Blackened Tradition
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Date
2018-05
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Publisher
The Ohio State University
Abstract
Within the world of dance traditional balletic technique is seen as prized currency. Big stage ballets with classical music are the most recognized form of concert stage dance. Therefore, my study will challenge the ideas that classical music is best paired with Eurocentric bodies of sameness. I am interested in how modern/contemporary movement on a black body paired with classical music will change not only the stereotypes associated with classical music but also the choreographic/artistic possibilities of African-American performers. My artistic process consists of a self-exploration by improvisation to different genres of music. I documented my own exploratory process in order to track my movement tendencies, create a movement bank to draw from, as well as witness my growth within my improvisational studies. Additionally, I researched various classical artist from Domenic Scarlatti to Johann Bach. After discovering the music, I desired to choreograph to, I then listened very closely to the music repeatedly, as well as noting the shifts within the music. I also studied the history of blacks in concert dance by reading Brenda Dixon Gottschild's 'Digging the Africanist Aesthetic'. In the midst of my research I also studied with the Urban Bush Women professional dance company in Brooklyn, New York where we researched black radicals within history as well as discovered ways to further our solo improvisational practice. As my project concludes I am hoping to open the minds of my audience. I expect my solo to break the stereotypes of what blacks in dance are capable of, through a presenting of myself in a very different artistic light. I am really looking to attack the political barriers within dance by presenting more than just the beauty of black bodies; rather, the idea that classical music genres should be colorless in their ability to be paired with performers with many racial ethnicities without it being a visual taboo.
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Keywords
dance, Performing Arts, Activism, Social Justice