Goli (dance)

Goli is a traditional African dance and masquerade of the Baoulé people of the Ivory Coast.

It was adopted by the Baoulé between 1900 and 1910, perhaps in response to the disruption caused by European colonialism.

Today it is the dominant traditional dance form, gradually replacing all others.

[1] The two dancers in a goli wear four different types of traditional masks in a prescribed order: first the disc-shaped kple kple [ja], then the antelope-and-crocodile-inspired goli glen, then the ram-horned kpan pre and finally the human-faced kpan with crested hair.

At each stage, one mask is "male" and another "female", although the differences between them are subtle, since they represent aspects of one individual.