Iris Professional Practice Blog

RE: GENERATIONS CONFERENCE 2019 - dance and the digital space

Attending Re:generations conference this weekend was another positive step towards understanding the context within which Dance of the African Diaspora ( DAD) has developed in Britain and where it currently sits in UK Dance.

The Lowry is a beautiful building in the middle of new industrial complex in Salford - Manchester. The building in very sculptural, navigates in a kind of spiral, assuming various shapes on the way and is clad in stainless steel and glass. The area is surrounded by water canals, trees and new builds.
It was in this beautiful setting that Re:Generations conference came together with various national and international artists and partners willing to share their experience and discuss possible solutions for the challenges in the DAD sector.

I attended Day 2 and quickly wished I could have participated in at least another day out of the 3 day conference.
The Keynote from Dr Thomas F. DeFrantz was inspiring and forward thinking and stimulated plenty of self - reflection. There was some discord as to the use of the word Afrofuture but overall it was an enlightening talk.
The Mapping research report was presented by Dele Meiji Fatunla, Jeanefer - Jean Charles, Heather Benson and Mercy Nabirye FRSA WLF. The research data was detailed and thorough and pointed our how digital platform offer opportunities to connect, archive legacies and promote to new audiences. Some of the results seemed to be uncomfortably familiar for many of the different generations of artists present which provoked the question of what has exactly changed in the DAD sector. We broke out into groups to discuss various areas such as: Funding, Education, Marketing, Audience development and Legacy & Archiving. Having a personal interest in the latter I joined the artist Jonzi D who was leading the Legacy and Archiving conversation.

The time was short for such a key conversation. It was revealed that many elders that were part of DAD in the UK keep data and media about artistic work they've performed and/or developed "under their bed" (!). There is a trust factor in this process that doesn't seem easy to shake off. I pointed out that this is a serious issue in terms of legacy and education. As an artist, I trained and worked having the UK as a base. Throughout this time, despite being connected to various DAD artists of an older generation I was never exposed to the history of DAD in the UK and its artistic body of work. I have no knowledge of their legacies. This has a real impact to student development and outlook on dance. If students don't see the legacy of works of DAD how can they see themselves having a future in the sector?...How will artists in other fields see the DAD sector if it appears almost invisible?...There's an emptiness that needs to be filled as a matter of urgency. Solutions and ideas were put forward including the writing of books, digital libraries and a central point of access through membership or other.

I attended other conversations such as "Exploring cultral barriers to outreach and training programmes" with Dr Adesola Akinleye, Ann Williams, Dr Sandle Bourne, Beverley GleanMBE  and Thomas Presto.
Thomas Presto presentation was an eye opener on how an artist is using technology to map and collect movement data in the DAD sector and bridge science, technology and dance forms usually equated with tradition and "fluid' perceptions of precision, specificity and movement styles.
I must say though, and this WILL sound bias(!) , but, that Dr Adesola's presentation was my favourite. It felt to me that Dr Adesola just hit the nail on the head and actually talked about the real elephant in the room.
Dr Adesola discussed white privilege in dance, treating dance as property and used a beautiful metaphor of a manor house. The idea being that, there's a dance ball happening in the manor house, the ball is lit beautifully and has all these beautiful dancers, costumes etc...outside of the lit area though, the manor is dark and cold, specially to those who are not invited to the ball...

It was a great way to bring light to the existing barriers to DAD in education, performance, etc.
The reason I truly enjoyed Dr Adesola's talk the most is because I felt that, having attended various conferences in the genre I haven't seen any real commitment from institutions and gatekeepers to truly present long term solutions for change. I felt that conversations were in fact "too safe" at times.

Unfortunately human beings seem to need a degree of discomfort in order to truly push for change and bring about real learning and self development. It's a positive effort to create a safe space for conversation but if it's too comfortable, too safe, it will maintain the status quo and prevent us from moving forward. More than one of the artists at the conference confided in me with the same feedback. We're talking the talk but..are we walking the walk?...