CONSTRUCTIONS OF FEMININITY IN SABAR PERFORMANCES

The sabar dances of the Wolof people are dominated by women, and therefore often considered a "female tradition" and by several researchers also a means of female emancipation. The liberation from the norms of everyday life within sabar dancing is however limited by the conventions of the sabar tradition itself and by notions of acceptable conduct for the social events where dancing takes place. Among the Wolof, the higher the social status of a person, the more restrained her public behavior should be. Although dance events break the rules of everyday life to some extent, a woman may still risk her reputation for being too eager to dance or by dancing in a way that is not considered appropriate for the specific event. The paper examines how femininity is actually constructed in sabar performances, what kinds of femininities are being embodied through dancing.