Danses de Dogons, de Sanga, et de Bandiagara

Given to the museum by the estate of Anne Morgan, J. P. Morgan's youngest child, this is probably one of several French Government films she owned, as she had worked extensively with the French Government during World War I. The dances of the Dogon escarpments of Sanga and Bandiagara in Mali are the focus of this film. Three distinctive dances are highlighted and the costumes and masks worn in these dances are clearly seen. First, a simple dance is performed by women clothed in bandanas, long shirts and skirts. The next dance is an energetic circular cartwheel dance performed by a group dressed in skirts of leather strips; two of the performers are men costumed in carved animal masks and long fiber cloaks. The last performance is a fast parade of dancers wearing kanaga masks (representing birds) and dressed in the classic Dogon style. The film ends with a beggar impersonating a sorcerer. It is unfortunate that the image is blurred in this print of the film. The blur is also present in the negative, and probably resulted from poor developing.