SOCIAL DANCES & PROF. THOMAS F.DEFRANTZ
Having worked extensively on Afro - Latin partner dances over the years, I was part of the underground Salsa movement in the UK, I witnessed the birth of Mambo in London and was the first to showcase Kizomba in the UK. Being so connected to the underground scene allowed me to witness first hand how the movement grew, changed and morphed into its own identity in the UK.
I also observed how TV programs started utilising it, the difference between here and the US and UK dancers approach to class, learning and developing new dance skills as well as what brought students to the social dance floor during the last twenty years.
There's no doubt as to how much social dances influence mainstream dance forms so I'm particularly happy to attend the MAPP Symposium: Queering the Somatic with guest lecturer Prof. Thomas F. DeFrantz. My curiosity stems from the fact that I've heard about this Professor from various practitioners and he has various articles on the history and importance of social dances in America which tie in nicely with my field experience.
I've always thought that social dances are not given the importance they truly deserve in the spectrum of Dance as a whole, so, to have distinguished researchers dedicating their work towards this understanding and history is refreshing, specially with the added perspective of an African American point of view. When studying Social dances I often read mostly on the music construction but rarely on its history and socio - economic and somatic context.
Working through my AOLs, I'm reflecting on myself a lot, and, I've come to understand how context is so important in my dance practice. In order to fully embody any dance style I have always immersed myself in the movement, I've taken on the identity of what that movement represented to fully represent it in performance or when delivering a workshop.
Although the dances that I've studied and practice are not necessarily from the same historical branch, they certainly share similar challenges and approaches. Watching some of his videos and reading some of his articles truly opens up to the possibilities of research in the area of the dance forms I focus on and understanding also how to best identify and document my own findings.
I'm really looking forward to this opportunity presented by MAPP but first let's finish these AOLs!!
MA PROFESSIONAL PRACTICE BLOG
This is really interesting - In the past I have focused a lot on the primary focus of all art forms which was to unity communities, social dance has always been central to this process. My dance medium is western art dance and I struggle with how much of dances' unique ability to unite, my art form has rejected, creating instead something separate, a sceptical. I am sorry not to be able to attend the conference next week, to hear the lectures but it also it would have been great to meet other attendees. Please keep us up-dated on all you learn there. Good luck with the AOL’s still also finding my way through.
ReplyDeleteI know right? I think that's the only thing I miss, is to meet other students.
ReplyDeleteYes, western dance forms have distanced themselves from their own elemental nature and ability to bring people together. The separation from the audience, the separation from the elements, the separation between Dance, Music & Song has develop highly technical movement development but perhaps less of a holistic experience.