The Journey I
An Intersection between Community Dance and Social Activism
“The Journey I” is an Afro contemporary dance piece created by Creaheart Lab in collaboration with CoLab Dudley to celebrate black history month.The project addresses racial inequality and social injustice faced by the black community. When seeking to get a picture of the inequality and social injustice a good place to start could be a chart in this article. This brings together the hard evidence on ethnic disparities. Black people have twice unemployment rate of their white British peers, and are twice as likely to live in overcrowded housing. In addition, they are also much more likely to be stopped and searched by the police. (Heat & Richards 2020) Furthermore, A study carried out in 2016 found that applicants with typically black names were much less likely than those with standard British names to receive positive response from employers. The BLM movement founded in 2013 is a response to social injustice and violence inflicted on black communities. By combating and countering acts of violence, creating space for black imagination, and centering black joy, we are winning immediate improvements in our lives.https://blacklivesmatter.com
Black people have lived in Britain for millennia, contributing significantly to the economy and culture. Over the centuries they have also experienced hostility and exclusion.(Omar Khan 2020)
Research and Inspiration
Growing up listening to stories of struggles faced by black people after the colonial war(in Cape verde), helped me see through the lenses of the social trauma that still lives in all of us African descendants. The experience of black people in Post-colonial time is not necessarily less violent than the colonial, and nowadays far from entering the promised post–racial era, we are living through times where we have seen the rise of police brutality, racism and violence against black people.
I used my own experience to craft the piece story line, and took inspiration from black dancer and activist Pearl Primus, one of the pioneers of the use of movement as a way of social activism. The piece has also a symbology of a vortex trauma; a representation of a trauma formed through pain and rupture in black communities, the history constantly repeating itself, with black people living traumatic experience, leading to psychological trauma, low self-esteem, underachievement and deviance.
“Systemic racisms happens when structures or processes are carried out by groups with power, such as governments, business or schools that are implicated in the reproduction of racial inequality”. (Collins 2018)
The Creative Process
What does the creative process tell us about haw we recall our stories?
“An individual may implore, “ Persuade me with the logical power of the story. Convince me with the charm and appeal of your character. Let me believe you are speaking directly to me about vital experiences to my life”. (Aristoteles)
Moving the piece from imagination to the studio demands preparation and organisation. Through a process of movement research, rehearsal improvisation, and video recording, I selected movements and organised them into a sequence of storytelling, and pattern. The intention was to create an honest representation of what was in my imagination, the story I wanted to represent, and the social impact/transformation I want to achieve.
“The many layers of hurdle that a person of color is required to go through in order to make a presence, hold space, raise concerns and make their voice heard entails great amount of emotional and mental labor which are often unaccounted for.” (Jane Chane,2020)
Part I — Pearl Primus
Pearl Primus (born November 29, 1919, Trinidad -died October 29, 1994) Afro-American dancer choreographer and anthropologist, Primus was distinguished for her visceral approach to explosive movements full of energy and emotionally intensity. Her engagement in physical and intellectual investigation of movement and activism made her a pre-eminent example of dance for social change. Pearl Primus became one of the main characters for the revolution of civil movement in 1930/40 and was one of the first Afro American soloists who used movement as inspiration to convey emotions, power and cultural pride. By combining techniques from ballet, modern dance, African Caribbean dances and the black social dances, she created powerful movement “statements” and reached audiences of all colors and backgrounds to speak against racism and social injustice. https://www.britannica.com
Hard Times blues
To create “the Journey I” I took inspiration from the “Hard Time Blues” choreography/music. Based on an investigative process of social injustice, the piece was made to to protest sharecroping. Primus tells us a story that represents the desperation and anger for the political and cultural historical context. Her stories recounts the many paths she took on her way to accomplish her artistic vision, a vision that included her love for performing, her commitment to social and political change, and her desire to be a good ancestor and pass her knowledge and artistry on to later generations. https://www.numeridanse.tv/en/dance-videotheque/hard-times-blues
“I encourage you to tink about how your dance and your body can be sources for acts against the racism we see today. We can process and share important messages through our bodies in unique ways that leave lasting impressions on the people around us”. (Pearl Primus )
Part II — Historical Trauma
“The body knows and re-members even in the silences of our lives. In dance the familiar can became strange… More than movement it is the act of transformational possibility.” (shapiro,2015,p.67).
The second part of the solo is about a historical trauma; the history repeating itself. The female soloist represents all black women, depicting their African origins and the struggles and hardships they have endured during decades of social injustice.
The vortex trauma —The trauma is formed through the pain of rupture, like a black hole, it pulls information into itself. There is simultaneously contraction and expansion, the experience of the person contracts into duality of the trauma. In trauma the sense of belonging is lost and the trauma doesn’t belong, it’s severed from the whole, and the whole can’t make sense of it, the sense of connectivity is broken down and fight or flight is constantly triggered.(G, Johnson, 2017)
The intention:Be good ancestors
How do we create dialogue for social change in order to conceive new future possibilities for the black community to thrive ?
What work needs to be done, for organisations and education providers to commit to shifting conversations ?
This approach requires precision, empathy and among descendants, the courage to speak out about delicate emotions. This can be done through helping to restore collective identities and stories, especially those that replicate and reflect the true African heritage. We then can recognise and promote our community members’ interdependence and interconnectedness truly embodying the African proverb “I am because we are and since we are, therefore, I am.
