What is the significance of dance in Praisesong for the Widow?

Dance is an essential part of Avey's African heritage.
Remember that Avey's great-aunt Cuney did not perform the Ring Shout dance properly. The
Ring Shout hails from a West African dance pattern, but Aunt Cuney was in a Christian
church. Marshall is showing how the West African tradition was "translated" as it moved
across to the Americas and changed through the years.

Avey
finds the Ring Shout insignificant as a child, and her lack of knowledge of her heritage
is a journey she must make both physically and spiritually. At the Big Drum dance
towards the end of the novel, Avey understands the different dances of the different
tribes that have been preserved, and dances her own version of the Carriacou Tramp.
Lebert Joseph says that she is an "Arada." She will now teach others about their
heritage in South Carolina.