A bélé is a folk dance and music from Martinique, St. Lucia, Dominica, Haiti, Grenada, Guadeloupe, and Trinidad and Tobago. It may be the oldest Creole dance of the creole French West Indian Islands, and it strongly reflects influences from African fertility dances. It is performed most commonly during full moon evenings, or sometimes during funeral wakes (Antillean Creole: lavèyé). The dance is also popular in Saint Lucia. In Tobago, it is thought to have been performed by women of the planter class at social events in the planters' great houses, and the dress and dance style copied by the enslaved people who worked in or around these houses . The term bélé also refers to a kind of drum found on Haiti, Dominica, Martinique and Saint Lucia. History The bélé dance formed from a combination of traditional African dance styles and Caribbean influences due to the changed landscape, musical instruments, and tumultuous lifestyle. Origin In Africa, the bélé dance had origins in Benin at festivals associated with mating and fertility. A male and female (in Creole, the "Cavalier" and the "Dam") show off their dance skills to the other dancer, hinting at their sexuality in chants led by a "chantuelle" meaning singer, with the refrain or "lavway" given by a chorus of spectators. The cavalier and dam take turns dancing. The cavalier first demonstrates his prowess, then the dam reacts. The cavalier again courts with the dam, and both dance in the wildest part of the bélé. In the West Indies, the dance incorporated into work and periods of festivity and lamenting. Because the bélé dance ranged through so many diverse occasions and life-events, the dance and music continued to evolve over time from slavery into freedom. The French named the dance "Belaire," or good air, which shortened to bélé. Dominica bélé All bélé are accompanied by an eponymous drum, the tanbou bélé (also called tambour bélé or bélé drum), along with the tingting (triangle) and chakchak (maracas). The drum is a membranophone that is played by hand and is made of a haolowed tree trunk covered at one mouth by goat skin, stretched with rope and pegs. The drum rhythm follows the steps of the single dancer who performs in a circle of spectators who form the chorus or chantuelle. In all pieces dancing is directed towards the tambour bélé. The dance bélé is noted for the profound