When you look into the history of Charleston dancing Gullah is a word that keeps cropping up. Originally Gullah (or Geechee) was the name of a creole language spoken by enslaved West Africans in the rice growing areas of North and South Carolina, Georgia, and Northern Florida. Eventually the name of the language was also applied to the people themselves–a close knit community that still exists today.
It’s often suggested that the enslaved people working in this area of the US might have had a bit more freedom to play traditional music and to congregate in groups, possibly because rice growing was seen as a more specialised skill. This may have helped them to hold on to more of their cultural heritage and pass it on to future generations. The people who became known as Gullah wouldn’t have come from just one area of West Africa but from many different places making Gullah a uniquely American culture with West African origins.
The people who would become known as Gullah brought with them songs, musical styles, dances and other art forms from their homelands in West Africa. All of these traditions came together and were mixed with local influences–folk songs and stories, Christian religion etc. Out of this mix came the roots of blues and jazz music as well as African American dance forms including verncular jazz and Charleston.
Gullah cultural festivals are still held today in the South Carolina Lowcountry and the Gullah language is still spoken and is now being taught at Harvard. A lot of what is referred to today as AAVE (African-American Vernacular English) comes from Gullah.
Swing Dance Leeds 