones being integral parts of ceremonies of worship.  These dances take the ritualists into the realm the spiritual and heighten their readiness for possession e.g. Kumina, Myal and Pocomania.

Jamaica is indebted largely to the Maroon Communities for the preservation of these aspects of our African Heritage.

There are other African derived dances that were social in intent and which are still performed in Jamaica.  These include Etu, Quadrille and Maypole which though originally of religious significance, is now largely social.  The dances which accompany work songs and ring games also fall into this category are examples of social dances that are of European origin and have kept their popularity throughout the years.

The Creole dances that were created in Jamaica tend to borrow elements from both European and African cultures e.g. Johnkannu/Jonkonnu - the oldest and most popular, Bruckin's, Pukkumina and Revival.

Bruckins

Bruckins is a member of the creolised group of traditional dances.  As with Jonkonnu, the dance reveals a unique mixture of African and European influences.  The Bruckins party is a stately, dipping-gliding dance typified by the "thrust and recovery" action of the hip and leg.  It was formerly done to commemorate the Emancipation of slaves on August 1, 1838.  The form and content of the dance, with Red and Blue Sets competing, is reminiscent of 19th century plantation Jonkonnu and the Set Girls' parade.  The movement was said to have been derived from the Pavanne, a European court dance of the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries.  The Pavanne originated in Italy.

In Bruckins, the pomp and ceremony of British royalty is mixed with African dance performance practices.  The dance take the form of pageant - a bright processional parade of Kings, Queen, courtiers and other gentry.  The movement, however, is mainly African derived; the jotting forward of the pelvis, use of bent knees, flexed foot, tilted back torso and bent arms are all elements attributable to the dances of West Africa.

Bruckins party would usually begin late in the evening. Dancers, formed in two sets, would proceed from one house to another, parading their costumes and displaying their dance skills.  The set was parted into two, one in red and the other in blue, consisting a King, Queen and courtiers known as grand-sons and grand-daughters, sergeants, soldiers, pages.  This was a direct imitation of what the newly-freed slaves saw as the Royal Family and their military complement.

The two sets are rivals and often kept their costumes a secret until day of the celebration.  The queen of each set would first come out and have the dance competition for the duration of one song to see which would "bruck" the better.  Following this there would be a Tea-Time session.  This session, today, is very uncommon.

Bruckins includes music from the drum, knocking of the sticks, a fife and singing songs.  The drummers and singers do not dance but move with the procession.  Today Bruckin's is found mainly in Portland, the eastern section of the island.  The coordinated culture is however kept alive by the Jamaica Cultural Development Commission through festivals.

Dinki mini

Dinki mini is mainly found in St. Andrew, St. Mary and St. Ann.  It is a member of the Wake Complex of traditional dances.  Dinki mini is performed on the second to the eighth night of the traditional ninth night observances.  These sessions are primarily lively and celebratory in nature and are geared to cheering the bereaved.  Dancing in couples and sing lively "mento" type of music occur for the first few nights.

By the sixth to the seventh night, Ring games, Anansi stories, riddles dominates the proceedings.  The ninth night is climaxed by rituals designed to send off the "mature" spirit properly.  It is related to the Gere practices best known on the western end of the island.