MODERN MINSTRELSY in Afro-Latin dance

I toured the Afro-Latin festival circuit for many years. There was a time when organizers would ask instructors to do "improvised" line-ups, dress up in funny outfits and "entertain" the crowds. Some instructors were very good at it and were able to draw a crowd and clown about during these line-ups. The organizers loved it and asked for more. At some point even inserted it in the working contracts. 

To create audience participation is a skill. It's also very much part of the African-diaspora dance culture and something I grew up watching my Mum and others in the family do well to get other people involved in a dance-off or get the party moving. Nothing bad there. Simply, I always saw that as something truly done out of impulse, once you're caught in a space with people with "good vibes". I've also organized party events for over 10 years and this was the sort of thing that would happen naturally, a sort of combination of the DJ building up the music, people responding to it and the right time of the night. It was organic, and it could be started by anyone, teacher or student.

In the festival circuit it didn't feel this way. It felt like a "demand" by the organizers, who were mostly white European/American/Asian. Sometimes it was even timed(!) and there was a very grey line between it being a paid activity included in a contract or something that was "expected" from the instructors. The latter happened more often I must say. 

Reading Katrina Dyonne Thompson's "Ring shout, wheel about" book it truly reflected new light into this practice and I finally understood why I had so much resistance to doing this sort of activity as part of a contract. I was able to do it, when I wanted, and when I did it, I did it fully heartedly and channelled Mr Motivator (another black man actually) to get the crowd going. But... I felt used, somehow. I could never truly explain why, but I felt like I was a clown and all my dance knowledge, experience and wisdom was thrown overboard and devalued in just one second in favour of an insignificant moment of "invisible minstrelsy" well performed to the masses from a smiling instructor. In fact, some of those "instructors" have long been favoured, better paid and well treated, often arriving late to their own booked workshops and still have their contracts renewed. I don't undermine their work in any way, these instructors prepared their line-up choreo, got the crowd going,  and that's no easy feat. 

BATUKE International festival - London 2015

What was fascinating to watch was that the importance and value of Afro-Latin dance forms was completely obliterated by a moment of "mass entertainment" and although the ability to create a moment of "dance contagion" releases and shares the type of energy not easily accessible by individual practice, It's clearly an aspect of the form that has been influenced by the historical staging of race through performance, continues to influence cultural interactions and remains a conflicting aspect of the practice. Promoters and organizers valued these activities often well above any other knowledge and steered the Afro-Latin festival circuit in this direction whereby it was no longer a space for dance exchange and celebration but for holiday poolside entertainment and this has damaged yet again the image and development of Afro-Latin dance forms.

 3 WAYS OF COMMUNICATING YOUR MAAP JOURNEY

At the final stages of the MAAP process you are required to present in various ways: a written essay, an artefact and an oral presentation. Basically you know you're probably not going to be very good in at least one of them (!), or maybe you are amazing anyway in which case congratulations in advance!

I've got to say that so far this is the bit that I've loved the most. Getting creative in different mediums and exploring ways in which I can resume my 18th month journey in a 3-minute piece is the kind of challenge that I like to accept.

At the start of this course I struggled so much to learn how to write academically and organize all of my thoughts in a page within a given structure. Around half-way I was excited to be able to make links between what I was reading and my practice. At this stage when I look back it actually feels like I could write another two essays on all the themes I unpicked and side reflections around the conversations I had.

“The Joy of Dancing” Watercolor, Johan Lowie

My chosen artefact is movement on film with text. I chose to focus on the ultimate conclusion of my journey and create movement and text simply around that. Sometimes less is more, they say. I'm excited and in the editing stage. I found yet another skill I absolutely love to do.

The oral presentation...yeah...I'm used to speaking publicly but not doing academic presentations, so I'm thinking of ways in which I can present comfortably, possibly with movement...and if it was face to face... I would probably get food in...and drummers...you know, getting all those learning styles in...yeah it would probably turn into a party...so I might just stick to a slideshow.

 SHOULD WE LISTEN TO STUDENTS IN DANCE?

It's been an absolute blast to discover literature that was completely unknown to me and realize how much of this related directly to my dance practice. I found myself testing ideas and thoughts after reading in my dance classes which albeit were mostly online, permitted a more theoretical approach as opposed to a focus only on the physicality of things.

I found myself discussing with students about the nature and quality of movement, listening to their opinions and gathering a very good idea on how they viewed their dance practice. Interestingly I also realized that the voices of students in dance are not often heard. Why was such an archaic system still in place and was it favouring a good training in dance as a whole?

I remember that listening to a dance teacher was key to dance class. In fact, I cannot remember many instances where I felt I could ask a question during dance class. Listening to the corrections of others was my way to work on my own development, but, what about dance teachers listening to students?...The average Ballet, Jazz or Contemporary class is very traditionally teacher led with very little contribution from students. Somewhat, it seems a very unbalanced learning process and if you add cultural factors and learning styles...you need to truly re-think your pedagogical approaches in a 21st century space.

Throughout the enquiry I found that the most important quality was in fact to be able to listen well, really pay attention to what participants did or didn't say, to observe their body language, their hesitances, their excitement and facial expressions (I was able to interview participants with the recommended social distance and with no masks). During this time I was teaching young people and implementing ideas I was engaging with in the literature, and it completely transformed my teaching experience, specially with the reduced interaction online. 

 HIP (GNOSIS)

I had a flashback while reading Melissa Blanco’s “She is Cuba” and her theory of Hip(g)nosis (Blanco Morelli,2015), or, the knowledge of the hip (movement). I had been the recipient of stage introductions in the past and referred to as the mulata with the hip moves. Almost as if any other part of my creative body movement wasn't attached and related to my hips. Firstly however here is a definition of the word I found for those not sure what mulata means.

mu·lat·to

  (mo͝o-lăt′ō, -lä′tō, myo͝o-)

n. pl. mu·lat·tos or mu·lat·toes Often Offensive

A person of mixed white and black ancestry, especially one having one white and one black parent.

---

[Spanish mulato, small mule, person of mixed race, mulatto, from mulo, mule, from Old Spanish, from Latin mūlus.]

These words were created during slavery times and are still utilized widely in Brazil, Portugal, Spain and Spanish and Portuguese-speaking countries. I grew up being called mulata or cabrita (this actually means small goat) without anyone batting an eyelid.

When a few years ago I asked a well known Afro-Latin dance company director why he was eating cookies called "negritos" so publicly, his reply was that he preferred them to the mulata biscuits.... This was a Portuguese based dance company that made its name globally on Afro-Latin dance styles. But, this is not a post about derogatory vocabulary on mixed race ancestry, however, it forms part of the subject in her book.

In her book she describes the objectification and dis-empowerment of the lives of mixed race women at the turn of the century in Cuba. I specially loved her mention the story of how so many of these women were hired to dance in dubious dance establishments in Havana merely on the strength of their complexion completely bypassing any talent or lack thereof.

The idea that the mulata embodied sensuality, beauty and sin was layered and posited her in a difficult position. However, the mulata and her sensual hip movement also utilized these gifts, outside perceptions and stereotypes to empower herself and navigate through society, in elites spaces and ultimately could steer her own path.

Observing how participants in this study emphasized and promoted “hip knowledge”  during the delivery of their classes motivated me to question further and understand the belief systems they carried forward.

Her book was a fresh take on the subject and has supported my understanding of yet another integrated stereotype in Afro-Latin dance cultures.