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The Calinda was a voodoo dance brought
to Louisiana from San Domingo and the Antilles by slaves.
Considered
indecent by the respectable portion of the population, it was
officially banned throughout the State in 1843, but continued
to be performed for many years afterward.
An early version of the Calinda was danced only by men, stripped
to the waist and brandishing sticks in a mock fight while at
the same time balancing upon their heads bottles of water. As
soon as a dancer spilled a drop of his water he was banished
from the field. Later the Calinda degenerated into a thoroughly
lascivious performance.
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Mo té
ain négresse,
Pli belle que Métresse.
Mo té vole belle-belle
Dans l'armoire Mamzelle. |
I
was a Negress,
More beautiful than my mistress.
I used to steal pretty things
From Mamzelle's armoir.
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"Dansé Calinda, Bou-doum
Bou-doum, Dansé Calinda, Bou-doum Bou-doum,
Dansé Calinda, Bou-doum Bou-doum! Dansé Calinda,
Bou-doum Bou-doum!"
The Calinda Dance
By Definition |
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One of E.w. Kemble's
1885 conceptual drawings of what an earlier Congo Square
Dance, "The Love Song" may have looked liked.
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Bou-doum Bou-doum was a sound meaning
to fall down, when a Creole child took a tumble his mammy would
say, 'He make bou-doum bou-doum on the floor.'
They would amuse
a child when bathing him by jumping him up and down in the water,
saying, 'Ooh, the water is fine! You make bou-doum in the tub.'
The child would shout with glee and Mammy would clap her hands
and keep time with her feet, singing, 'Dansé Calinda!
Bou-doum Bou-doum!'
Belle-belle referred to any pretty article in
a woman's wardrobe: dresses, ribbons or trinkets, any particularly
feminine thing a slave girl might covet. Among
the Dansé Calinda songs were those on the absurd side
such as Jump, Bullfrog, Your Tail Will Burn.
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