Caribbean Dance from Abakuá to Zouk: How Movement Shapes Identity 0813025494, 9780813025490

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r

a^

y: ABAKUA TO

ZOUK .

HOW MOVEMENT

Y

SHAPES IDENTITY

SUSANNA SLOAT

CARIBBEAN DANCE FROM ABAKUA TO ZOUK is

an unprecedented overview of the dances

from each of this regions major islands and

and layered cultures

that

them. The authors in

this

the complex, fused,

have given birth

from distinguished

collection, to

to

cultural leaders

highly innovative choreographers, reveal

how dance shapes

personal,

communal, and

national identity. Their essays also

show how

Caribbean rhythms, dances, fragments of

movement, even

attitudes toward

movement

reach beyond the islands and through the ex-

West Indian diaspora communities

tensive

in

North America, Latin America, and Europe to be embraced by the world

at large.

A

range of

approaches, from the anthropological to the erary

and from the

lit-

practical to the creative, al-

lows for a thorough exploration of these dances in the distinct yet interrelated contexts of social history, tradition/ritual,

nections are

and performance. Con-

made among

dances, both familiar and culturally

mance

based dances

to

pieces. Particular

a fascinating array of little

newly created perfor-

emphasis

the African contribution in

dance

distinctive. Photos,

sive glossary

make

it

the

bean dance

known, from

is

placed on

making Caribbean

maps, and an exten-

of terms round out the book to

most complete resource on Caribto date.

Florida

A&M University, Tallahassee

Florida Atlantic University, Boca Raton

Myers Miami

Florida Gulf Coast University, Ft.

Florida International University,

Florida State University, Tallahassee

University of Central Florida, Orlando

University of Florida, Gainesville University of North Florida, Jacksonville

University of South Florida,

Tampa

University of West Florida, Pensacola

Digitized by the Internet Archive in

2013

http://archive.org/details/caribbeandancefrOOsloa

CARIBBEAN DANCE FROM ABAKUA TO ZOUK HOW MOVEMENT SHAPES IDENTITY

Edited by Susanna Sloat

University Press of Florida Gainesville

Pensacola

Tallahassee

Orlando

Miami

Ta?npa

Boca Raton

Jacksonville

Ft.

Myers

Copyright 2002 hy Susanna Sloat Printed in the United States of America on acid-free paper All rights reserved

06

07

05

"4

02

0}

654321

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Caribbean dance from abakua to zouk

:

how movement

shapes identity /

edited by Susanna Sloat. p.

cm.

Includes bibliographical references and index.

ISBN 0-8130-2549-4 1.

Dance

(cloth: alk. paper)

—Anthropological aspects— Caribbean Area.

I.

Sloat, Susanna.

GV1631.C37 2002 792.8'o9729

The

—dc2i

2002020446

University Press of Florida

is

the scholarly publishing agency for the State

University System of Florida, comprising Florida University, Florida

A&M University,

Florida Atlantic-

Gulf Coast University, Florida International University, Florida

University, University of Central Florida, University of Florida, University of Florida, University of South Florida, and University of

University Press of Florida 15

Northwest 15th Street

Gainesville,

FL 32611-2079

http://wwvv.upf.com

West

Florida.

State

North

1

.

CONTENTS

Introduction

vii

AFRICAN BACKGROUND 1.

Crossroads, Continuities, and Contradictions:

Caribbean Triangle

The Afro-Euro-

3

Brenda Dixon Gottschild 2.

What Is Congolese

in

Caribbean Dance

1

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

CUBA 3.

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Creativity

23

Yvonne Daniel

The Dance World of Ramiro Guerra: Solemnity, Voluptuousness, Humor, and Chance 56

4.

Melinda Mousonris 5.

The Tecnica Cubana

73

Sukijohn

JAMAICA 6.

Jamaican Dance Theatre: Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage

Rex Nettleford 7. Rasta and Reggae

81

95

Thomas Osha Pinnock

HAITI 8.

Haitian

Vodou

Ritual

Dance and

Its

Secularization

109

Henry Frank 9. Spirit

Unbound:

Folklore

New Approaches

to the

Performance of Haitian

114

Lois E. Wilcken

DOMINICAN REPUBLIC 10. Dominican Folk Dance and the Shaping of National Identity Martha Ellen Davis 1 1 A Dominican York in Andhra 1 5 2

Ramon H.

Rivera-Servera

127

PUERTO RICO 12. Dance in Puerto Alma Conception 13.

Embodied Meanings

Gilda Navarra: Before

Alma 14.

Rico:

Taller

de

I

listriones

165

1

76

Conception

The Challenges of Puerto Rican Bomba

iH^

Halbert Barton

VIRGIN ISLANDS 15.

Winin' Yo' Wais': The Changing Tastes of Dance on the U.S. Virgin

Island of St. Croix

199

Cynthia Oliver

MARTINIQUE AND GUADELOUPE 16. Sa Ki Ta Nou (This belongs to us): Caribbean

221

Dominique

Cyrille

Creole Dances of the French

TRINIDAD AND TOBAGO 17. In

Dance

Search of the Limbo:

An

Investigation into

Its

Folklore as a

Wake

247

Molly Abye 18.

The Moko Jumbie:

Elevating the Children

262

Patricia T. Alleyne-Dettmers

CURACAO 19.

Tambu: Afro-Curacao's Music and Dance of Resistance

291

Gabri Christa

UNITED STATES-CARIBBEAN CONNECTION 20.

Katherine Dunham's Tropical Revue

305

VeVeA. Clark 2 1.

in

Islands Refracted: Recent

New York

Dance on Caribbean Themes

320

Susanna Sloat 22.

Teaching the People to Triumph over Time: Notes from the World

ofMambo

336

Robert Farris Thompson

Glossary

345 Bibliography 371 About the Contributors

Index

393

387

INTRODUCTION

In the twenty-first century, as in the twentieth, the world dances to Carib-

bean call

beats.

From Sydney

to Helsinki,

Tokyo

to Abidjan, salsa and reggae

out to aficionados. Londoners merengue and develop

rhythms

like

English ska or

drum and

new dance

bass out of older Jamaican ones;

Rhythms derived from Africa return there and become newly Africanized rumbas and reggaes. Cruise-ship tourists on all the seas move to soca line dances. On Parisians and Angolans

borrow zouk from the

over, choreographers,

stages

all

bit of

Caribbean hip

even austere postmodern ones,

joy.

may add

a

Caribbean rhythms when they want to

fluidity to

suggest sensuality or

Antilles.

African-Caribbean religions with dancing

their ritual core flourish not only in

but also in diversely Caribbean

at

Cuba, Haiti, Jamaica, and Trinidad,

New

York

City.

Caribbean rhythms,

movement, even an attitude toward movement, reach beyond the islands, beyond the huge West Indian diaspora communities in North America, Latin America, and Europe, to be joyously embraced by the world at large. dances, and fragments of dance

Despite the wide-flung popularity and influence of Caribbean dance

and the prodigious lure of the West Indies for the tropical paradise vacation experience, the

complex cultures that formed these dances are

known. Each

ficiently

island has

its

own complexly

insuf-

—of

layered history

indigenous cultures vanquished by European takeover, enslavement, and disease; of, frequently, multiple conquests ers;

by different European coloniz-

many places brought over as enslaved people to work slaves escaping to form Maroon cultures; of slaves and

of Africans from

plantations; of

colonists

and

free

workers moving from island to island; of slavery being

succeeded by indentured laborers brought over from India, China, Indonesia, or Africa;

of Syrians and Lebanese, Latin and North Americans,

Europeans, West Indians from other

islands,

and others arriving

at vari-

ous times from a multitude of places.

Such

a layering of influences

over the past

five

hundred-plus years has

given these islands dance cultures of a fascinating complexity. Dances of

Introduction

viii

African descent coexist with those of mostly European origins; dances

born elsewhere with those mixed and creolized on the

Although

islands.

modern commercial trends seem as if they might vanquish old traditions and do, in fact, lead to abandonment of some, while others survive only in the repertoires of folkloric troupes, dance traditions once assumed to be

dying get revived

in

ways

that

might surprise their old exponents.

In the

European dances of the plantation owners were adopted and

past,

olized by slaves and free people of African descent and traditions as the elite in

each particular era.

towns took to

Now rural

social

dances such

cre-

became country

dances considered current

as the

at

European-based Creole

quadrilles and African-based Creole bele of Martinique

may

get taken up

by fashionable urbanites; for several decades now intellectuals throughout

means seeking

the Antilles have been embracing the folkloric, which often to

understand and celebrate rather than to downplay what

culture.

Markers of

scorned

is

and race can exchange places

class

is

African in the

what was once

embraced. At the same time inheritors of dances, and of danced

whether remaining

rites,

as

explicitly religious or

with

a spiritual

subsumed, may maintain them with devoted pride. In either

many other As

a

situations,

a variety

also

case,

and

in

primary mark of identity.

a

legacy of competing colonizers, the

by water, but

just

dance becomes

element

West

Indies

is

fragmented not

by language. Spanish, French, English, Dutch, and

of Creoles (mixtures of African and European languages) are

spoken. Certain historical inheritances such as Protestant

hymns

in the

English-speaking Caribbean or the Spanish decima verse form where

Spanish cial

is

spoken

—and

musics that are

also to considerable extent the

now popular and

the dances done to

whether Spanish, French, or English

European and African dances brought

is

island to island

different ways, but with a noticeable lary.

Moreover, there

is

if

not the same

and often carried with the move-

where they evolved

common

in

most African

Still,

styles

of

and complex ways of harmonizing,

between islands that may speak different languages and dance current rhythms.

somewhat

dance language or vocabu-

a great similarity in the

singing, the call and response chants

—

the national language. But the

to the islands were,

in every place, overall frequently shared

ment of peoples from

modern commerthem depend on

to different

language divisions remain strong markers of iden-

tity.

In setting

its

dances within the social contexts of each Caribbean

land, the authors of this

is-

book over and over return to matters of identity,

both personal and communal. Each island has dances that connote place

Introduction

ix

•

ISL'Atf'DS OTT'-yfE

C AfK l B B!EA (
*^

'Martin

~

Croix St.

% ?e[j>

®£z?S

r\

S £%.

'Dominica

Marrinuju«YJ §St. Lucia

St.Vincmt Q

(jrenada

Si

T'obaao^

T'rinidaS\ y

Fig.

1

.

Outline of Caribbean islands. Map:

Don

Burmeister.

and belonging, that have become "national." This can be particularly important in places that have not been until recently, and in

some

cases

still

are not, allowed the status of nations. Beginning mostly in the 1940s, pio-

neers on Caribbean islands began to codify folklore for onstage perfor-

mance. Such codifications become

a set

of national dances that can be

constantly revived, referred to, and added

whether of place or

affinity,

to.

Particular communities,

attach themselves to particular dances. In the

Caribbean, an arena of musical ferment where people love to dance, to achieve not only physical and aesthetic mastery, but also union with the divine with dance, individuals

become

passionately attached to the dances

they do, whether they are those of the majority or of a subculture, in that

way asserting their identity through movement. Hence the subtitle: How Movement Shapes Identity. The title, Caribbean Dance from Abakud to Zonk, suggests an arc from an old ritual tradition in parts of Cuba imported from the Calabar region of what is now Nigeria

£,

— Introduction

x

and adjacent Cameroon, down through the islands to Guadeloupe and Martinique, where zouk,

twentieth-century commercial musical

a late

phenomenon, takes its name from a type of dancing party'. The book moves farther south, to Trinidad and Curacao, hut it stops before reaching the continent of South America, or any continent. This

is

not because

West Indies are a dance culture unit in isolation, but phenomenon that most marks them the confluence of African ways of moving and African ways of making music with Eurothe islands of the

—

rather because the

pean ones and hence the creation of Creole dances and music too widespread to be dealt with

Wherever African

slaves

depth

in

in

were brought

—

in fact,

is,

one volume.

— along

all

the shores of the

Caribbean and the Gulf coast, up the Atlantic, and south along richly African parts of the Brazilian coast as far as

past

it

Buenos Aires and

Montevideo, on parts also of the Pacific coast from Mexico to Peru and Chile, and into continental interiors

rhythmic concepts places Native

in

—dance developed based on African

conjunction with European influences and in some

American ones. Such complexes of rhythms and dances

many similarities with those of the Caribbean islands. But we have no room for them here, unfortunately, no room even for many of the have

islands of the

Caribbean

itself,

each

small islands, like Carriacou with

a its

dance universe of its own, with very Big

Drum

dance of many

explicit

African sources, no less interesting than larger places.

Caribbean Dance from Abakud

book

that

hews to the

diaspora. Its authors

to

islands,

come from

Zouk:

How Movement Shapes Identity is a

with excursions into the Caribbean

a variety

ety of approaches to describing dance,

of backgrounds and take

a vari-

from the comprehensive ethno-

graphic overview to the personal narrative, and the chapters reverberate

with one another.

It is this

desired reverberation that has guided the var-

ied selection of authors, so that the islands' dances can be seen tifaceted points of view.

The

authors themselves wear

teach, dance, choreograph, administrate, lead communities,

from within the academy scholars, journalists,

and

in various disciplines,

storytellers.

from mul-

many

hats: they

and write

and from without

Their voices are

distinct

and

—

as

indi-

Most who write here about specific islands are from those islands, though many now live in the United States. Multiple points of view re-

vidual.

sound within the authors themselves and that has in this Its

led to particular riches

book.

scope ranges through every type of indigenous dance, from the folk-

loric, to

the folkloric theatricalized and transferred to the stage, to con-

Introduction

•

xi

temporary choreographic creations that bring novel Caribbean approaches into the theater. within

its

The book attempts to set this spectrum of dance

contexts: the often troubled settings of islands that have experi-

enced repeated conquest, genocide of indigenous populations, centuries of slavery, colonization, and occupation, dictatorship and shaky democracy, natural disasters

from volcanoes to hurricanes, the destruction of

natural habitat caused by everything from plantations to overpopulation

many tourists, and long-term economic

to too

These

ization.

oped cultures joys.

The

which dance expresses

in

on such dance

literature

is

exploitation and marginal-

much, but

are islands that have suffered

spiritual

depths

and can be confusing; Car-

scattered

Dance doesn't have an encyclopedic scope, but

ibbean

that have develas well as sensual

come

repository for information that can be hard to

it is

a centralized

by.

Although there are dances of European or largely European origin throughout the

islands,

whether

intact,

it is

the African element and the

genuine African retention,

in a

creation, or a mixture of the African

vary greatly (but that can give even

bounce and

tinctive

the

lilt)

a largely

remains

European dance form

to

a dis-

Caribbean rhythms. To frame the book

we begin with Brenda Dixon

bean Triangle." Here Dixon Gottschild,

as

content of Car-

Gottschild's illuminating

"Crossroads, Continuities, and Contradictions:

Africanist Presence in

it

and European in proportions that

a lens that reveals the Africanness of the African

ibbean dance,

way

neo-African-Caribbean

that sets the Caribbean apart, that, in fact, has set

whole world dancing

through

a

The Airo-Euro-Carib-

she did in her book Digging the

American Performance: Dance and Other

Contexts, sets

forth a series of principles that underlie Africanist aesthetics of perfor-

mance, building on the seminal work of another contributor, Robert Farris

Thompson.

She

finds rich

examples of these concepts in two visual recordings of

Maya Deren and Yvonne Daniel, but readers will many more, from their own experience and in the course of reading about island dance in the other chapters of the book. See Thomas Pinnock's "Rasta and Reggae," for example, to find out how Jamaican youngVodou ceremonies by

note

sters in

improvising "drop legs" competitions also exemplify the aesthetic

of the cool, even surreptitiously washing away sweat to enhance the sion.

Or look to Gabri

how, in

a

Christa's discussion of the

communal form

but maintains

"marathoning,"

its

as

that has lost

its

illu-

tambu of Curacao to see

specific religious connections

purifying spiritual power, people dance for hours,

Dixon Gottschild

calls

it,

in "spirit time."

With

this

Introduction

xii

lens in place,

forms

in

one can see what

is

Africanist even about creolized dance

which the European contribution

The world

is

of dance, perhaps, for those for

significant or predominates.

whom

this lens

is

new, will

never quite look the same. In order to continue this shift of perspective, the

tempting to look Africa or

at

Europe

(as

happens

in sections

of

many

from Africa looking into the Caribbean. This sure; others will

book

starts

by

have to continue

is

essays in the book), but

only

this investigation.

begin with expert eyes from Senegal and

move

a

beginning, to be

One would want

land,

among

is

now Ghana, Dahomey all

in-

(present-day Benin), and Yoruba-

others, to the Calabar region of Nigeria and

then south, covering

to

inland to the peoples of the

former Mali empire and down and around the entire bulge of Africa, cluding what

at-

Caribbean dance not from the inside looking out to

Cameroon, and

of the areas that sent enslaved people to the West

Indies.

We must look across centuries as well as span an ocean. Africa, like the West

Indies, has

undergone much

change since the

cultural

Africans were forced across the sea.

Its

first

waves of

dance cultures are complicated

ones, with confusion furthered by confluences and exchanges. But, as a

bare

moving

start,

to the

that sent very large

Congo/ Angola region of West Central

numbers of people

teenth to the nineteenth centuries,

"What

Is

Congolese

Congolese company

in in

New York,

He

Africa

Caribbean from the

six-

offer Nathaniel Crowell's essay

Caribbean Dance." Crowell,

who

was investigating topics

musicological dissertation in Angola tinued war.

we

to the

when

dances with

a

for an ethno-

forced to leave because of con-

uses his experiences there, as well as in other parts of the

Congo/ Angola region (spelled Kongo/ Angola in many parts of the book when referring to the cultural sphere of the Bakongo peoples), in the Caribbean, and in Caribbean New York, even in Peru, to look at some characteristics that distinguish the

led

Congolese contributions and the chain that

from them to Creole Caribbean dances.

some valuable long quotes from early observers Moreau de St. Mery and interesting correlations from Peru, Brazil, and Angola. The early naming of dances can be confusing the same name may be used not only on different islands, but also for what seems like different dances (in part because the name may refer to a drum group or type of dance gathering). These names, such as Here, too, you

will find

of Caribbean dance such as

—

calenda (or kalinda), bamboula, chica, fuba (or djouba), are often

on various

islands, describing various dances,

still

extant

and even names that appear

Introduction

to be different such as the

variants of the old juba

xiii

ynbd and ska of Puerto Rican bomba may be

and chka.

Cuba, the largest island dance culture with

•

in the Caribbean, has a particularly

full-scale

danced religions and many

from Africa, immensely popular and

influential creolized social

music forms, and notable performance traditions portant but outside our sphere), and

complex

ritual retentions

dance and

in folklore, ballet (im-

modern dance

that have been fos-

tered by a cultural structure and educational emphasis formed since the

Cuban ity,"

"Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean Creativ-

Revolution. In

dance anthropologist Yvonne Daniel suggests the influence that Cu-

ban dance and music has had throughout the Caribbean

(as well as

around

the world at large) and gives a very valuable and thorough overview of all aspects of

Cuban

folkloric

such a comprehensive

dance culture.

article,

We

are fortunate to start with

which provides another frame

for looking at

dance of the region. Daniel discusses the structure of dance

activity in

Cuba, early reports of indigenous dance, importations from Europe,

—including an illuminating and extensive section on the —and another equally interesting and extensive section on the many Cuban creations and evolutions — Haiti,

and Africa

danced religions and

rites

their

in particular,

the son, rumba, and danzon complexes.

Ramiro Guerra,

first

temporanea, formed

director of

just after the

and innovative choreographer, in

Cuba, where he created

forming.

he

fell

With

a

his career as a

is

Conjunto Nacional de Danza Con-

Revolution in i960, and

a

pioneering

considered the founder of modern dance

uniquely Cuban style of teaching and permodern dance choreographer aborted when

out of favor with the government after eleven years as head of his

known creative fountainheads. Melinda Mousouris's "The Dance World of Ramiro Guerra: Solemnity, Voluptuousness, Humor, and Chance," based on interviews Conjunto, he

is

one of the Caribbean's

and video viewing with Guerra career and discusses in depth

in

insufficiently

Havana, limns the fascinating arc of his

some of the dances he made.

Guerra and associates developed the

tecnica cubana, a

hybrid system of

technique and teaching that combines dance forms, including folkloric elements, to

make virtuosic and uniquely Cuban

dances.

Cuban It is

not

the only systematic technique developed to produce dance with distinctly

Caribbean elements

—the Jamaican national company has

a

technique,

Lavinia Williams developed one in Haiti and Jamaica, and, of course, there

is

the powerful

Dunham Technique

Dunham's company and

that evolved in Katherine

school. But the tecnica cubana

is

a

major devel-

Introduction

\i\

opment and nique

and Suki John,

tool,

Cuba, where she has

in

also

a

choreographer who learned the tech-

made

dances, brings

Cubana," pen

in

in

which she gives an extensive description

of

what might hap-

company class as taught by Danza Contemporanea's master Manolo \ asquez.

Rex Nettleford

also talks

about constructing

technique to make distinctly Caribbean dances

tic

"The Tecnica

in

a

teacher,

atre

story and that of

its

Cuba's modern dance up to the twenty-first century

in

a distinctly

Caribbean

"Jamaican Dance The-

— Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage." Professor Nettleford,

Company

artis-

Dance Theatre

director and chief choreographer of the National

of Jamaica, eloquently connects the dance of the company he

helped found in 1962 to signal Jamaica's cultural identity simultaneously with the foundation of an independent

state,

with the other African-de-

rived dance of the Caribbean, seeing this as establishing

of

own.

its

He

a classic

tradition

notes that there are no English words to describe basic

steps

from such Jamaican dance traditions

as

gests

new ones

just

as part

of a celebration not

dance and of the people involved

in

it,

kumina or dinkimini and sugof many facets of Jamaican

but also of the entire community of

Caribbean dancemakers from the 1940s to now.

A dance

life

begins in childhood and so does

Thomas Osha

Pinnock's

essay "Rasta and Reggae," which flavorfully links his youthful "drop legs"

competition days in the dance yards of West Kingston with the innovative

dance works he choreographed after formal training and beginning reer as a strata

modern

dancer. In the process he reveals

much about

a ca-

the social

of Jamaica, the roots of Rastafari, and the development of distinc-

tively Jamaican

Jamaican

forms of popular music, culminating

storyteller's flair,

he makes you

feel like

you

in reggae.

With

his

are there.

Smaller in area than Cuba, larger in the combined population of its two

Dominican Republic, Hispaniola has a complicated history, shared and apart, which Martha Ellen Davis discusses in her comprehensive overview of the dance of the Dominican Reconstituent nations of Haiti and the

public.

Henry Frank,

a

leader in the Haitian

community

in

New York and

an authority on Vodou, concentrates on the basics of that complexly syncretized danced religion with Ritual

many

Dance and

Its

its

diverse African roots. In "Haitian

Vodou

Secularization," Frank suggests that in Haiti even

secular dances have roots in the spiritual tradition.

Lois Wilcken enlarges this discussion in "Spirit Unbound:

proaches to the Performance of Haitian Folklore." Here she of tolkloric

performance

in Haiti

New

ties a

Ap-

history

and the diaspora from the 1040s and

xv

Introduction

1950s to

a

new concept of presenting

she has been working on with the

folklore in a

New

more

way

direct

that

York-based Haitian group, La

Troupe Makandal. An ethnomusicologist as well as executive director of Makandal, Wilcken discusses patterns of presentation, including the folklore

show and

the exploitative "voodoo" show, and shows

from Makandal's way of offering Vodou and Rara

(a

how they differ

Lenten celebration)

to the public.

Our thorough overviews, like Martha Ellen much that moves beyond the

Republic, offer

particular dance culture. In

Davis's

on the Dominican

detailed examination of a

"Dominican Folkdance and the Shaping of

National Identity," Davis traces a trajectory of shifting identity, from an

emphasis on the Hispanic heritage under the dictator Trujillo,

moted be, a ists,

of merengue until

a regional version

symbol of the country, to

it

a current revival of interest, led

by

and the dance that accompanies

in African-rooted music

who

to

amid

its

social settings,

from the Tainos and

forms descended from those brought by African

ceros,

and Europeans, to the creolized

social

identity as

embracing African

In the

how the

their areitos,

Haitian bra-

dances and their local varia-

tions, to the folkloric revivals, including the current

Dominican

slaves,

folklor-

it.

process, she delves into the traditional culture of the country and folklore operates

pro-

became, and continues to

one that

as well as

is

redefining

European-derived

heritage.

Postmodern performance

Dominican Dominican

artist Josefina

identity, in particular, the artist living in

Baez

is

also

concerned with

complications inherent in hers as a

New York City,

but she chooses to explore

this

using an unexpected idiom: kuchipudi dance from the South Indian state of

Andhra Pradesh. In "A Dominican York in Andhra," an article excerpted from a longer essay, Ramon Rivera-Servera discusses Baez's work, "Dominicanish,"

and analyzes

how

she reveals the multiple meanings of her

Domincanness through her performances

in the

homes of fellow Domini-

can Yorks, action including unorthodox kuchipudi dance, and text Spanish-English mixture she

calls

Alma Conception's "Dance

in

in the

Dominicanish.

Puerto Rico: Embodied Meanings,"

while concentrating on the island, also takes us back and forth between the island and the diaspora, particularly in

enon of

means

salsa

New York, where the phenom-

was consolidated. This essay brings

to participants, as well as to those

to the fore

what

this

who dance or danced forms rang-

ing from the nineteenth-century danza and

sets

to

the current generation of hip-hoppers and others

bomba and

plena,

up

to

now creating new dance

wi

Introduction

forms, and conveys

wider I

social,

listriones,"

even

how

dance identity can embody both individual and

a

political, yearnings. In "( iilda

Conception,

Postdate, of the creation

Navarra to form Taller de

in

Puerto Rican bomba

among

the fastest rhythm, akin to the

its

tambu of Curacao),

Puerto Rico's dance traditions.

tion into

it

The

troduction of a

Focusing on

details his first

down

audience

in the

in-

it

from

the most African of

"The Challenges of Puerto Rican his initia-

musical and dance elements,

of participatory

smaller island,

as well as those

making

wondering view of bomba,

dance the challenge, and

new form a

its

dancer directs the drummer, as an-

as a dancer, its history, its

feels to actually

the

multiple rhythms (like the bolandes,

thropologist Halbert Barton explains in

which he

in

complex tradition that incorporates many

a

Africa and Spain, within an overall approach

in

Spanish

Puerto Rico.

is

fluences from other islands

Bomba,"

ex-

new way of making

known beyond

little

its

in

of

all

of the crucial piece that led

listriones to develop a

I

dance theater, important work 1970s and early 1980s

Navarra: Before Taller de

company during

of that

memoir, originally published

istence, offers an evocative

San Juan magazine

member

a

we can

its

it

current revival, with the in-

bomba

see

how

all

the

party, the bombazo.

components of a dance

whose students, like Cynthia Oliver, author of "Winin' Yo' Wais': The Changing Tastes of Dance on the U.S. Virgin Island of St. Croix," sometimes become professional dancers and choreographers. Opening with the exuberant "wining" and even more sexually explicit "wukkin' up" of St. Croix's Carnival, Oliver moves on to the diculture,

to the teachers

verse history of the multiply-colonized U.S. Virgin Islands, their continu-

ing pinch between

North American and Caribbean

identities, the revival

of the historical bainboula as a "nation dance" by folkloric groups despite persistent debate

on what

dance," the quadrille,

still

it

looked

like historically,

danced to the

and private Heritage Dancers

local quclbc

and another "nation

music

The French Caribbean (now two us):

public dances

departements of France) centers on

the islands of Martinique and Guadeloupe. In "Sa Ki

longs to

in

balls.

Ta

Nou

Creole Dances of the French Caribbean," Martinican ethno-

musicologist Dominique Cyrille offers a detailed overview of

dances

(This be-

as the

how

such

Furopean-derived quadrille and the African-based bele

dances, the dans lalinkle performed at wakes, and the fight dance ladfa (for-

merly spelled Vag'ya) of Martinique and the lewoz orgwoka of Guadeloupe developed and creolized within the historical circumstances of these cul-

Introduction

up

turally rich, plantation-based islands. Bringing us

•

xvii

to date with late

twentieth-century cultural revivals and reinventions, Cyrille ends with a discussion of zouk and Creole identity.

To anyone who spectacle,

Folklore as a

dad

thinks of limbo as a party entertainment or nightclub

Molly Ahye's "In Search of the Limbo: An Investigation into

Its

Wake Dance" will be a revelation. A spiritual leader in Trini-

as well as

an expert on the

island's dance,

dimensions of a dance that was formerly

Ahye explores the

a feature

spiritual

of wakes in parts of the

By interviewing exponents of Limbo 1980s about the Limbo that they saw in their

island with strongly African culture.

and older people

in the

childhood, Ahye was able to gather valuable information about that has faded as tions.

Her

its ritual

search both for descriptions of

possible underlying

a practice

connotations are occluded by nightclub connec-

Limbo

meanings of the dance leads

at

wakes and for the

to absorbing insights

into the folklore of Trinidad.

Trinidadian meanings beneath the surface, in this case those that

behind what can be seen

as

"The Moko Jumbie: Elevating

Alleyne-Dettmers's

lie

Carnival display, are the focus of Patricia the

Children."

Alleyne-Dettmers, linguistic anthropologist and carnival expert, delves

masquerade

figures,

danced

Moko Jwnbies

as part

of the

into the African origins of these stiltwalking

by children now

in Trinidad, discusses

Jonkonnu tradition on other at the

islands,

and then begins

a

concentrated look

meanings behind the costumes and dances of one particular band of

Moko Jumbies

in the

1999 Carnival,

a

band whose

leader's ideas for their

presentation encompassed the span of Trinidad's history and the facets of

its

identity.

Richards' head, as

it

Dettmers gives us her

many

Stepping inside the designer Francina Princesa were, in describing the

Moko

distinctive Afro-Trinidadian

Jumbies, Alleyne-

view of

how

the past

impacts the present. Slavery and colonization have produced a need for forms of subversive resistance,

met on many

islands

by song and dance forms that offer com-

When a form is also a suppressed Afritambu of Curacao, the irony and the possibility of prohibition or overregulation heightens. Choreographer and Guggenheim fellow Gabri Christa first fell in love with tambu and its forbidden aspects as a young teenager in her native Curasao. In "Tambu: AfroCuracao's Music and Dance of Resistance," she tells us about the fascinating and little-known culture of this Papiamentu-speaking Dutch island, mentary in the ironic form of play. can

ritual, as is

the

—

—

xviii

Introduction

•

including summaries of Curacao's other indigenous dance and music

much about

forms and

the rapid hips and rhythms and hidden traditions

of tambu.

The lost

on Caribbean themes have

best of the older choreographies based

none of their beauty or

their

importance

in history as

pioneering ex-

plorations of a mixed idiom for the stage, which has rightly been classic.

Among

the earliest pioneers of translating folkloric Caribbean

dance elements to the stage cal research

deemed

on four

is

Katherine

Dunham, who

did anthropologi-

mid- 1930s and returned home

islands in the

to the

United States to begin choreography based on her experience. Her work, her training technique, and her company have had an enduring influence

on African-American dance. VeVe Clark's "Katherine Dunham's Revue"

first

plores the history of

landmark

Dunham

first full ballet

where

tinique,

Tropical

published in 1982 in Black American Literature Forum, ex-

Dunham

and her company, focusing on UAgYa, her

from 1938. This Creole love tragedy set in Marhad done research, uses Martinican and other

Caribbean forms, mixing African and European elements into structured drama.

The dance and

its

a well-

implications are evoked in depth

here.

More

recent audiences had a chance to enjoy

the Alvin Ailey company's

ham," produced

in 1987.

verge in pan-Caribbean late

1990s

is

full

UAgYa

as a highlight of

"The Magic of Katherine Dun-

The islands and their performing traditions con-

New York City.

Choreography seen there

in the

described by Susanna Sloat in "Islands Refracted: Recent

Dance on Caribbean Themes explicitly

evening,

in

New

York."

While zeroing

in

on the

Caribbean, she ends with an evocation, in the work of master

choreographer Garth Fagan, of the sheer possibility for invention inher-

movement itself. of movement on the dance floor are brought to brilliantly vivid life by Robert Farris Thompson in "Teaching the People to Triumph over Time: Notes from the World of Mambo." No one will ent in Caribbean

Such

want

to miss this final essay of the book. Full of his characteristic insights

into the takes us to

possibilities

New

Kongo from

and movement elements underlying mambo,

spiritual

city to city,

from Havana to Lima to Mexico

York's Palladium in the 1950s,

relevant

and

it

finally

where dance innovators worked

inventive changes and complications into

The

City,

mambo.

extensive glossary, compiled of terms defined by the authors of

chapters

(with,

sometimes, variant spellings reflecting the

choices of the authors for places where orthography varies or has been

Introduction

•

xix

standardized in different ways at different times), and the combined bibli-

ography are highly useful extensions of the book. Words are but dance,

and stimulating reference, but

fixed in print,

Think of this book not only

like identity, evolves.

as a useful

book

also as part of the evolution, a source

from which many further studies and more intensive investigations into the dance forms and culture of the Caribbean can emerge. Let Caribbean

Dance from Abakud thought

to

—and allow

Zonk:

it

How Movement Shapes Identity

also to

encourage such

provoke the desire to put some music on and

up and dance.

get

Acknowledgments

My

thanks are incomplete here

than

I

can

cite. I

would

like to

—many more people have been helpful begin by thanking

my

editor,

Meredith

Morris-Babb, for getting Caribbean Dance started and for being enthusiastic

about

it

from the beginning. Grateful thanks

also to others

who were

helpful in getting things going, including Bernadine Jennings, John Gray,

Madeline Nichols, Alice Adamczyk, Jean Leon Destine, Kate Ramsey, Barbara Palfy, Ben Jones, Ernesto Rodriguez, Boni Raposo, Tony Vicioso,

Sandra Levinson, Kelvin Rotardier, Melle Randall, Suzanne Younger-

man,

et

al.

Thanks

to Paul

Mintus and

to

Margherita Davis of Country

Dance New York for giving me the chance to go to the Playford Ball and see what English country dancing is like now. And thanks to all the friends, family,

Very

and acquaintances

special thanks to

who were encouraging

my husband, Don

along the way.

Burmeister, for being

house computer consultant (with occasional

assists

my in-

from sons Abe and

Tobias Burmeister), and again most grateful thanks to

Don

for the

many

hours he spent computerizing and improving photographs and making the Caribbean map, musical notes, and the Full

body thanks,

too, to

all

my dance

Yowa and Limbo

charts.

teachers over the years of

ham Technique and various Afro-Caribbean and

Pearl Reynolds, Pat Hall, Richard Gonzalez, Ricardo Colon,

Rodriguez, Pierson,

Norman

Dun-

African styles, including

Xiomara

Saunders, Esther Grant, Dele Husbands, Harold

Lygia Barreto, Bernadine Jennings, M'Bayero Louvouezo,

Pedro Soto, and others.

And finally I would like to thank all of the authors, a group of extremely who have taken

busy, exceptionally talented, invariably fascinating people

the time and put in the energy to

make

this

book

a success.

Introduction

Alma Conception's "Gilda Navarra: Before nally

appeared

in

Spanish

Postdata. Portions of her

are also part ot grations, edited

in Postdate,

"Dance

May

Taller de rlistriones" origi-

Used by permission

1996.

of

Puerto Rico: Embodied Meanings"

in

"Dance and Diaspora," which

will

appear

in

by Frances Aparicio and Candida Jaquez, from

Musical MiSt.

Martin

s

Press.

VeVe

Clark's "Katherine

Dunham's

Tropical

Review" appeared

origi-

Winter 1982, and 1983. Used by permission of

nally in Black American Literature Forum, vol. 16, no. 4,

was reprinted

in Caribe, vol. 7, no.

1

and

2,

the author.

Most of Henry

ization" appeared originally as in Caribe, vol. 7, nos.

Most of

1

and

2,

Vodou

Dance and its Secular"A Survey of Haitian Vodun Ritual Dance"

Frank's "Haitian

1983.

Ritual

Used by permission of the

Recent Dance on Caribbean Themes

fracted:

nally published in reviews, copyright Attitude:

author.

the descriptions of dances in Susanna Sloat's "Islands Re-

Susanna

in

New

York" were origi-

Sloat, in various issues of

The Dancers' Magazine. Used by permission of the author.

Robert Farris Thompson's "Teaching the People to Triumph over

Time: Notes from the World of Mambo" has

Month,

vol. 3, no. 2, 2001,

Mambo."

under the

title

also appeared in First

of the

"Triumph over Time: Notes on

o o

AFRICAN BACKGROUND

1

o o o Crossroads, Continuities, and Contradictions The Afro-Euro-Caribbean Triangle

Brenda Dixon Gottschild

Here we

moment

in time when, performancewise, so

fingertips that

world

is

we might be

our oyster,

a global

Without questioning tural products as

ecstatic yet

community. But

origins or rights,

is

given back?

speaking of the exchange rate that is,

cultures

it is

also a

market economy.

we have appropriated world

consumer commodities

environment. But what

(that

new millennium, at a much world beauty is at our humbled by its sheer power. The

stand, having crossed the threshold of a

in a buy-and-sell, take-and-take

To whom? When? And how?

exists, generally,

specifically,

I

am

between Europeanist

European and European-American) cultures and

—and,

cul-

all

other world

between Europeanist and Africanist

(that

is

continental and diasporan African) cultures.

There

are

some

—

seekers, students, scholars

—whose work

in bridging

the divide between Europeanist and world cultures has acted as an anti-

dote to expropriation and exploitation.

A handful of them are represented

in this book. In order to understand their

address,

it

work and

the cultures they

behooves us to have an understanding of the philosophy and

premises that underlie these gorgeous aesthetic treasures. In

Digging the Africanist Presence

in

Contexts (Gottschild 1996, 1998), tural

my

book,

American Performance: Dance and Other I

discuss in detail

and with various

cul-

examples the signposts of Africanist (and Europeanist) aesthetic

standards.

What

follows

is

an extrapolation of and distillation from that

hypothesis, this time as an application of Africanist aesthetic concepts to

Caribbean performance,

in general,

and Caribbean dance,

in particular.

4

1

Brenda Dixon Gottschild

•

hese constructs arc interrelated, interdependent, and inseparable. In

practice, they

interactive

cannot possibly be construed

and processual.

Whether spoken. Sung,

sculpted, sketched, written, or danced, the

How a

Africanist aesthetic values process. getting"

it

as discrete entities: they are

done

— the journey

as

thing

important

is

done

is

as

important

as the destination.

as

Language,

sculpture, and visual arts are conceived as living, vital, motional con-

cepts

— moving movers, so to speak —which

Farris

and

Thompson

title it

African Art in Motion.

come

why

Robert

art historian

to

A

stellar

example of

this

premise

is

arts

the

of African and African diasporic practice are dancing

fact that the deities spirits that

is

could write his signature work on African visual

life

through the dancing bodies of the

faithful.

To

use

dance anthropologist Yvonne Daniel's wonderfully evocative term, these

danced religions exhibit the principle of "embodied wisdom." (Note: Using Daniel's initiative

I

have removed the terms "possession" and "pos-

sessed by the deities" from

who

my vocabulary.

Instead,

I

refer to practitioners

manifest the deity through dance as "embodying" the

term indicates that the process

and education. "Possession," biased toward a

a

is

Walker pointed

{D tin ring

is a

This

term imposed by outsider perspectives,

through the bodies of its believers fact that the universe

spirit.

form of cultural wisdom, knowledge,

model of inconsequence and

canist scholar Sheila

entity

a

is

As

lack of control.)

is

Afri-

out, the fact that the spirit dances in/

an affirmation and celebration of the

dynamic process-in-motion, rather than

a static

1993).

Borrowing from and building on the consummate work of Thompson

Kariamu Welsh-Asante (1985), and Susan Vogel (1986),

(1974),

I

hope to

designate a constellation of Africanist elements that are manifested in

many forms

of diasporan African dance, from South America to the Car-

ibbean and the United States. these characteristics

work

It is

important to reiterate the

symbiotically,

do not

fact that

exist as discrete entities,

and are separated and categorized, here and elsewhere, solely for the sake of discourse.

They

indicate processes, tendencies, and attitudes.

In searching for specifically Caribbean danced examples of these prinutilize

Haitian Vodou dance as demonstrated in the work of Maya

ciples,

I

Deren

(the video Divine Horsemen: The Living Cods

of

Haiti) and

Daniel (the video Public Vodun Ceremonies in Haiti) to make

These two

excellent films act as

companion

my

Yvonne points.

pieces and are essential view-

ing for anyone interested in this important form of sacred African diasporic performance.

Crossroads, Continuities, and Contradictions

5

•

Embracing the Conflict In the broadest sense the Africanist aesthetic can be construed as a principle of contradictions

paradox, that

is

cord, or irregularity that this

and an encounter of opposites.

is

conflict,

embraced, rather than erased or resolved.

a principle essential to the Africanist perspective is

is

by the importance of the crossroads

strated

The

or

innate to and insinuated by difference, disagreement, dis-

as a

symbol

The

fact

demon-

in African

and

African diasporic cultures. As Deren points out in her book Divine Horse-

men: The Living Gods ofHaiti (1991, loon.), the crossroads is the site of the "coincidence of opposites." Accordingly, Africanist art forms deal in para-

dox

as a

diction

matter of course, with irony following close on

is

expressed in African dilemma

to the untrained

ear,

may sound

tales, in

embedded results

and

they, in turn, are reflected in

that,

is

reflected in the premises

it.

Embracing the

conflict

is

in the final principle, the aesthetic of the cool, since coolness

from the juxtaposition of detachment with

ciples, as well as all the fest

Contra-

or ungraceful to eyes schooled

Europeanist aesthetic. This principle

cited, below,

heels.

discordant or grating, and in dance that

may seem unsophisticated, uncoordinated, in the

its

music or vocal work

intensity.

other aesthetic canons outlined herein,

Both prin-

may mani-

themselves as simultaneously comedic and tragic (and, occasionally,

even self-mockingly so) in an attitude and

style that

is

uncharacteristic of

Europeanist endeavor.

Vodou and

all

Africanist danced religions are examples of Daniel's con-

cept of embodied

wisdom and embrace

the contradictory, conflicting

ethos of spirit world and body/material world. These two worlds do not join easily.

We see the conflict in the struggle that occurs when the spirit

mounts the body of the novice dancing practitioner. The struggle is allowed to occur, without onlookers attempting to suppress or subsume the process.

"wrong";

The it

conflict

simply

is

is

not regarded

what

it is:

as

"good" or "bad," "right" or

the process.

Polycentrism/Polyrhythm

From

movement may originate from any body more areas of the body may simultaneously serve as centers of movement. Africanist-based movement is also polyrhythmic. The feet may maintain one rhythm while torso, legs, arms dance to the beat of different drums. This democracy of body parts is demonstrable in the Africanist perspective,

zone, and two or

6

Brenda Dixon Gottschild

•

Motherland and across the

dias-

principles are demonstrated in Vbdou's zepaules

— the

Africanist dance forms throughout the

pora.

These confluent

dance motif characterized by the beautifully subtle articulation of the shoulders that involves the rib cage in the feet

moving

to an independent

concurrent but separate flow, with

a

rhythm

tar

below.

High- Affect Juxtaposition Movement, mood, or with

attitude disruptions that ensue abruptly, rather than

phase, are the signature of this premise.

a transition

somber mood may overlap and cohabit

humorous

a light,

A

another example, imitative movements (reflecting particular animal behavior)

may

contrasts

may be

be comedy, irony,

ultimately, euphoria

The

juxtaposed with abstract ones. satire,

and exhilaration.

driving or

attitude; or, in

human

or

result of such

double meanings, innuendo, and, It is

true that

all

traditions utilize

contrast as an aesthetic valence. However, Africanist high-affect juxtaposition

good

is

accelerated

beyond the range of contrast

Europeanist

taste," in

that

is

acceptable, or "in

criteria.

Their high-affect juxtapositions preserve Caribbean performance genres such as Vodou as

a

—

mystery

if

not simply an example of bad taste

regard of the Europeanist-based outsider.

How

can

a

—

involve secular dances, sexualized performance, and a deity such as (the

Vodou

deity of birth, death, and fertility

who

in the

sacred ceremony

Guede

jokes, plays sexual

games, and generally wreaks havoc in his path), they ask themselves?

how can

a practitioner's face

and veers

in a

cal control?

remain calm and mask-like

dance that seems to come from

And how,

is it

beyond her physi-

human body? What are

possible to laugh and cry simultaneously?

press love and outrage in the

tears of joy,

How

can

a

Buddhism,

this

precept

hides, the contradictions in

rather than "either/or":

man and other.

supernatural

we

is

body

and ex-

same movement? The answer, once we

leave behind our baggage of prejudice, bias, and inhibition, like

Or

her body jerks

indeed, can a spiritual practice be centered upon

the very physicalized, sexualized

how

a force

as

is

simple:

part of a system that honors, rather than

human

experience.

are sexual

and

It is a

spiritual,

principle of "and,"

body and

soul,

hu-

— indeed, good and bad — rather than one or the

Crossroads, Continuities, and Contradictions

7

•

Ephebism This premise (ephebe was the ancient Greek word for person) includes attributes such as power,

a

youth or young

vitality, attack, drive,

and

flex-

You don't need to be young to demonstrate ephebism. In fact, the term is most frequently used when an elder dances and exhibits youthful ibility.

characteristics. attitude,

It's

really

and timing.

not about age, but about using the right energy,

Thompson

(1974, 7) describes

every note and step with consummate

it

as "the

phrasing of

Ephebism implies

vitality."

a

supple, flexible torso, bending knees, and the ability and willingness to go

down in order to be

lifted up, literally

and metaphorically:

a flexibility that

allows one to go with the flow and roll with the changes (of the dance, of life itself)-

Ephebism In each

we

ease, grace,

is

demonstrated in both Deren's and Daniel's

see examples of elders (particularly

and sensuality of youth,

essential phrasing

and timing

field footage.

women) dancing with

as well as countless

who

dance of ordinary people

in the

the

examples of quintare

capable of extraordinary kinetic moments.

The Aesthetic This principle lives in the

of the Cool is

the circumference that holds

all

other premises, and they also reside in

culminating step in an attitude that combines

others in it.

vitality

its thrall. It

"The Cool"

is

with composure

the

—or

hot/engaged with cool/detached. To exhibit the cool involves dancing and presenting the self with clarity and lucidity. In a the Africanist esthetic

been characterized spirit

and

flair"

is

as "soul force,"

which includes "energy,

(Gay and Baber 1987,

Vodou's Guede

is

des yeux, those practitioners

is its

.

fiber,

.

.

.

who

—accoutrements that

The

dances of the prise

are adepts, are almost always a striking

—their faces resembling ancient African masks

in still-

and self-possession, while their bodies dance beyond their

quotidian potential. Cool, however,

which

.

11).

inherently are associated with cooling processes.

ness, calm,

.

quintessentially cool: he generally appears wearing

dark glasses and either a derby or scarf on his head

example of cool

—and —the cool has

more spiritual sense

ineluctably spiritual and physical

is

manifested in contrast with hot,

indispensable complement: the two illuminate each other in a

symbiotic dance that thetic characteristics.

is

emblematic of the

full

spectrum of Africanist aes-

Brenda Dixon Gottschild

H

With in

these basic principles laid out (and, to he sure, those listed above are

no way

all-inelusive, but, simply,

whose manifestations,

treasure trove

stars in the sky, are

extend them

in

Vodou forms

a

my way like the

too numerous to contain

ways that

deem

I

of a rich

pantheons of deities or the in

any theory)

let

me, now,

relevant to Caribbean dance. Again,

basic comparative integer.

Communication/Continuity Between Although

making sense

of

this characteristic

stands apart and on

its

is

and

Spirit

Worlds

cited inside the discussion, above,

The

own.

Human

it

also

continuities between body/mind/spirit

are so palpable in Africanist performance practices as to be almost tan-

(For example,

gible, literally.

ist

when

a

practitioner says s/he "feels the

no mere metaphor.) What this means is that, even in a tourperformance of Vodou, practitioners are liable to truly embody the

spirit," this

is

deities. It also

rience

may

means

that,

even

in social

frequently occur. In

dance situations,

fact, social

expe-

a spiritual

dance "respites" are

common

Vodou ceremonies. Many of us may recall having entered a near-trancelike state in some social dance situation in our own Africanist-based realm of experience. And this is to be expected: the body occurrences in long

movements,

steps, postures,

forms of Africanist dance;

word

and motifs are the same

it is

only through

—that one type of experience

is

in social

Nommo

and secular

— the power of the

called ritual and another social.

music and dance are the same. As Daniel points out

in

The

her video, contem-

Boukman Eksperyans may make music at Vodou

porary music groups

like

ceremonies and

incorporate that same music in their pop recordings.

later

Marathoning Performances,

festivals, holidays, celebrations,

social, frequently involve

and

may go on

for twelve hours,

needs to be done takes time spirit

Thus,

work may as

two

ritual

occur

at events that,

days, or even longer.

— not clock time, but

just as easily

or

spirit time.

them-

To do what Again, this

in a social situation as in a ritual

one.

Bernice Reagon points out, sometimes the way that one "finds"

oneself after working

a

forty-hour or longer work week

night, to take off the uniform, put

the

whether

dancing beyond natural capabilities and "nor-

mal" physical limitations of duration and energy selves,

rites,

on the dancing

wee hours of the morning {Dinning

outfit,

is,

come Friday

and dance

until

1993). Although Reagon was

re-

Crossroads, Continuities, and Contradictions

comment

ferring to African-American social dance patterns, her

is

•

9

just as

relevant to Caribbean performance.

Multiple Foci In Africanist performance the circle reigns. Frequently

around

a semicircle

may

be a shifting

it is

manifested as

of percussionists. Even in line dances there

a battery

of onlookers surrounding the performers.

circle

circle stands in contrast to the fourth-wall,

The

proscenium stage of Euro-

emerged from the medieval Christian mass and

peanist performance that

continues today in the tradition of the concert stage. In proscenium form it is

very clear

who

is

audience and

who

performer, because the two are

is

separated by a linear arrangement: the performers are on stage; the spectators sit "in the

house" and view the performance

and focus are targeted tors,

frontally.

one direction: toward the

in

stage,

The energy

by the specta-

and to the house, by the performers.

Where

the circle rules, there

is

an abundance of energy,

ibility,

and potential. For one, there

person

who

is

an onlooker

is

vitality, flex-

always the possibility that the

may be drawn

into the action and

become

a

no proscenium stage separating audience from performers, spectators may choose where to focus their atperformer. In addition, since there

tention, and performers

may choose where

performing. Frequently there simultaneously.

going on

at

No

is

one person

any particular

for chaos (a cultural bias

is

to locate themselves while

more than one "performance" going on is

capable of knowing/seeing

moment in

time. But this

is

is

that

characteristic of Africanist-based

is

not to be mistaken

emanating from those who see linear structure

superior to other possible alternatives). Instead, this structure that

all

is

a

as

democracy of

performance modes.

Improvisation

This premise goes hand linearity

is

in

hand with the

circle,

discussed above.

disrupted and the performer-audience divide

is

When

blurred, the

What this means is that, in another. The steps may be the same

force of the unforeseen gains ascendance.

Vodou, no dancer

really dances like

for calling forth a particular deity, but each dancer performs

them

in

her

own unique way with her own special embellishments. Thus, improvisation is the name of the game, on the individual level, and it rules on the collective front as well.

No

one Vodou ceremony

is

like another,

even

K)

Brenda Dixon Gottschild

•

though chants, motifs, dance and structures may be is

steps,

common

drumming

in all.

patterns, and certain props

The improvisatory nature

of

Vodou

so deep that Deren claims to have never been to any two ceremonies

that

were

having attended some hundreds over

alike, in spite of

a

period of

years.

Collective/Communal Trust This premise serves as the check and balance for improvisation.

have

sequestered space in order to "let

a

temple,

a

communal

When

night.

it all

mount

—

be it the Vodou room on Saturday

hang out"

courtyard, or a friends living

the deities

One must

the bodies of the faithful there are arms

When

and bodies of the community to catch them

if

goes beyond the hot or the cool and performs

in an "uncool" way, there

they

fall.

a

dancer is

communal voice to remind her that she has traveled beyond the drummers may cease to play, or the dance space may be emptied, fringe with the person in question thus singled out by the collective. The comthe

—

munity thus establishes and maintains continuity and respect for tural traditions,

its

cul-

even while affirming and celebrating the power of impro-

visation.

Cultural Fusions/Inclusions In anthropological jargon this principle

means

is

that,

without losing

its

is

known

as syncretism.

What

it

root integrity in and adherence to an

Africanist perspective, African-based cultures in the

Motherland and

in

the diaspora have embraced the conflict of opposites that they have en-

countered in hostile, oppressive environments. So, for example, many Vodou ceremonies begin with the recitation of the Catholic litanies known as actions de grace by the koungan (Vodou priest). The Vodou deities, emanating from Fon and Kongo traditions of West and Central Africa, are identified

with particular Catholic

Africanist characteristics.

And

Africanist religious practice in the

sion/cleansing in water

—

is

form of water

essay,

So

they keep their

—so

deities

important

and

ritual

is

easily identifiable

this brings us full circle

readying us for the rich gems to follow

of

with the Afri-

from the beginning of in this

in

immer-

easily identified with the Christian practice

baptism. Even the Christian crucifix canist crossroads.

saints. Yet,

the valence of water

anthology.

this

—

—

2

o o o

What Is Congolese

Caribbean Dance

in

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

Angola has been guese; then

war since 1961.

at

First

it

was Africans fighting Portu-

MPLA,

became the government, the

it

UNITA. Nonetheless,

it's

not because of the war that

against the rebels, if you're in

Luanda,

on any morning and you're a light sleeper, you might be in trouble. Throughout the city there are numerous clubs and there are the capital, at 4 a.m.

And

always parties.

the music as a rule

is

loud, very loud. Inside people

dance to soukous or kudiiru, or to the rage when I was

last

there in

1

997, the

kizomba.

Kizomba

is

puzzling.

The music

is

new

zouk,

from the Caribbean, sometimes from Angola

sometimes straight

—but the name (formerly

spelled quizomba) and the steps are relatively old, harkening back to a

dance cultivated

a

hundred years ago and probably long before. And

it

echoes in the traditional dances of Angola as well as in those of neighboring Congo-Brazzaville and Congo-Kinshasa. is

that the dance for

kizomba

Dominican Republic; you do the same instrumentation, with the same accents. the

I

think this

is

one reason

What makes it odd,

exactly like the dance

is

it is

hard,

steps, at the

when you

and watch Caribbean dance, not to think there ibbean and the

Congo

—that

is

to say the

peoples, Angola, the Republic of the

done

listen to is

a link

though,

to bachata

same point

from

in the

Caribbean music

between the Car-

homelands of the Bakongo

Congo

(Congo-Brazzaville), and

Congo, the former Zaire (CongoKinshasa) because so much of what is done in the Caribbean is done there too. After all, many of the rhythms of the Caribbean are straight for example, zouk and dancehall and compas: there is no syncopation to the the Democratic Republic of the

—

11

12

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

•

main rhythms,

accent

unci the

in a

phrase always

falls at

the phrase or at the beginning and right in the middle. tion based

on straight rhythms

is

hallmark

a

the

sic styles; in

Congo congas

struments and musicians

music and dance

and calenda

drummer in

setting the rhythm.

the region use

in

the

used

in

just the hall of

The

mind

your foot or

dances of the Congo.

way

dancehall, the

them

Congo, the dancer

isolations of the hall

foot that figure in toe heel in Jamaica and meringue in

ground with

Caribbean

(

mu-

in a variety

Puerto Rican bomba and Martinican

common

is

in several

or their predecessors are the primary in-

in all parts of

styles. In

ticano, as

Congolese music. The

l

congas or similar long drums are the key drums

the beginning of

And instrumenta-

And

I

leads the chief

and heel of your touching the

laiti,

just the heel, are the

same

as those

winin' to Trinidad's soca and Jamaica's

that dancers mobilize their hips, quickly brings to

the hip rolling and hip swinging that distinguish Congolese dance.

The

style in

which people dance several Caribbean dances

also con-

up the Congo. In two of the main versions of Cuba's rumba,

jures

example,

men and women

the rumba, giiagiianco,

is

dance together

for the

man

avoid him.

He

tries to

between them, despite turn keeps it

in pairs.

Much

him

to and does

compromis-

all

catch her with her legs open and get all

her efforts to keep

him dancing and keeps him

on her own terms:

that

is

it

for

of the object of

to catch his partner in a

ing position, although she doesn't want

does

of

bele lino

she can to a leg, a

hip

from happening. She

in

attracted and interested. But, she

to say, without letting

him catch her when

she doesn't want to be caught, without letting him score. In effect, the partners challenge each other.

tion call

is

very

common

to

the

name of a

The become

this type

just as

Haiti's

Mayombe

Danse Congo only could come of Cuba's rite Palo

Mayombe

is

region in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

question then becomes

how and why

could Congolese traditions

part of Caribbean music and dance? In this article,

to address this, to explore the process

Congo would

of competi-

Congolese dance. Even the very names of dances

up the Congo. The Congo of

from the place Congo,

And

I

hope

to begin

by which music and dance from the

contribute to the development of the music and dance of

the Caribbean. Salsa provides a Salsa

is

good

illustration

of

how

this

could have happened.

perhaps the most widely recognized style of Puerto Rican music

and dance,

in part

because

its

popularity' has spread far

Rico and the various Puerto Rican communities

in

beyond Puerto

the United States.

You

3

What hear salsa everywhere

—Colombia,

Is

Congolese

in

Caribbean Dance

Peru, Senegal, Angola

•

1

—anywhere

people listen to Latin music.

The

rhythms that became Puerto Rican

distinctive

salsa

vated in the 1940s and 1950s. In essence, despite a base in

mambo, to

it is

combination of several music and dance

a

Dennis Clarke,

"salsa

is

were

culti-

Cuban son and According

styles.

mainly derived from Cuban music, which con-

tributed traditional Latin percussion (that

is,

timbales, congas, bongos),

types of ensemble {conjantos of trumpets and percussion, charangas with flute

and

violins, brass

mambo,

and sax-led big bands), clave (the basic rhythmic

numerous dance forms:

pattern) and

son, son montuno, rumba, guaguanco,

chachacba, bolero, gnajira, guaracha. Salsa also

national range of musics including Puerto Rican

lombian cumbia,

etc.;

embraces an

bomba and

inter-

Co-

plena,

also fusion experiments with rock, jazz,

soul"

(Clarke 1989, 1033). Salsa

rhythms are layered and complex. But simplified, the basic rhyth-

mic phrase

for salsa

is

(f^)J

The main

the following:

accents

fall

at notes

the sixteenth notes before basic salsa

you

(f3)J

(f3)J

start

your knees ever so

1

and

3.

The

time signature

is

4/4, with

and 4 serving as grace notes. To dance with your feet about a foot apart and with

1, 2, 3,

out erect,

slightly bent.

By

the time the musicians have played

each of the quarter notes of the rhythmic phrase, that will

(J^)J

is 1, 2, 3,

and

4,

you

have finished marking out the steps that correspond to part of the

phrase. In effect,

you end the movements on

pattern for the dance, you just the ball

move

of the foot for

your hips out

as

you do.

a

first

1, 2, 3,

or

4.

In the

to the right, then to the

moment before

most basic

left,

touching

taking the step and swinging

(Salsa footwork, however, can be complicated.

may be rhythmic, too. Dancers generally begin on beat one, but aficionados may start on two; many insert a hesitation, and the dancers may be dancing in syncopation to the rhythm.) Complications

Salsa connects with

dance

styles

some of the

earliest

Congolese-derived music and

popular in the Americas. Again, Puerto Ricans adopted son,

14

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

•

rumba, and

a

number of closely salsa.

Rumba

name

ot a

product was

final

Rumba dance

the

is

related music and dance styles.

And

the

provides an easy-to-see link to Africa.

Cuban genre l African-derived music and a number of forms, principally gua-

The name embraces

styles.

guanco, yambu, and Columbia. Except tor the men's competition form,

much

Columbia, they are set

alike,

and

in essence,

they are variations of one

of instrumentation and one set of choreography.

model

as a

meshed. But

(J>)J a

iuaguanco can serve

of guaguanco

basic, the pattern

is:

JJy 2

1

The rhythm ture for

most

at its

(

Again the rhythms are multiple and complexly

for the style.

is

3

(4)

and the accents are

straight,

guaguanco

is

4/4, and

a,

at

l

the note before

and

3.

a

1, is

The

time signa-

grace note. You

begin the basic step of the dance with your feet facing forward

a

shoulder

width apart, your knees slightly bent and with your arms bent so that your

hands are roughly

at chest

height and at each note,

a,

1,2,3, ant^ 4'

>'

ou do

the corresponding step. As with salsa, the basic step involves an alternation,

stepping to one side, then the other.

Key

features of the choreography for

the feet as at a and

1,

men

are isolation of the ball of

and the isolations of the hips

part of the choreography

is

as at

1.

Another major

the duel between the partners as described

above.

When preserves

you compare

much

time signature and this

The

salsa

with guaguanco, you can see

of the rumba. Again, salsa

key phrase for

(f?) J

is

salsa

is

a straight

the case with guaguanco and

is

just a variation

...

from

U)J JJy

just

how

rhythm with

rumba

salsa a

4/4

in general.

of the phrase for rumba:

Effectively,

What

Is

Puerto Ricans used notes

a

Congolese

and

1

;

in

Caribbean Dance

15

they changed the grace

note from an eighth note to two sixteenths and then repeated what they

had made for the duration of the phrase. And the dance

is

similar: in

both

dances you basically step out to one side and then to the other. In addition, maintains the isolation of the foot that you find in men's rumba,

salsa

although in notes

1

form: hence planting the ball of your foot for

a simplified

and 3 of the rhythm. Also, salsa keeps the hip isolations of rumba;

you consciously swing your hips

would swing them out

in

to the left

and right

at

1

and

3, just as

In turn, guaguanco and the other styles of rumba derive from older

Cuban

you

rumba.

social dances,

dances popular

searchers of Cuban music associate

a

much

century or more ago. Re-

rumba with

social

dances such as yuka

and maknta that were performed by enslaved people from the Congo and their descendants,

dances.

and argue that rumba derives particularly from these

With its two lines of dancers who approach each other and retreat,

yuka incorporates the rolling hips and the belly bounce (pelvic thrust) of

Congo/Angola. In the 1800s and even before, African-Americans throughout the

Americas, from Brazil to Louisiana, danced similar dances. These dances

had

of names

a variety

—calenda,

common

variations of a

on into dances

like

batuque,

samba

West

—but they were

features of the dances

yuka, and from there to rumba.

calenda as danced in the French

century

chica,

Many

theme.

A

would carry

description of the

Indies at the end of the eighteenth

states:

One male and one

female dancer, or an equal number of dancers of

each sex push to the middle of the circle and begin to dance, remaining in pairs. This repetitious dance consists of a very simple step

where, as in the "Anglaise" one alternatively extends each foot and

withdraws is

the

it,

man

tapping several times with the heel and toe. All one sees

spinning himself or swirling around his partner, who,

herself, also spins

and moves about, unless one

is

to count the raising

and lowering of the arms of the dancers who hold to their sides with the

hands almost clenched.

their

both ends of a kerchief which she rocks from side to has not witnessed

mated

it is

such grace

it

himself,

it is

hard to believe

elbows close

The woman side.

holds

When one

how lively and

ani-

how the rigorous following of the meter gives it (Moreau de St. Mery, quoted in Emery 1988, 22-23).

as well as

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

16

The tions

isolations of the toe

and heel

in the

dance prefigure the foot

of guaguanco.

A witness to a performance of the calenda an

isola-

de

article titled "Idea

las

in

Peru

in

1

763, reporting in

Congregaciones Publicas de

Negros

los

Bozales" in El Mercurio Peruano of 16 June 1791, noted the following: [I]t is

danced to the music of instruments and

place themselves in lines face

two

lines,

a

song.

The

dancers

one of men, the other of women; the

each other so that each male dancer has

a

female partner

The spectators make a circle around the dancers and One of the dancers leads the song, and the spectators pick

and vice versa. musicians.

up the

refrain

and they clap

about with their arms raised hips as they continually

come

then back away: they do

them

as they sing in the air,

All of the dancers

move

roll their

within two feet of their partners and

this until the

At

to get close to each other.

their bellies

it.

and they jump, spin,

instruments or song signals

this point, the partners

smack

two or three times, and then they separate with jumps,

and with lascivious gestures. [For the duration of the performance]

come together and smack bellies as often as song tell them to. While they smack their bellies,

they embrace, spin

around two or three times, and

without losing the

they

rhythm (my Here, in the

kiss

each other,

all

the instruments or

translation).

rolls

of the hips that the dancers perform and the belly

smacks that they give each other, are the hip isolations that would become part of rumba.

As Moreau de

St.

Mery saw

West

the chica in the French

Indies in the

late 1700s:

When one wants

to dance the Chica, a tune, especially reserved for

that type of dance,

is

played on crude instruments.

pronounced. For the woman,

who

sides of her skirt, the art of this

The

beat

is

very

holds the end of a kerchief or the

dance consists mainly

in

moving the

lower parts of her loins while maintaining the upper part of her body practically immobile.

approaches the

Should one want to enliven the Chica,

woman

while she

forward precipitously, he her,

falls in

is

a

man

dancing, and throwing himself

with the rhythm, almost touching

drawing back, lunging again, seeming to want to coax her to

surrender to the passion which engulfs them.

When

the Chica

a

What reaches

its

most expressive

Is

stage, there

Congolese

is

in

Caribbean Dance

in the gestures

and

17

•

in the

movements of the dancers a harmony which is more easily imagined than described (Moreau de St. Mery, quoted in Emery 1988, 25)

And guaguanco would social

dances

Dances formed

preserve this duel between the partners and later

complex and passionate harmony.

this

like the

calenda derived from social music and dance styles per-

Congo/Angola. Not much

in

is

dances, save that the musicians played

membraphone

known about

the rhythms of the

drums and the

that produces a deep groaning sound.

puita or cuica

—

As for the dance,

nineteenth-century descriptions of the batuque and the quizomba of

Angola give

a

general idea of

how

people danced throughout the region.

Batuque and quizomba were the names of two dances performed

Angola and quite tions of the

danced

likely, as

in

with the calenda and the chica, they were varia-

same dance. Here's

a description

of the batuque, which was

in Brazil as well as in Angola:

[I]n the

land where

it

originated, batuque, probably derived

Portuguese, (perhaps from bater

the

[to beat]) is

name of a

from

type of

dance, in which the Blacks, in a circle, dance zapateo, or tap dance, to

rhythms marked out with handclaps and percussion instruments. In

Luanda and other and

after

areas of Angola,

dancing several

[pelvic thrust],

call

in the middle,

he or she goes to give an embigada

steps,

which they

one dancer goes

semba, to the person

who he

or she

chooses to replace him or her: he or she then goes into the middle of the ring to dance

(Ramos 1954,

128,

my translation).

The tap dance of the batuque would yield the isolations of the toe and heel that

became

a feature

of

Cuban

dance.

The quizomba

is

[I]n the rural

communities of Angola, people always dance the

described in this way:

quizomba, and they dance

you travel in the interior,

it

after

monotonous groans, and

No matter when sundown you'll hear the cuica, with its

almost every night.

the singing of the dancers.

dance the quizomba, dancers form

a ring into

When

they

which a few couples go

and do licentious movements and make indecorous gestures, move-

ments and gestures lence for honors. for the

in

which voluptuousness competes with inso-

Those who don't enter to dance provide

music (Ramos 1940, 225,

my translation).

the chorus

18

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

•

And

these "indecorous

movements and

gestures" are

rolling, hip swinging, hip shaking, that

isolations

is,

little

more than hip And of

the hips.

f

course, later these would figure into the chica and calenda and eventually the guaguanco, and

many

other Caribbean dances.

While nothing written describes challenges between partners, that mean that they didn't exist; rather, no one recorded them happen-

doesn't

ing. Pursuit

of a female dancer by her male partner, and her efforts to keep

him interested hut

ineffectual,

dance traditions, and

it

is

very

appears

in

much

some

part of

a

Congolese music and

of the traditional dances of the

region, such as Angola's rebita, as well as in contemporary dances, such as

Congolese soukous. In effect, features

Congo appeared

of the music and the dance of the

(and appear) on both sides of the Atlantic. Dances such as the quizomba

and batuque of Angola would give way to the calenda, to dances

and eventually to rumba and to

There

salsa.

are basically

like

yuka,

two reasons

for

this.

First, the

ing slaves,

Portuguese arrived

first

to Portugal and,

to the colonies of other

in

Congo

in

1483 and soon began export-

from the sixteenth century, to

European powers, the Caribbean

prominent among them.

If enslaved

Brazil

people from the Congo/Angola re-

gion were not always the slaves of choice, they did bring valuable

knew how

to

"work metal,

to

weave and make

more

animals, including cattle" and, available in inexhaustible

skills

and

and to domesticate

importantly, they "seemed to be

The

38).

slave trade

for nearly four centuries, with other na-

tions following the Portuguese in the trade. to

pottery,

numbers" (Bowser 1974,

from Congo/Angola continued

and

islands being

During

its

course, according

one recent historian (and others have higher estimates), three million

enslaved people from the

Congo/ Angola region were sent

to the

Americas

out of an estimated total of thirteen million enslaved people shipped from Africa tion

(Thomas

1997, 805).

on many Caribbean

and even

They were

islands,

still

an important part of the popula-

arriving in the nineteenth century

after the slave trade ended, as indentured

workers

in

Martinique.

Second, to the extent that they practiced their music and dance

Congo,

as

they attempted to create

lives in the

New World,

in

they per-

formed music and dance. And when they played, they played what they had played

in Africa,

and when they danced they danced the way they

hail

danced there. Effectively, much of what we have now derives from what these millions of slaves from the

Congo and

elsewhere

in Africa carried

What

Is

Congolese

in

Caribbean Dance

19

here with them, and what they and their descendants were able to maintain.

Some have argued

that this could not be the case, that the

Middle Pas-

sage and horrors of slavery stripped Africans of their cultures. So Africans

would have brought impossible to

little

with them to the Americas, and found

A

cultivate.

long

line

it

nearly

of scholars, however, including

Thompson, Hurston, Dubois, and many others, have made when Africans arrived here, they interpreted their experiences

Herskovits, clear that

through the framework provided by their cultures; they gave meaning to

many new things they saw and experienced by comparing them to knew from home. Also, they consciously added to what they had learned already, and did so unconsciously, too. In reality, much of the the

things they

African diaspora experience has been one of reinterpretation and reorien-

The Caribbean

tation.

slaves

from the Congo brought

dance with them and, to the best of their reality.

They added

to

ability,

they

their

made

it

them and took away, singing about

American experiences and modifying the

music and

part of their distinctively

steps of their dances.

From what

they had had back home, dances like the calenda and yuka would develop;

many years later, we had the material that would contribute to salsa. The steps involved in the development of salsa were the same as or similar to those taken in the creation and cultivation of much of the Caribbean's music and dance, and much of the Caribbean's culture, in general. Therefore, whereas Caribbeans may look to Europeans and at times to Native Americans for

must look

just as

much

some of

brought to Caribbean shores. For including the Congolese

the roots of their cultures, they

to Africans, including the

—

ligion, cuisine, etiquette,

is

much

at the heart

games, folktales

The Congo/Angola

numerous Congolese

of African culture

—decidedly

of the region's music, dance, re-

—

at the heart

of its culture.

Kongo/Angola, as many authors prefer in Bakongo peoples) contribution to Caribbean music and dance is discussed by many other authors in this book. The most extensive treatment of the Congolese influence on Caribbean dance can be found in Yvonne Daniel's comprehensive chapter, "Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean Creativity." Discussing the Kongo/Angola tradition in Cuba, she calls it "the Editor's note:

(or

referring to the region and culture of the

largest

and deepest penetration of African tradition

view

also the place to

in

is

Kongo

go to learn about

tradition such as

mambo

in

distinctively

and rumba.

Cuba." This extensive over-

Cuban

creations with a basis

20

•

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell, Jr.

How

the late (second half of nineteenth century) entry of indentured workers

from Congo/Angola influenced dance

Dominique Cyrille in her chapter Oil from J. 1. Weeks on Bakongo dancing 1

lese-derived long

drums

are

in the

French Caribbean

is

discussed by

that area.

Here too

in the late

nineteenth century. The Congo-

mentioned prominently

in

are interesting quotes

Martha Ellen

Davis's

chapter on the Dominican Repuhlic. Congolese etymology of Curacaon terms discussed in Cahri Christa tion of the

s

is

chapter about that island. See other chapters for men-

Congolese component

in

Haitian Vodou, Puerto Rican bomba, and

Jamaican dance. Rohert Karris

Thompson

is

a

noted scholar of Kongo/ Angola traditions and

their influence in the Americas. His chapter on

connections, including the word mambo

her chapter, Molly Ahye cites sible

a

itself.

mamho makes

multiple

Congolese cosmogram and speculates on

resonances with Trinidadian limho.

Kongo

Drawing on Thompson's work its

in

pos-



CUBA

3

o o o Cuban Dance An

Orchard of Caribbean Creativity

Yvonne Daniel

The Caribbean encounter of indigenous Americans, Europeans, and Africans has produced, to

some degree,

at least

one similar dance/music form.

On every island, people are accustomed to periodic social gatherings with The comdancing, women

highly seasoned food, potent drinks, and music and dancing.

mon dance form that has been produced involves couple and men, with

lots

of hip or pelvic action, whether hip circling as in the

"wine" on Trinidad and Jamaica, or meringue in Haiti and merengue in the

Dominican Republic, or hip swinging

rumba music

in

in

Cuba.

All such dances are

as in

mazouk on Martinique, or

performed to highly polyrhythmic

which percussion drives the tone and the

It is in

Cuba, however, that

this rich, vibrant,

feeling.

and potent cultural mix-

one new dance/music form, but many forms many outstanding, creative dance/music artists who have affected popular music and dance formations internationally. Cuba is responsible for dance/music forms like son, rumba, mambo, danzon, and chachachd. Through such dances, its influence has been felt throughout the ture produced not simply

and, in addition,

Caribbean basin, It

its

neighboring continents, and beyond.

has been from within

Cuba

music/dance tree has developed.

that a (I

huge "American" dance/music or

use these terms, dance/music and

mu-

sic/dance, interchangeably and as equivalents, since they are so interde-

pendent that

I

in the

study.)

that the

Caribbean and among the expatriate Caribbean enclaves

Cuban creation

United States

is

is

American

in the global sense (as the notion

the only "America" fades); thus, the American 23

"

24

Yvonne Daniel

•

tree of

Not

dance and music traditions has heavy, weighty branches

Cuba have

only does

original

its

Cuban

creations, but

it

in

Cuba.

also houses

multiple branches of distinct African-derived music/dance, as do few of its

neighboring

islands.

Unlike

most other

in

groupings of cabildos (ethnic and

congregate and preserve their customs.

were maintained and displayed

among

The

were permitted to

distinctions

in differing

other practices. Thereby,

tant to the Caribbean, to Latin

islands, large African ethnic-

religious associations)

among

Africans

dances and unique music,

Cuban dance

distinctiveness

American dance, and

to the

is

impor-

dance of the

whole hemisphere.

Cuban dance/music music

is

Caribbean

to the

is

American dance/music, an

to U.S.

as

African-American dance/

indelible

and ever-present part

of the broad, Caribbean cultural fabric (see Gottschild 1996).

dance has affected Caribbean dance formation

Cuban

Cuban music has Cuban dance emerged

just as

influenced Caribbean musical production, since

new Cuban musical form. The most signifiCuban and non-Hispanic dance structure of the

almost in tandem with each cant difference between

Caribbean

is

an amplified or embroidered foot pattern, beyond the basic

alternation of walking steps.

The

amplified foot pattern dominates loco-

motion through the dance space. In many Cuban dance forms, pated rhythm

and

this

or "long

is

is

repeated, as

—

,

a

synco-

created as a foot pattern instead of an even foot pattern in:

"short (step), short, long

short, short, long

ing step instruction).

—

—

,

short, short, long

short, short" (in simplified

,

The dance

—

dance travel-

production of other islands

is

rooted in

the alternation of walking steps, for example, merengue, zouk, compas, calypso, etc., that have "one,

In

two" or "walk, walk" basic

steps.

most contemporary Caribbean and circum-Caribbean dance

ture, for

cul-

example, reggae, mazouk, zouk, pachanga, kaseko, plena, bomba,

bamba, cumbia,

salsa, etc., traces

of

Cuban dance

exist.

Ultimately, this

stems from the early "settlement" of Cuba, as opposed to the "exploration" of other islands in the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries (Knight

1970, 1978; Perez 1988). Haiti

showed

bean culture

in the late eighteenth

genuine and

fully

teenth century. ever,

"Cuban"

From

Cuban dance

signs of the

first distinct

Carib-

and early nineteenth centuries, but

a

culture formed shortly afterward in the nine-

the late fifteenth to mid-nineteenth centuries,

how-

culture percolated with tremendously varied cultural

ingredients.

Because of the influence of Cuban music/dance since the nineteenth century, in the Caribbean and across the globe,

I

am amazed

at the

mar-

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Cuban dance

ginalization of

Creativity

•

25

that permeates the new, formidable collec-

tions of world dance on video. Today, video collections give us needed and

easy access to dance around the world. Yet, generally, they marginalize, neglect, or

omit one of the most

for this

may

Caribbean nations

influential

velopment of American forms and

styles

of music and dance.

be that current political issues surrounding

in the de-

One

reason

Cuban and U.S.

interaction shape authentic dance documentation, competent and inclusive archiving

music

artistry.

of music, and the reality of Cuba's prolific output of dance/

Another reason may be that the editors of several of the

series are musicologists

and they do not balance the contribution of

dance.

In the video series JVC Anthology of World Music and Dance (1988), the

two tapes on the Americas present

from the Caribbean,

a contribution

including three examples from Cuba. This selection does not feature the

range of contributions that

Cuba

has

made

suggest Cuba's vast originality through

its

to

world dance, nor does

visual images.

it

Furthermore, in

Music and Dance of the Americas, produced by JVC/Smithsonian Institution in 1995, only three of the seven examples listed on the table of contents

and

and jacket

as

Cuban

are truly

Brazil, correctly identified

Dancing video series that was

Cuban. The other four are from Haiti

only in the video

first

itself.

And

presented on television by

the popular

PBS

in

1993

Cuban dance entirely. Too often, the rich and varied world of Cuban dance has been compromised. In the 1930s and 1940s, when Hollywood, the music recording omits

industry,

and the general public confused

a

conga with

a tango, a

samba

with a rumba, North African culture with sub-Saharan culture, Caribbean

American societies, they did so out of laziness, ignoThere is no excuse today, what with better knowledge of

societies with Latin

rance, or bias.

the world, instant technology to correct our errors swiftly, and the will to respect cultural distinctiveness. Credit

that

Cuba

In an effort to reverse past omissions,

of

Cuban

is

overdue for the

many dances

has produced.

dance.

I first

I

am eager to present an overview

point out the important dance traditions or huge

families of dances that are tightly related in terms of structure, instrumentation, song-style,

were created

in

and basic movements. There are several of these that

Cuba and

several "foreign" traditions that have survived

Cuba for centuries. I explain how dance/music traditions combined to make Cuban dance culture, or what I have previously called the Cuban

in

dance matrix (Daniel 1995, 26-44). ^ n th e process,

I

inform an interested

26

Yvonne Daniel

•

public, balance the (

dance perspective on world music, and pay tribute to

luba's contributions. I

am

influenced thoroughly in this undertaking by having lived

during

my

annual

Cuban

original anthropological fieldwork,

received from to

me.

Cuban

scholars and the

I

luba

is

Cuban

people, as they reported

I

it

change the assumptions (and deductions) about

to

site of distinct

and dense traditions from

reality.

attempt to reconcile these with the Cuban "regionalist" perspec-

tive that

New

est

(

almost

that are distorted by encyclopedic references to world

dance, which erase the

Then

in

my

research trips since 1985, and by the dance/music history

My first intent

Cuban dance

19H6-87, by

Cuban dance/music traditions

are the

World, the twenty-first century

most important

in the

new-

(smiles).

Dancing Cubans Today, despite

must absorb ing often.

of the economic and political pressures that Cubans

all

they hold on to

life,

including danc-

The sound of music playing is constant day and

night, through-

in daily life,

out large and small

cities

in

sane social

and across expanses of rural

son would have to go high

music

a

in the

areas.

I

think

mountains or beyond the shore

Cuba, and then the quiet would

last

only for

a while.

a

per-

to escape

Live perfor-

mances, rehearsal patios, radios and televisions blast out expressions of joy,

happiness, and relaxation from early in the

morning

to late, late

evening. Occasionally, melodic laments are also heard, but often these are

accompanied by sounds of stirring, romantic orchestration that cause teners to focus

The

lis-

away from work or conversation.

stimulation of music in the air accumulates until

it

spills

over into

Whether a Cuban woman is in the middle of mopping her floors, or whether a Cuban man is

the need, the desire to dance.

one of her daily

rituals,

finishing a ten-hour

hour bus dancing.

ride, It is

meeting and must return home on

they respond deeply to music

not unusual for

raise his/her arms,

a

Cuban

in their

a hot, sticky four-

environment

to interrupt whatever

is

—

by going on to

perhaps close her/his eyes, and step rhythmically with

accentuating hip motion to the surrounding magical sounds. S/he might

even grab

Cubans

A big rest

a

partner in order to execute the dance

more

appropriately.

love dance just as other Caribbean people do.

Cuban love of the dance and that of the Cuban government organizes support for

difference between the

of the world

dance and other

is

that the

artistic

forms so that the

arts flourish

and nourish

its

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Cuba

people.

is

divided into large provinces,

Creativity

•

27

towns, and, at the

cities,

smallest level, districts, and each division has a vehicle for artistic expression,

development, and enjoyment.

(and other

arts) for free as

munity culture houses

mances free

on

in provincial

occasion).

tographers,

The general

public experiences dance

audience members in their

{casas de caltura).

The

own

public also enjoys perfor-

Major

directors, choreographers, conductors,

etc., are paid to give regular performances

on

cinema-

television, so

informed public experiences and also appreciates Cuba's

sult, in

com-

and national theaters, for minimal cost (and even for

The public benefits immeasurably. Of course, art as "tension-reliever benefit, but

district

artistic

output.

of the masses" might be the

in actuality, lively public criticism

an

first

and educated analyses

the media as well as on street corners and in beauty parlors.

re-

Cuban

dance, as an art form on stage or as a popular expression by amateurs in

community culture houses, receives a range of commentary; dance performance practice technique, execution, expression is fully discussed and

—

the performance content analyzed.

Cuban dance

—

—

social, political,

has a forum in which to grow;

state for all to experience

and

Government support of the sequences.

Not

arts,

and dance

a

amateur

dance

styles

(los aficionados),

Dancers are trained

is

finances a rigorous

philosophy, a concept, an assump-

for specialists, but accessible

loric, balletic,

intelligently

in particular, has other con-

The Cuban government

tion that everyone should/can/does dance.

profesionales).

is

financed by the

enjoy.

dance training program that contains

pueblo), the

—

it is

only does the public or audience benefit, but performers

themselves develop as well.

program

or artistic

There

is

not simply

a training

dance training for the public

and professional dance

first in local

{el

artists (los

courses and schools in folk-

modern concert, and popular styles. The hierarchy among muted by the serious study of all dance forms and styles. If

dancers show promise and audition for the provincial dance program,

they are eligible for

a place in either the provincial

school. Further auditioning

or the national arts

may result in placement in the

limited slots of

the national dance training division.

Upon

graduation from the national arts (or

vincial dance) programs,

dance

Danza Con-

— traditional

temporanea

—modern —

ballet

audition for the

concert dance, Folklorico Nacional

dance companies.

de Camaguey

artists are eligible to

The

from pro-

national companies are:

six national

folkloric forms, Ballet

less frequently,

Nacional

—

ballet

company of Alicia Alonso,

company of Fernando Alonso,

Ballet

Folklorico de Ori-

Yvonne Daniel

28

ente

—

traditional

folkloric

Cutumba

tonus, and

forms. Another recourse after graduation

Cuban dancers

extravaganza dance. sionals

in

— traditional

folkloric

to enter the large division of

is

nightclubs and hotels are profes-

and generally have more training than extravaganza dancers do

elsewhere.

Cuban dance

training requires

competency

in

many

types and styles of

dance (Cashion 1989). Therefore, Cuban dancers are equipped early to begin

a

company Cuban concert form derived

professional career in dance. If they succeed in national

selection, they tend to specialize in

danza

mainly from twentieth-century United ent forms that were brought to rived concert

(a

States), folkloric

Cuba by

forms (anteced-

differing cultures), ballet (a de-

form from nineteenth-century Europe) or extravaganza

dancing (theatrical presentations of mainly popular forms). Training

is

rigorous and thorough; competitive training yields exquisite technique

and incredibly expressive performances. Young dance to look

up

to

sibilities to

artists

and mature professionals have challenges to

face

have models

and respon-

maintain.

Cuban professionals, including dancers, must do a kind of internship upon graduation. They give lessons throughout the provinces and teach the art form they know so well to budding professional and amateur dancers in community settings. In this way, amateurs get inAll trained

formed teaching, but

also the casas

de cultura organization provides re-

hearsal space and performance opportunities for amateurs.

dance organization does not limit

itself to individuals

The amateur

with love of or

tal-

ent for dance, but extends to hospital workers, hotel workers, garbage collectors, school children, teachers, engineers

of people

who dance

together regularly and

—

who

all

sorts of associations

prepare community per-

formances. In this way, the native love of dancing has a means to express itself in

many ways.

In addition to professional and amateur dance, Cuba's nightclub and

hotel industries provide space and time for public social dance. Neighbor-

hood

Cuba and They enjoy a jukebox with and timba presentations. The

bars and small tropical taverns are sprinkled throughout

provide ordinary Cubans with

a

Cuban

Cuban

youth

boleros or the latest

tell

me

that there

Cubans congregate

at

is

place to dance.

rap

a trend like "rave dancing" in the States, where

changing addresses

in

houses, clubs, or dance halls

and dance the night away. Most often, however, Cubans dance tiny

homes with

their relatives or they

dance

in

community

in their

centers

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

among

their neighbors

and

friends.

On

Creativity

•

29

birthdays, anniversaries, and

other special occasions, they go to hotels and, into the dawn, dance

all

kinds of Latin dances (samba, rancheros, etc.) and U.S. fads or crazes (hip-

hop, the butt,

but mostly their

etc.),

chachacha, rumba,

own Cuban

creations (casino, conga,

etc.).

Today's Cubans are well acquainted, both as performers and as audi-

ence members, with the varied roots of their dance culture. In the clear

knowledge of

all

Cuban dance/music

Cubans now have opportunities

perform either

to

past,

heritages was limited. Since as professionals or as

Cuban

amateurs, they can (and are quick to) critique what goes on in

dance performance. Since they adore dancing for social activity and fun, they incorporate dancing into their

They draw upon

difficult, daily life as

their rich dance culture legacies,

often as possible.

which are both broad

and deep.

Indigenous Dance of Cuba

From time to time, Cubans acknowledge the indigenous dances of native peoples who first lived on Cuban soil. In contemporary choreographies, both professional and amateur dance companies

images

as creative

legacy.

Cubans

utilize

indigenous dance

content in honor of ancient history and

give

homage

in a conscious

manner to

Cuban

of their dance/music and so indigenous dance performance forgotten, despite

its

From October

to

1494,

(Perez

cultural

the eradicated roots is

not entirely

disappearance.

December 1492 and from November 1493 to June Christopher Columbus explored Cuban waterways and lands 1995, 21-25). Like other, later conquistadores, he was more inter-

ested in the marketable resources he noticed and imagined than the that

Cuban indigenous culture

disrupted native

sites;

first

awe

summoned in his mind. He eventually

the Ciboney and

later,

the

Arawak

(or Taino)

com-

munities were attacked, captured, and destroyed or dispersed by exploring exploiters. Native villages

and food resources were overrun by herds of

imported animals and native peoples died of malnutrition and suicide

in

massive numbers (Perez 1995, 14-30; Knight 1978, 3-49). It is

exist

almost incredible, therefore, that descriptions of indigenous dance

from the contact period (Direction

Polftica de las

Fernandez de Oviedo 1851; Hernandez 1980). Despite the dances do not presently exist in Cuba,

we have

FAR

1972;

fact that native

ideas about

how

they

30

Yvonne Daniel

•

might have looked and perhaps why they were performed due

The

early unsuspecting dance chroniclers.

massive group dances that were performed

in their

The chroniclers describe indigenous dances

manded

easy steps for hundreds,

if

as

presence.

group forms

not thousands, to perform

The unison movements, however, were performed configurations

in

to these

conquistadores wrote about

in

that de-

unison.

in

intricate spatial

order to secure good relations between the

native-

peoples and their spiritual world. Line, circle, and zigzag patterns for both

women

men or for men only or women only were examples of some of the many designs that the dancing produced. Often the performers danced in procession, holding hands or with locked elbows. The early chroniclers called these indigenous forms of Cuba areitos, meaning indigand

enous dance and song.

We see similar dance performances today in

that the native peoples of

Cuba

either

came from or

fled to at the

areas

time of

conquest, and similar descriptions from related archaeological and cultural sites. In

such

sites (as in

Jamaica, the Dominican Republic, Central

and South America), the dances are called areitos or batocos.

taquis, ?nitotes,

or

Descriptions of these dance forms approximate the descriptions

the conquistadores gave of indigenous dance in Cuba.

Cubans include

this

eradicated part of their dance/music as part of the mixture that results as

Cuban dance/music

culture.

Spanish and Haitian Dances in Cuba

Cuban soil by Spaniards from southern Spain, mainly (Linares 1979, 18-31; Leon 1984, 95-1 18; Hernandez 1980, 12-20; Chao Carbonero and Lameran 1982, 23-27; Alen European dance forms were "planted"

in

1994, 5-27; Daniel 1995, 30-33, 37-38). Another significant selection

was planted by French colonists, some of

on the neighboring

whom

had previously settled

island called Hispaniola (Espanola,

Santo Domingo), which

is

now

Saint-Domingue,

divided into Haiti and the Dominican

Republic. Other French colonists fled Louisiana Territory for

Napoleon two

sold

it

to the

distinct styles of

surably to

United

States.

These European

European dance culture

Cuban dance/music

Cuba when

colonists brought

that contributed

immea-

formation: Spanish zapateo and French

contredanse.

The

Spanish contribution came

guage and Spanish (

)uba

literary

first in

the form of the Spanish lan-

forms that have influenced music/dance

from the time of contact up to the present. The

lyrics

in

of songs that

1

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

accompanied dancing were in a

manner

began

that

in

Creativity

•

3

Spanish and often the songs were organized

in

Spain and has forever influenced the literary

production of the Caribbean and the European and South American continents.

The

structure of the Spanish song was based

within a ten-line stanza, called the decima. etry,

was ing,

a ten-syllable line

songs, as sung po-

accompanied rhythmic foot stamping, zapateo or zapateado, which a signature of

Spanish dance, particularly southern Andalucian danc-

where flamenco was forming

This structure evolved into

a

also as a significant dance tradition.

very descriptive (romantic) stanza that re-

peated a two-line or couplet refrain. tar,

on

The decima

the bandnrria,

el tiple,

and

The

Spaniards also brought the gui-

las bandolas, string

the sound background for early music/dance

made up The emphasis

instruments that

on the

island.

on the Spanish language, the decima-like stanza with answering couplet verse,

and zapateo continued on the island of Cuba

matrix for what was to Additionally,

become Cuban, not Spanish,

as part

of a growing

culture.

from within Spanish culture (through Andalucians, Cana-

rios, Castellanos,

Asturianos, Gallegos, Catalanes,

etc.,

an amalgam of re-

gions and classes), a particular body orientation or stance while dancing

was brought

to the island. Spanish

dancing characteristically utilized an

elongated, uplifted upper body above the stamping or

jumping)

feet.

circular patterns

accompanied the

and the characteristic interest with some hip

moving (running or

Extended arm movements that encircled the upper body

in

lifted chest.

in

This upper body stance

rhythmic foot patterns were combined

movement emphasis, which came from the Moors'

invasion

of Spain and the presence of North African culture within Spanish culture of the colonial period. As Spaniards

a result

of the African infiltration of Spain, some

who came to Cuba were

free,

Spanish-speaking Africans. Later,

an even stronger emphasis on the hips came to Cuba from sub-Saharan it is important to remember this first African influence that came with the Spaniards within European culture itself. French colonials (who had left Haiti either in anticipation or at the time of the Haitian Revolution, or who fled the U.S. dominion over former French Louisiana) brought the next European dance tradition (Alen 1987, 9-15; Knight 1970, 12, 33, 68-72). With the independence of

Africa, but

enslaved Africans in one major island of the colonies, colonists escaped to

Cuba, southern United

States, or

many

frightened

back to France.

Those who came to Cuba brought a group of European dances that had also come with the Spaniards, derivations of European court dances. These colonists were French, however, and heavily influenced by the opu-

Yvonne Daniel

32

lence of the historic French court. Instead of the Spanish emphasis on zapateo, their dance preferences approximated the look of the court

forms, including dancing often

and

of the foot) in los ijiiudrillfs

oil half

las

toe (with

body weight 00 the and minuets).

ininuctvs (quadrilles

hard, however, to replicate the dances exactly in a crude

Of the French

New

It

ball

was

World.

court imitations, the dance that prevailed more in

Cuba

had evolved from Fnglish country dance, which traveled to the French court and then to

laiti as

I

salon dances that relied

contredanse. This form was

on

a

group of parlor or

who exchanged places and Couples of women and men,

of couples

lines

other partners in intricate floor patterns.

often in four pairs, touched hands and fingers only occasionally as they

paraded, promenaded, and crossed the dance space in rhythmic time to

ensemble wind and string instruments. Contradanza francesa,

its

name

in

Spanish, relied on binary or two-part musical form (AA, BB), where each

of two contrasting sections was repeated.

and popularity to the dance. tranquil and the second

The

first

The

two were rather

To summarize

Even

lively.

tions forced modification of the dance, the

was pivotal to Cuban

contrasts added dynamics

repeating sections were considered if

New World condi-

French Haitian contredanse

creativity.

European seeds within Cuban dance

the

culture,

I

can

say that Europeans from both Spain and Haiti were responsible for major

elements of a

new Cuban dance

culture: straight back posture, touching of

male and female partners, stanza with verse song-style, and interest

rhythm (seen

stamped foot patterns and some hip movement). With

in

the demise of native dance/music

on the

island,

might have become the only sources of Cuban the

economic and

political

Cuban dance/music or

American dance

as

European dance forms

creativity. If

it

were not

demands of sugar production, African

might not have entered the Cuban ents of

as

cultural

mix

as

such indelible ingredi-

they are today.

The

African contribution would have

sources, and both of these within strong

influence, replicating

what happened to

islands. Until the

— Cuba

nineteenth century

was primarily

Spaniards in search of gold

a

dominated the

terrain

on

as

on other Caribbean nowhere else in the Carib-

Euro-American way

who needed new

Crown; white Spanish cattle

European

a great extent

— and

Atlantic Ocean. For a significant time,

the Spanish

for

cultures

such important branches on the tree of

come from only two

bean

in

station for traveling

supplies after crossing the

Cuba was isolated and neglected by

settlers

with families and

a

few slaves

ranches and coffee farms, dancing

sonal or intermittent gatherings and eking out

a living.

in sea-

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Creativity

33

•

Multiple African Dances

With

the need for an increased labor force in the production and refining

of sugar, Africans from the coasts of West and Central Africa were forced into slavery in staggering

numbers and taken

to

Cuba, among other Car-

ibbean ports. There was, however, a distinct source of African dance cul-

came

ture that

1995, 37-38).

to

Cuba from

A group of "African"

accompanied white colonists nists

Leon 1984, 21-23; Daniel dances came with black Haitians who

Haiti (Alen 1987;

as enslaved servants.

Sometimes these colo-

brought whole plantation populations.

Enslaved Africans and African Americans had been constructing an

emerging "Haitian" culture from the sixteenth to ries in Haiti.

late

eighteenth centu-

Their dances were different from the dances of enslaved

Africans and African Americans of

Cuba

at the time. First, the

dances

were different because they were accompanied by the emerging Creole French language and not by Spanish. Second, these dances were different

from other African forms that came to Cuba because they looked something like European courtly forms. But in contrast to the European contredanse, they were performed by African-derived people, and to

drum accompaniment instead of the string and woodwind accompaniment of other court-like forms. These dances were performed by Haitian Africans in Cuba regularly and perceived as "their dances." In reality, their dance/music was a distinct mixture of colonists' European court imitations (of contredanse, quadrilles, minuets,

tations of these colonial forms.

and

cotillions)

and African imi-

This music/dance tradition continues

Cuba today as Tumba francesa or French Drum

—intact from the

late

1

in

700s

to the present!

Other African influences far,

in

Cuba outnumbered tumba

francesa by

however. Four branches of huge and distinct African dance cultures

emerged

in the

amalgam of perhaps hundreds of other African ethnic

groups (Ortiz 1951; Chao Carbonero 1980; Leon 1984, 7-32; Alen 1994, 5-24; Daniel 1989, 60-97; 1995, 33-37)- In Cuba, the four dance/music traditions or families are

most often

called (1) Kongo (or Kongo-Angolan,

Bantu, or Palo), (2) Arard, (3) Carabali (Abakud or Ndnigo), and the best

known,

(4)

Yoruba (or Lucumi, Oricha, or Santeria). These

names

for

dance/music traditions of African descent are mixed geographical, ethnic, religious,

and

names have survived and identified (along with rumba

linguistic terms, but the alternate

are used interchangeably in Cuba.

francesa) as the

main

They

stylistic traditions

are

of African-derived dance/music

— 34

in

Yvonne Daniel

•

Cuba. While they have surely changed from

their sources over the five

centuries of African presence in Cuba, these tour are considered African,

and only secondarily Cuban by Cubans, since they are

Cubans and others commonly

African creativity.

Cuban

traditions, for the

their arrival

from

Cuban

a result

influence that has shaped

as

Afro-

them

since

Africa.

The differences

among

these tour and between these and the French

Haitian creolized form described above are great. Each special types

of original

them

refer to

of instrumentation and

a

general style

is

marked with

among many

differing

dances within each tradition. (The descriptions of African-derived dance/

music traditions that keep

mind

in

I

summarize here are general.

that each tradition has a

very important to

It is

wide range of differing dances.

What I present is a broad, sweeping comparison in terms of dance style. What emphasize are the differences between them that are most obvious I

as first visual impressions,

and those distinctions that constitute the most

important characteristics within

a

given dance tradition.)

The largest and deepest penetration of African tradition in Cuba is the Kongo tradition. While it is often considered the subtlest culture among the African cultures in Cuba,

it

has been one of the most pervasive in

Cuba. Kongo-Angolan peoples have given Cuba and the Caribbean hemisphere)

fact the

many

marimbula, catd or guagua, but most importantly, conga drums dores

—

the barrel-shaped drums

dance/music. AJso,

(in

types of percussion instruments, including the

Kongo music

we

are

most accustomed

tumba-

to in "Latin"

patterns form the base for long-lasting,

indoor or outdoor, community social dance.

Kongo rhythms permeate

a

great portion of Caribbean music/dance culture.

Kongo-Angolan dance was the means for and product of the basic sogathering not only in Cuba, but in most Caribbean and early Latin American nations. Its name, conga or coviparsa, was used for colonial procial

cession dances that displayed cabildo (ethnic or fraternal association) orga-

among Africans and followed Spanish Catholic practice among Europeans. The idea of processional dance was exceedingly important:

nization

each performer performed individualistically and yet, in effect

creating

tedness, an ethnic a

spectacular

Kings.

On

a

unified whole, a dancing line,

all

performers were

chain of interconnec-

community. The comparsas of Cuba were performed

manner on January 6th of each

this

a

occasion

year, the

Day

in colonial times, all Africans

of the (Three)

were grouped ac-

cording to origins and each cabildo or ethnic group paraded for the entertainment of the season.

Through

in

in

procession

cabildo organization and

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

conga dance processions, Africans

in

Cuba maintained

Creativity

•

35

their distinct cul-

and many African customs. I can only speculate as to why a Kongo name has been used for this celebration and for the familiar enthusiasm and vitality of international dancers when performing in a "conga tural identities

line" elsewhere.

Another important contribution of Kongo-Angolan (Bantu) culture was

dance structure. Very often in

a specific

Kongo

dance,

a

dancing

couple encircles each other and suddenly executes significant gestures.

The

timing of the dancers' gesture coincides with rhythmic accents from

the accompanying drums. In Cuba's

Kongo

dance, yuka for example, male

and female partners almost never touch, but they alternately advance to-

ward one another and

retreat,

pushing both abdomens forward and then

spinning away at spontaneous moments.

A pelvic thrust, a navel bumping,

abdomen initiates the many Kongo social dances throughout the Caribbean includes this Kongo dance pattern of couples at play. Other Kongo dance structures eliminate the pelvic thrust and focus more on or a throwing gesture toward the dancing partner's retreat pattern.

The

rhythm, but they

structure of

still

characterizes parts of

and Latin America:

in

concentrate on playful

many Kongo-Angolan Cuba, makuta;

flirtation. Playful flirtation

Caribbean

traditions in the

in Haiti, congo; in Jamaica,

kumina;

in Brazil, samba; etc.

Kongo

Cuba a martial art/dance form, juegp de mam\ game (probably alluding to movements that were as slippery and smooth as peanut butter). This danced form is documented in the Cuban literature as late as the 1930s and 1940s, at least in terms of culture also gave

the peanut butter

discussion and acknowledgment; however, the

continued

as

Kongo-Angolan

form died out

in

Cuba.

It

culture in Martinique, Trinidad, and north-

eastern Brazil as ladja or damie, kalinda, and capoeira respectively.

In general, Kongo-Angolan dance contains highly percussive, often sensuous, but generally nonlyrical

movement

material.

The

dancers'

backs are usually bent forward, often exceedingly low, despite the fact of

jumping and powerful, constant, all-body-parts movement. In though Kongo-Angolan culture its

dance

have

a

is

is

fact,

even

considered subtle in terms of visibility,

rather dynamic, even explosive and powerful.

The movements

huge range of complexity, from the complicated independence of

torso and limbs in simultaneous activity to the almost stationary

ments during

social events, initiated solely

or swings from side to side. religious systems

by the hips

Kongo dance/music

is

from Central Africa that are known

move-

in gyrating circles

also associated with as Palo or Palo

Monte

Yvonne Daniel

36

in

Kongo dances

ot sacred

Cuba; the entire division

assists spiritual

com-

munication of believers.

The rica,

Cuba

next African music/dance tradition of

including the

Ewe and

Fon,

among others.

other religious dance/music traditions

is

Arara and originates

Dahomey kingdom

with the peoples within and near the old

Arara has

a

West Af-

ol

relationship to

Caribbean and Brazil called

in the

Arada, Rada, Ardra, Djedje, and/or Jeje. Like the

Cuba

Kongo

tradition in

amalgam of differing cultures but, unlike Central African Kongo, the amalgam came mainly from those that bordered the Bight of Benin in West Africa. The Cuba, the Arara dance/music tradition

in

is

also an

differing cultures coalesced into an identifiable Arara stylistic tradition in

Cuba (Vinueza

1986). For example, the

drums of Arara

tradition are not

barrel-shaped, but cylindrical or tubular and are accompanied by a metal bell

or ogan.

drummers

The drums

are played with sticks instead of the hands, and

often stand as they play, with the

drums leaning on

a

bench.

Arara dances are distinctive because they emphasize shoulder move-

ments more than other elements. The shoulders are constantly lowering or pushing backwards above ments, no matter

how

that

is,

tradition contains a dense and particularized

origins

The most

The music

of

this

group of rhythms. Arara

is

system that conforms to some extent with

West African belief systems since many West became known as Arara in Cuba.

several

The

the dancer can be bent over or

upright, but the shoulders keep pulsing visually.

also associated with a religious

and

other complex body-part move-

or where the floor pattern directs the dancer.

body orientation can be low or high,

more

all

rising

distinctive African

Africans of different

music/dance tradition

region of origin in Africa.

in

came with

Cuba

Carabalf, after

its

members from

ethnic and cultural groups (for example, Rfik and

It

groups) along the Calabar River in parts of what are

is

called

secret society

Ejagham

now Cameroon and

Nigeria. Secret society organizations throughout the Calabar River area

contain

Cuba,

many masked dance

is

the only surviving

is known in Cuba (Cabrera

forms, but Abakua, as the society

masked dance

tradition in

1958). Enslaved Africans

from

and drumming patterns,

as well as songs and chants in the vestigia] lan-

this area replicated

and maintained dance

guages from the Calabar region.

The

movements

characteristic

are

smooth or sustained lunging stances

that alternate with standing positions, requiring the performer to be high

on the

toes, pulled

up

dancers, called hemes,

tight,

diablitos,

and contained. Intriguing, masked

spirit

orNdnigos, perform the dance movements.

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

The Iremes have only eyes

Creativity

•

37

—no noses or mouths. Both the pointed, cone-

shaped head of the mask and the tiny drum (enkrikamo) that invokes the dancers further identify Abakua distinctiveness. While the

spirit

spirit

dancers lunge to one side, they make gestures with short, handheld dance sticks or batons.

Often and most characteristically, they kneel on one knee

and make long sweeping gestures along the entire body or body part arm, or chest of the dancer), as

a

vibratory hand gesture.

hips, the

(leg,

movements

cleansing the body. These

by vibrations of the

are preceded or followed

sometimes, simply

if

whole body,

or,

The dance movements, in a nonhuman

sum, create an aura of "the strange," "the out-of-this-world," presence.

dances

There

when

is little

a

performance or even

Abakua

is

more

effect than these awe-inspiring

in theatrical representation; the

dance/music of

incredibly beautiful and mysterious.

In addition to

members

that has

group of Iremes performs, either in genuine ceremonial

Cuba

in

its

distinctive

are

known

dance/music tradition, Abakua society

They have

to maintain a strong moral code.

strict

precepts of mutual aid, which secure swift and radical social action

when

necessary. Ideally, the male-only organizations expect

members

to

be honorable family protectors and responsible community members.

Membership

not given quickly or

is

their eligibility

justice occurs in the larger

ety

members

community,

that resolves situations.

and establish some sense of social even brutal, and society

from

Although

easily.

Men

must display and earn

through service to the larger community.

all

is

it is

When social in-

often the wrath of secret soci-

Abakua members punish offenders

justice.

Their behavior

is

often severe,

accomplished by means of assured allegiance to the

members.

it is

not generally discussed,

women and

families can

portions of the secret society music/dance tradition in Cuba. vidual

dance

A few indi-

women hold important ceremonial roles within the male organiza-

tion. In separate formations,

but without the masked

spirit

dancing of

women

dance and sing their complementary Carabalf patterns,

called brikamo,

lunging intermittently within the traveling rhythmic

Iremes,

dance pattern and brushing their bodies with sweeping, cleansing gestures.

The

latest Africans to arrive in

Yorubas. In

massive numbers were called the

Cuba Lucumi became another

identifying term for the

many

Yoruba groups and their language (Brandon 1993: 55-59)- They came to Cuba in the nineteenth century, until the slave trade ended, from what is

now

southwestern Nigeria.

The

wars in Africa determined that the

38

Yvonne Daniel

•

Ybrubas were the main enslaved groups

subgroups had entered the Americas

well.

Their danee/music tradition

culture and

is

this period,

f

their

of

many

familiar to

observers oi

Cuban

often thought to he the only remaining African culture of

is

Cuba because of its ornate

visihility.

We now understand

Yoruha danee/music its

is

is

it

one

ol lour

Cuba.

distinct African-derived traditions that continue in

symbols and

although some

smaller numbers earlier as

in

recognizable because oi

impressive visual

its

diverse array of divinities. Divinities, called oricbas, enter

Many

the bodies oi worshippers and dance fiercely.

cused on Yoruba culture and published on

and shrines, but have also commented on

specialists

have fo-

elaborate altars, necklaces,

its

ornate ceremonial practice

its

1974, 1983; Omari 1984; Murphy 1988; Daniel Drewal, Pemberton, and Abiodun 1989; Bolivar 1990; Mason 1992;

(Ortiz 1951;

1989;

Thompson

Brandon 1993; Carnizares of varied, codified

^ nc dance/music comprises

1993).

movement sequences and

resent differing divine personalities.

characters of behavior that guard the

a

continuum

identifying gestures that rep-

The divinities dance as chartering many domains of human social lite.

In very general terms and in comparison with the other four branches of

African music/dance traditions of Cuba, Yoruba

and often make the dancer seem to undulate

up through the

The

chest, shoulders, neck,

following information

manuscript, "Articulate terfa,

I

make

and head.

condensed and taken from

is

in

I

a

summarize

huge repertoire of dance.

a

group of specific dances that personify

the orichas, or divinities, in

movement. Dance and music

as offerings to the divinities.

The movement sequences

the lives of the divinities and visually clarify for

created or to

whom

it is

my book

Vodun, San-

caution the reader regarding the broad

I

here, as

Yoruba dance/music tradition

are lyrical

from the pelvic area

Movement: Sacred Performance

and Candomble." Again,

generalizations

is

movements

vertically

offered.

When

whom

are

performed

depict portions of

the performance

orichas appear as

a

is

result of the

invocations and dances of worshippers, they also dance the codified gestures and signature

The with

a

branch of

patterns.

He

is

change quickly.

a

that worshippers dance.

small tree; his

perceived as

elder and so his

ings.

movements

oricha Elegba, for example, dances in red and black clothing and

body

He

is

a

movements

are small-scaled, irregular

divine mischievous child or

low to the ground and

a

wise secretive

his gestures shift

and

governs opportunities, chances, beginnings, and end-

His floor pattern often traces the tour cardinal directions or the

crossroad.

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Another

oricha,

Ochun, dances

like the divine river,

39

Creativity

sweet water flow-

embedded Her movements are sensuous, flowing, female-body-centered, like womankind in her most beautiful and alluring state, ready for social exciing happily, bubbly yet carefully, over waterfalls and around rocks.

and point of view,

tation and procreation. Crystal clear in direction

Ochun dances in golden yellow and giggles over the sounds of the drums. The oricha Ogun dances in a striking pattern of diagonal slices, made with his machete. Ogun is a divine warrior, a protector whose force is equal to that within iron. His foot pattern clears a given space thrusting to

both sides and constantly moving through and around. His arm gestures alternately slice, cut, or

chop the forested area of his habitat or

a perceived

opponent. His movements are so strong that he shakes fiercely and vibrates forcefully with each accumulating gesture.

The

oricha

Yemaya dances and converts duple

to triple

rhythm so

that

the viewer senses the repetitious and soothing quality of the sea, divine creative source of

life.

whirlpools, and of oars.

and the turing,

is

power

the omnipotent mother, maternal

—

caring, nur-

and incredibly protective.

Chango and

She

sea.

Her dance traces the movements of waves and Her force is as powerful as the ocean, salt water,

fierce,

is

another oricha, another divine warrior. He, too,

but his domain

is

communication, music, and dance involves

is

powerful

not the forested area of Ogun. His sphere

intellect,

and he dresses

a characteristic kick that

bolizing his extraordinary potency.

in red

is

and white. His

accompanies an arm gesture, sym-

With

this gesture

and

kick,

he brings

the energy of lightning and thunder from the sky above into his body, his genitals, for ultimate protection of the nation or

As he

fights for survival of the group,

jumps

(in

Cuba).

he

is

worshipping community.

the only dancing oricha

who

Many divinities use forceful runs and powerful turns, but

Chango dance that has jumps, tumbling, and kicks. Oya is the female divine warrior, the oricha whose energy is that of air. She can dance with gentle charm like a breeze or with fire and force like a

it is

's

tornado or hurricane. She

comparably at

beautiful.

is

woman

all-powerful, totally shrewd and in-

She wears every color simultaneously, and appears

times and in places of extreme change

—

in the marketplace, at the

of the year, in Carnival. She fears nothing, not even death, so gallops everywhere. She guards the cemetery and "living dead" or spirits of the ancestors. dictable,

it is

she

end

who

communicates with the

Her dance

is

provocative, unpre-

and wild. She dashes and gallops across the space with the horse

step, caballo, carrying a dark-colored horse's

tail,

often while screaming.

40

Yvonne Daniel

•

Ochosi

is

whose dance depicts

yet another oricha

warrior hunts with

a

bow and

arrow, however, and

animals, and also for the distant future.

I

lis

decisions. In his dance, he takes his arrow

shot.

a

divine warrior. This

responsible for forest

dance demonstrates the hunt,

His presence focuses long-range

his search for a particular destination.

fully in the

is

from the quiver, places

care-

it

bow, and calculates important dimensions of the impending

His body reacts

in a jerking

undulation from the force at the release

of the arrow, the achievement of the chase, the accomplishment of

all

tedious and time-consuming preparation. Obatala's dance symbolizes his position as the most powerful oricha, divine father of cool,

and

over, in the

he dances

all

the orichas and judge of humankind.

He

He

elegant,

is

move swiftly, but walks and dances bent determined and mindful manner of the eldest of elders. When

stately.

as a

white horses

does not

younger oricha,

tail.

in his

younger form, he gallops carrying

His dance symbolizes

a

a

kind of peace, balance, and un-

derstanding, as do his white clothes. Babaluaye's dance

is

also

performed

in a

stooped, and he takes on the trembling and

of someone diseases.

who

is

sick.

He takes on

Babaluaye

is

low position, but

somewhat

erratic

his

is

movements

the divinity of smallpox and other

the sickness and disease of the

community

as a leper

or a smallpox victim and reaches for health as his dance cleanses the body, the mind, and ultimately the community.

The Yoruba dances tions,

are

numerous and each has

several contrasting sec-

but those just described are the most characteristic.

The Yoruba

tradition has had influence on other African-derived traditions, for ex-

ample on Arara and Kongo traditions

in the

nineteenth century.

The

Yoruba dance/music tradition gave ample movements and gestures

as

seeds not only for intra-African mixtures but also to European and Afri-

can cultural blends.

As

group, the African traditions have commonalities

a

among

distinct

movements and particular musical elements that they gave to the formation of Cuban dance/music culture. Percussion instruments (drums, shakers, all

and

bells),

traditions

and complex rhythmic interest (polyrhythms) are strong

and can be heard also

in

most Cuban dance/music.

in

A singer

consistently sings with an answering chorus in "call and response" pattern, with this

fragments or whole chants of archaic African languages. Again,

occurs

Cuban

among

creations

all

four African branches and reappears within most

on the

tree of

Cuban

dance.

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

The

dancing, while distinctive

low-level position: that

is,

among

Creativity

41

•

the four families, accentuates a

gently bent knees, feet firmly planted, back

leaning slightly forward, in a "ready-for-anything" posture. Robert Farris

Thompson position,

(1974) has vividly described African stance as a "get-down"

and Brenda Dixon Gottschild (1996)

important

restates all of the

African dance elements, which dance teachers have passed on orally for

Dunham,

decades since Katherine position, the

as "the blues aesthetic." In this

upper and lower torso can divide

percussively. In

all

fully

and move

of the African traditions, the hips are

six

ready

fluidly or

not constrained

or obstructed and can circle in either direction, flex forward and back, or

swing side to

side, imitating the

movements of life and symbolically repre-

senting the source of life and survival of the nation or ethnic group. Both the distinctions and the commonalities of African dance traditions have

served as multiple seeds, available elements, for creation of Cuban

Cuban

—dance forms.

—Afro-

Cuban Creations Genuine Cuban dance/music evolved from the

differing branches of the

music/dance traditions previously discussed into

five

new

families of

Cu-

ban creation. By the mid-nineteenth century, 1830S-1860S, the blendings of Spanish, French, French Haitian, Kongo, Arara, Abakua, and Yoruba feelings,

movements, instruments, and rhythms

solidified,

producing

dances and musical forms that were neither European nor African

solely,

but Cuban (Alen 1994, 25-28; Daniel 1995, 38-44). In Cuba, the original creations have been organized into broad categories, called

complexes, of differing types, variations or branches on the

tree of Cuban son, la

dance/music (Leon 1984; Alen 1987, 1994; Daniel 1995). El campesino are the four dance/ el punto guajiro

rumba, eldanzon, and

music complexes. There not danced,

la cancion

is

one other complex, reserved for music that

cubana or

creations did not completely erase the

As

I

have stated

earlier,

many

is

Cuban song complex. The new blended European or African antecedents.

of these continue alongside the new. Both

newer and older dance/music

traditions have incorporated

change

as

it

has occurred over time, but they have also retained distinctions that organize

all

dance/music traditions

in

Cuba. In turn, the Cuban dance/music

complexes have become seeds themselves for even

bean dance/music complexes.

larger, related

Carib-

Yvonne Daniel

42

Son Son

is a

become

major branch on the Cuban tree a

dance, and also one

l

pervasive seed for Caribbean dance/music.

It

iliat lias

has infiltrated

types of musical production, from folk, to popular, to symphonic music.

began, however, in the mountain farms and large, isolated stretches cattle range,

with

particular rhythm.

rhythm on the ing dancer.

but

its

It

of

guajiro or campesino, a country farm worker, and his

a

The Spanish farm worker sang

guitar.

all

decima-derived retrains

his

Perhaps he accented

his

in a

song by beating out the

face of his guitar, imitating the zapateo of an absent stamp-

No one

rhythm took

knows a

exactly

how

music/dance tradition began,

this

defined shape that became son

pated rhythm that was organized to

clave.

This

and their improvisations within

clave, that kept all instruments

a

is

synco-

an ongoing series of counts, the

fit

a

repeated

pattern of "one, two/ one, two, three//" or the reverse: "one, two, three/

one, two//."

This basic rhythm or son clave

is

American basic song rhythm. In the

"Hambone" and bits."

in the old

Rhythms,"

States,

a

can be heard within the song a haircut,

rhythm within

named "Toussaint

family he

a

after the Haitian revolutionary, for their liberating

Son

clave, as

it is

known

and crein

found throughout the main African-derived traditions of Cuba.

tions as the

main musical structure or

Researchers have traced

American continent

it

two

respected musicologist in the United

ative proliferation across the Americas. is

it

rhythmic expression "shave and

Dr. Samuel Floyd (1998),

States, has placed this

intimately related to U.S. African-

Cuba,

It

func-

basic organizing rhythmic pattern.

throughout the Caribbean and the North

in diverse musical contributions

from African de-

scendants.

Over panded

time, the Spanish guitar to include

woodwind

accompaniment of the

pointed to

a

drum

skins.

sones ex-

instruments, piano, and importantly, Afri-

can drums, conga drums or tumbadores. bare hands on

first

The congas were

Their barrel shapes with

played with

this style of playing

Central African or Kongo-Angolan legacy. As the family of

varying sones developed and spread with the exploring/exploiting Spaniards

and enslaved Africans to mainland Mexico and Peru and back to

Spain as well, the complex, elcomplejo del son, was identified

of

its

own

original creations.

Son continues

parts of Latin America, taking

on

a

in

Cuba

as

one

separate evolution in other

local distinctions,

emerging wherever

the cultural mixture of Europeans and Africans took place. In Mexico,

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Creativity

43

•

Venezuela, and Colombia, and even in Puerto Rico, for example, Europe-

some of the same

ans and Africans from

Cuba mixed

among the

other

For one thing, there was more Native American

influ-

and lived together places are great.

origins as those in

also.

Differences in son development

ence and more unobstructed European cultural dominance in other places in comparison to Cuba.

In the dance portion of Cuban son a viewer can see remnants of Euro-

pean and African cultures and their almost

The dance shows their hands, the

infinite,

blended variations.

European legacy with couples touching, not only

its

woman's

waist, the man's shoulders, but as time goes on,

both their chests and, sometimes, even their upper and lower abdomens.

This

is

a definite

European

trait

from the contredanse and the

later

contmdanza cubana, where dancing partners were apart and facing one another or side by side with hands touching. African customs in general

would

dictate that the

not touching.

The

women and men

dance separately and,

other European element

is

if

together,

the straight back, from the

court and folk dance heritages, which opposes the African preference for

bent and low back postures while dancing.

What

is

African in the dance

is

the heavy accent

and an isolation of complementary rhythms emphasis on the hips, and their articulation foot pattern, ations.

ment

is

on the moving hips

in various

body

parts.

An

they follow the rhythmic

as

constant in son and consistent throughout

Cuban

cre-

The emphasis on moving hips permits the torso to divide its move-

potential,

and to create separate visual rhythms, polyrhythms be-

tween the upper and lower

torso.

The

"divided" torso of son

is

African as

opposed to European dance of the period, which generally used the entire torso as a stabilizer for

arm and

leg

movement.

The nineteenth century's son was a

fashionable, sensuous couple dance

that satisfied the colonial desire for entertainment and provided opportunities for courtship.

Because of

male and female dance position, but

it

hip

movement and

it is

The

closed, touching

caused scandals in written accounts, in popularity over time. It

in each of Cuba's geographical regions.

type in western Pinos del Rio province

changiii, is

what

it

was danced persistently and gained

spawned many variants or types

The

its

is

called sucu-sucu. Another,

popular in the easternmost Oriente province, and guateque

is

often called in the central region and in parts of the east.

son complex featured

a

growing

list

of instruments during the

nineteenth and twentieth centuries. Adding to the sixteenth- to eighteenth-century sounds of guitars, clay

jars that

were blown, the twelve-

Yvonne Daniel

44

thumb piano

string tres (smaller guitar), and a modified

or

nuirunbttlti,

it

gradually accumulated string bass, maraeas (hand shakers), piano, violins, flutes, and, later, its characteristic brass trumpet Eventually, the bongo drums were highlighted, above the congas or tumbadores, because of

soprano pitch and capacity for virtuoso rhythmic

their piercing

Thick musical textures resulted, with

display.

instruments ornamenting and

all

supporting the melodic line of the singer and the answering refrain of the coro

or chorus.

The best-known

variants of the son (particularly outside of

Cuba) are

more recent descendants from the 1940s and 1950s up to the present: mambo and salsa. Mambo is a Cuban creation that emerged fully in the the

1950s with

Cuba

is

worldwide craze for many Cuban/Latin dances.

a

very specific in particular gestures and sequences.

—

tern switches son expectations (of short, short, long repetition that alternates

from the right

right foot touches the floor

takes a step; this pattern

is

)

Mambo

The

in

foot pat-

to a "touch, step"

to the left foot.

The

toe of the

momentarily and then the whole right foot

repeated on the

left

and continues to

alternate.

move forward and back with each touch, step of the feet. The hands and arms move alternately forward and back, each arm in opposition to the feet. The feeling and vision of Cuban mambo is bouncy, involving an up and down motion of the entire body

Above, the hips

(really pelvis)

and occasional shimmering shoulders. quick small turns, and even

oped among these

Cuban musicians

strict,

little

All sorts of catchy kicking patterns,

jumps are added.

playful

Mambo in Cuba develmambo traveled with

movements. As

internationally (especially with

Cuban-born Perez

Prado to Mexico and with Puerto Rican musicians to the United

—

retained the generic son foot pattern: short, short, long

—

long

;

States),

it

short, short,

Cuban original. Instead of a bouncy quality as in Cuban mambo, mambo outside of Cuba retained the suave and

in contrast to its

original

seductive sense of

its

earlier

son heritage.

Both versions of mambo, inside and outside of Cuba, acquired partnering turns, which differentiated them from the original sones in

each zone of Cuba, and demonstrates son's evolution. Instead of couples

dancing

dance

in closed,

floor, in

upheld arm with

touching position continuously around and across the

mambo

in a series

a closed

the

woman was

usually guided under the

mans

of smooth, intricate turns. The turns alternated

dancing position that moved gracefully, rhythmically, and

sensuously through the dance space.

It

was

common

in the international

version to break the closed couple stance and for the couple to dance sepa-

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean rated, but together

both the

—approximating an African

Creativity

stylization.

At

•

45

this time,

man and woman could improvise with gestures of the arms,

head,

or chest, as well as rhythmically over the basic (son) foot pattern. Later in the dance, the couple rejoined and danced the basic son step to elaborate

and percussion instrumentation, which

brass

mambo. The dancing

public was fascinated by

also helped to classify

Cuban mambo.

It

was

a hit

only in Cuba, but everywhere in the 1950s. In Central Africa, where

danced to Cuban recordings, African bands imitated its

Kongo traces,

its

and Central Africans,

ries

it

it

was

and identified with

African rhythmic origins (Malonga Casquelourd: per-

Among

sonal communications 1987, 1994).

in the States,

it

not

it

was included

West

partying francophone

in la musique typique. In

Europe and

re-ignited ballroom dancing and joined the dance catego-

of ballroom dance competitions that continue internationally today.

In terms of music, the son complex reached another type of creative level

with the incorporation of jazz instrumentation and the swing band

sound of U.S. musicians

in the 1940s

and 1950s, and again

(Roberts 1979; Figueroa 1994). Son added ity

and contagious song

American

tradition of

Basie,

sionist

Chano Pozo

orchestra leader Grillo),

style to classic jazz

in

in the

1970s

Cuban percussion complexband display

in the African-

Dizzy Gillespie, Charlie Parker, Duke Ellington,

and others, and made history

Count

its

Dizzy

as "Latin Jazz."

Cuban

percus-

and

Gillespie's band, along with Gillespie

Mario Bauza and

his

music

director,

Machito (Frank

both from Cuba, and Cuban-born arranger Chico O'Farrill were

some of the most instrumental Eventually, a

new variant,

figures in the

development of Latin Jazz.

the joyous and engaging salsa, was added to

the development of son; this variant catapulted in the 1970s, into the international,

Cuban dance/music again,

commercial music industry. Salsa

is

a

contemporary variant of Cuban son, but one that was developed outside

among African-Americans and most particularly among Puerto Rican musicians and dancers. The Cuban of Cuba, particularly in the United States

contemporary tions. Salsa

virtuosity,

couple.

salsa

dance

is

called casino

and has almost endless varia-

and casino are identified by their exciting

fast pace,

extreme

and the almost continuous turning sequences of the dancing

They

are both danced in son's basic foot pattern (and in the inter-

national style of

group form,

mambo), but casino

in

Cuba

has also developed into a

casino de la rueda (circle casino).

Usually, four couples dance in unison patterns within a circle.

couples alternate dancing with their

own

The

partners, with their facing part-

46

Yvonne Daniel

•

ners, with

corner partners, and circling until they have danced with each

member ol the opposite sex. A taller shouts out or signals dance patterns that mav cause the partners to go into low level, that is, to bend their knees anil

lower their hacks forward

teats

or,

sometimes, to perform almost acrobatic

while continuing the rhythmic foot pattern to the organizing clave.

Planned sequences unfold, hut also spontaneous

"new

calls create a series

of

steps."

The

innovation that occurs constantly

steps and, later,

new

in

Cuban dance

types or categories of dances.

stimulates

It solidities

new

the types of

dances by means of repeated dance sequences and repetition of distinct rhythms.

More

types amplify the family or tradition of dance.

The

multi-

plying of dances, in addition to the openness of Cuban culture to incorporation of musical innovations, have initiated variety within, and thereby

continuity

of,

the son complex.

In 1998-99, there was

most noticeably Club.

These

in the

a

resurgence of older soneros, singers of son

recording and film

elders, superabiielitos of

titled

The Buena

style,

Vista Social

son and the sung tradition, cancion

cubana, have had sold-out performances, as well as successful recordings

and movie videos, and are traveling worldwide. In Cuba today, there influx of professional Japanese, U.S.

international musicians

who come

to

Cuba

and traditional dance/music and do so output of both the

Africando

"making noise"

is

Cubanized Spanish Thus, son Africans in a listener as

it

in

Japan

in Senegal;

is

for lessons in

Cuban popular

is

increasing.

Orquesta de

la luz;

One

of

the group

and songs are being performed

in Martinique, Spain,

in

and France.

illustrates the vibrant cultural

new and

an

at the professional level. Also, the

Cuban and Cuban-influenced music

most popular bands now

is

American, Scandinavian, and other

interchange of Europeans and

constantly changing environment.

combines European song form with African

It

intrigues the

call

and response

singing, the Spanish language with multiple fragments of African lan-

guages.

It

places

European horns,

strings,

and

percussive complexity and also African string est. It

flutes alongside African

melody and rhythmic

inter-

alternates and combines upright, stable postures with independent,

complex body-part in musical

isolation,

and encourages profound feelings that result

and movement improvisation.

Its

popularity and continuity

over centuries demonstrate the profound satisfaction son gives to per-

forming

artists

and dancing and listening audience members.

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Creativity

•

47

Rumba The

next important complex that Cubans would cite

posed to son, rumba emerged

in

is

rumba. As op-

mainly African communities or where

dark-skinned Africans and African-Americans lived, particularly near the

Havana during the early nineteenth century. Both Africans and Europeans came together, however, in urban streets, plazas, ports in Matanzas and

large verandas, and outdoor patios to relax after

weeks of hard work, to

avoid the heat and humidity of the crowded living quarters (called

solares)

of the urban poor in nineteenth- and early twentieth-century Cuba, to

Community members used

share news and gossip, and to sing and dance.

both Spanish and African languages, the decima-derived song stanzas in African

call

and response patterns, and the rhythmic interest

polyrhythms and polyrhythmic movement:

were used

to create son.

The

results

all

the

in musical

same ingredients

that

were not the same, however; rumba

took on an equally vital, but different organization. In general, rumba had

more pronounced emphasis on rhythm and

the expectation of prolonged

improvisation, in both the music and the dance patterns.

The dance

has

become more complex and requires cultural immersion to really understand what is going on. The structure of rumba was more constrained and yet more open than that of son. Its constraint lay in the number of instruments and dancing bodies that were involved; rumba uses only percussion instruments and

human

voices and generally

couple.

Its

ment of finish

danced by only one performer or one

is

openness was in the duration of performance and the develop-

improvisation;

rumba

lasts as

long

as

improvising their stanzas and as long as

it it

takes for

all

singers to

takes for dancers to ad-

equately display their expertise in the challenge of the form.

The shakers,

musical timbre of rumba was limited to claves or

and human

voices.

The

claves

were two

sticks,

sticks that

drums,

sounded out

the appropriate rhythmic pattern, also called clave. In rumba, the basic clave suspends, clave. Instead

and thereby syncopates, the third sounded pulse of son

of one, two, three/ one, two// one, two, three/ one, two// of

son clave, the rumba clave

two

shifts to:

one, two

three/ one, two// one,

more within

three/ one, two// with an elongation of half a beat

the total time of a pattern. Musicians would say that

rumba

clave have a difference of only half a beat. Performers this ideal,

clave and son

do not always keep

but Cuban rumberos (true rumba performers) usually

start

with

Yvonne Daniel

48

and

this precisely,

cite

it

as a differentiating

music/dance complexes and the two

clement between the two

claves.

Three tumbadores or congas are the main instruments that form the foundation of rumba sound. Instead of the drums being played in an \ln can performance

however, they are played

style,

in

European manner

the

of high-voice dominance. Previously, the preference of African seed traditions

was bass voice predominance, but

new Cuban

in

creations,

Euro-

pean concepts were blended into African-derived drumming practice. In

rumba, the high voiced

(jitinto

or soprano

drum

The tumbador

ing and rhythmic commentary.

takes

on most of the sing-

or bass and the segundo or

mid-voiced drum anchor the rumba with repetition, even though they

ornamentation within their own

also improvise thick

patterns.

clave in a

The drums

call

and response

support the lengthening or stretching of the rumba

complex display of improvisation.

Other percussion instruments formance. There

are considered standard in

a shaker, called la

is

madruga, which

rumba

per-

used to mark the

is

main beat of the musical measure. The shaker functions during the song section to intensify the pace, to initiate the dancing portion of rumba, and to structurally divide

rumba

into

its

danced and nondanced sections. (The

dancing doesn't begin until the instrumental and vocal sections are com-

The other instrument is called elcatd or la bamboo or wooden tube on a small platform that

pleted or reach a certain peak.)

guagua. is

cylindrical

It is a

played with sticks in very quick, repeated patterns. These patterns cre-

ate a light but

busy context and deepen the rich texture of total percussion.

Generally, the songs are sung in the same style and structural organization as in son.

The

difference

is

that there are

many more

fragments of African languages that punctuate the the coro or answering sections. as balladic,

nor

as

The

romantic perhaps,

include old vendors'

calls,

lyrics

content of the songs as

son music.

laments, and

homages

phrases and

and particularly is

generally not

Rumba

lyrics often

to martyrs,

famous

rumberos, and cultural heroes, but consist mainly of sophisticated double entendres, joking and piercing

commentary of a

political

or social nature.

Just like related Caribbean music/dance (Trinidadian calypso, for ex-

ample, or Curaq:aon

and

they form examples of sung social resistance

resilience.

The dance

has developed from

models. Basic rumba ing pattern

two

tavibii),

I

pattern.

is

a basic step to several

simple, but complex.

It

types of classified

does not take on the walk-

talked about at the beginning, but consistently repeats a one,

The rumba

pattern in

its

simplest form

is a

step to the side

— Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

Creativity

with the right foot and then a return of the foot with feet together.

same pattern happens on the to describe all that goes on in the body left

that

is

and

rumba's complexity. Suffice

to augment, decorate, and

it

it

keeps alternating. There

is

49

•

The

no way

as this foot pattern continues,

but

to say, the objective of rumba dance

ornament the rhythmic pattern or

is

clave, in ab-

solute time but with the utmost of syncopation, and with the use of any

and every body part that can move, especially the

With

yambu, guaguanco, and Columbia. slow,

hips.

understanding of the main step, rumba has three types:

this basic

medium, and

The

respectively

fast,

three have contrasting tempos

— and they use varied and

identifiable

The first two are performed by a couple only, one woman and one man, who are charged with executing total creativity above a reclave rhythms.

lentless

understanding of clave. (The clave

not always heard but

is

is al-

ways implied.) The dancers are scrutinized by the entire community of spectators and, in that sense, take

women circle,

or

all

men

in the

on the

responsibility of representing

community. They dance with each other

all

in the

but separated and with the lowest knee bends and the most forward

back position possible. Both yambu and guaguanco involve

woman by

a

chase of the

man makes from Kongo tradition,

the man. In guaguanco only, however, the

pected pelvic thrusts or random gestures

now el vacunao

(a pelvic thrust),

unexcalled

toward his partner. She, in turn, hides or

protects herself from being possessed or "vaccinated" by the man.

The

chase involves highly sensitive performers and skilled rhythmic display,

descending from roots in yuka and other Kongo/Angolan forms such

as

samba.

The

third

rumba

is

called Columbia,

and

men. Unlike the two other forms, Columbia

historically

is

was reserved

for

believed to have emerged in

the rural areas of Matanzas Province, in Cardenas. There, in colonial times, the ratio of enslaved

As

a result, the

men

to

women was

distinctive style of fast,

the lunging and vibrating found in

feet.

The style

Abakua or

also has

remnants of

secret society traditions

has fragments of Abakua secret society chants, fact, it is

a

rhythmic play in foot patterns, most often ex-

ecuted high on the toes and ball of the

guages. In

exceedingly unbalanced.

more numerous men danced together and developed

among

and

other African lan-

within Abakua repertoire that rumberos have identi-

fied the exact display

of rumba clave, the sounded, sophisticated stretch of

the identifiable half beat (Michael Spiro, from his interview in 2000 with

Gollo Diaz and Jesus Alfonso).

The Columbia adopted

a

competitive objective. First, each

man who

so

Yvonne Daniel

•

danced challenged another dancing male

in a series ot

highly virtuosic

performances. Additionally, each dancer was competing against the

rhythmic

the soprano drum,

skills of

Rhythmic conversations, movement dialogues, unfold

Men

performance.

bia

on

of water

rum

and with walking canes

augment and dramatize

In the recent past, only

men boundary ers.

Now,

this

a

few older

of Columbia and is

dramatic Colum-

in

teeny spaces

among

their competitive advantage.

women

have bolted across the

all-

danced competitively among male danc-

changing; more young (Cuban)

women perform

the in-

Columbia specialized footwork. And, since they have expressed

tricate

keen interest (and since Cuba takes advantage of tain

in

dance with knives while blindfolded, with glasses

their heads,

bottles, to

the quinto player.

in effect against

all

opportunities to ob-

needed foreign currency), female international students who study

Cuba have been

rumba Columbia. rumba complex has been in the combination of rumba instrumentation and batd drumming that comes from the Yoruba tradition. In this version of rumba, drummers combine two huge families of differing drums and distinct, but complementary, rhythms to form batarumba. Dancers have the opportunity to combine two dance traditions of multiple identifiable gestures and movement sedance

in

The most

given

some

instruction in

recent development of

quences with yet

a third

dance complex. In batarumba, dancers can per-

form any type of rumba, or any of the Yoruba oricha dances, and can

in-

clude casino as well.

Rumba complex

has developed over centuries and was considered

"museum" form by many Cubans, who thought anymore.

It

that

no one danced

could not be erased from history, however, since

its

a it

creators,

mainly dark-skinned or Afro-Cubans, have never stopped dancing, drumming, and singing or commenting on their situation. Since the nineteenth century

particularly light-skinned

lives

and their sociopolitical

and despite the

fact that

Cubans,

Cubans, stopped dancing or did not dance

rumba, many dark-skinned Cubans have continued to dance rumba. Additionally,

many Cuban composers and

skinned, have injected

dance/music

rumba form and passages into son-based popular symphonic music. Still, it is not as pervasive a

as well as into

dance/music form

The

conductors, both light- and dark-

as son.

Revolutionary government took advantage of rumba

to African roots

Cuba s "new"

and used rumba

s

connection

as a political vehicle for

promoting

identity as an Afro-Latin nation. In contrast to

but inaccurate, identity as

a

Euro-American

its

lingering.

island culture (which

it

was

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean

more

only before the nineteenth century), this new,

offered to the

Cuban population and

Creativity

realistic identity

an international image.

as

51

•

was

The em-

barrassment over African cultures that existed in Cuba for centuries and

shame over African customs, including dances in lowered back positions with hips in motion to complicated drumming, were minimized as outmoded perspectives with the popularization of rumba performances the

and the knowledge of rumba International dancers

who

history.

Cuban dance have however, the "get down" love

routinely confused

signature dance of rumba and son. Rumba is, Cuba from an international perspective. It displays Cuba's roots, its AfroCubanismo, more so than son does. Cubans and knowledgeable international dancers and musicians respect the differences and enjoy them

both immensely.

Danzon The

next distinct

danzon.

Cuban dance/music complex

in

terms of importance

is

encompasses several variants that were very popular during the

It

nineteenth century: contradanza, danza, danzon, danzonete, and danzonchd,

and some authorities place chachacha

trace their heritage

in this family.

These dances

from the French contredanse and the Haitian Tumba

Francesa, since they both stem from rows of women dancers facing their

male dancing partners violin,

and

flute

acquired

tradanza cubana, as

produced

a

in very upright posture.

it

Cuban percussion

was quickly named

The French

of piano,

and, starting with the con-

after its

contredanse antecedent,

very light color of elegant, rhythmic sound. Interestingly, the

rhythm of contradanza cubana was

first

ritmo de habanera (Alen 1994, 82, 84). five pulses {cinquillo)

It

called ritmo de tango and, later,

was based on

a

rhythmic figure of

within a three-beat frame and has a relationship to

the development of Cuban clave and to Toussaint

Americas. (The rhythm of cinquillo

The

trio

is

the

first

Rhythm throughout the

part of son clave.)

sweet sound of doubled and quadrupled strings, doubled wood-

winds, and light percussion (maracas and

giiiros)

incorporated the influ-

ence of the European waltz, and the dance placed the dancing couple shockingly close (for the period) in the romantic dance formations that developed.

With

the emergence of danza, couples were laced/locked to-

gether (enlazadas), rather than simply facing one another.

surrounded the dance, however. For example, tips

A strict protocol

women placed their finger-

only on the palm of the man's hand in danza. In the next development.

52

Yvonne

•

)aniel

I

the dan/on, dancing couples alternated between dancing and walking, for eight measures each.

They danced

enlazadas for eight measures and then

the couple promenaded, talked with other couples, fanned, or generally rested for eight measures, before resuming the romantie, close contact.

The dance pascu, hut

structure

came from

Spain, walking elegantly to the music or

perhaps the walking pattern evolved also because

of the "heat of

the dance" or the heat of the tropics. .Additionally, the dan/on was characterized bv

a

wonderful syncopation between the music and the dancers.

permitting the dancers to accentuate the syncopation

both the rumba and the son before accounts, but

The

it

distinguishing features of the entire danzon complex are that

identified with slight

changes

the time and that the dances were

all

in the musical structure

mentation within the orchestra. At

tipica

in the clave. Like-

the danzon was vilified in written

was also danced with great pleasure.

couples dance facing each other

ttpica,

it,

and

in the instru-

the orchestra was called orquesta

first,

orquesta tipica francesa, or charanga francesa. Later the

term orquesta

returned. Mulato (of both European and African ancestry) musicians

were usually contracted

to play for parades, balls,

ings in the nineteenth century.

The same

and small salon gather-

musicians were aware of

many

African rhythms apart from the elite repertoire of their training and "infected" salon music with a rich rhythmic interest that to

Cuban

creation.

They

early contradanza structure, but

due to their inventive compositions, an-

other form surfaced. Miguel Failde composed the

one that had

a

became important

played the binary form that characterized the

first

danzon

in

1879,

returning theme for the reoccurring walking section, with

contrasting sections in terms of melody and lead solo instrument (musically speaking, a

rondo form or

ABACAD

etc.).

The danzon

constantly

repeated the hip-provoking ritmo de tango or habanera. (Some Cubans teach danzon without any hip accentuation; they say the character of the

dance comes from doblar knees as

if

la rodilla [to

on the space of one

The next radical change was

different, but

its

in

floor

bend the knee], dancing with bent

tile.)

dance formation was chachacha. This dance

musical structure and instrumentation were very

similar to the danzon, the danzonete, and the danzoncha,

its

related evo-

With the chachacha, dancers marked the onomatopoeic phrase with three quick steps, followed by two slow ones. Partners danced the repeated rhythmic step in closed or open position, either holding on to lutions.

one another or separated. Facing one another

complex do, dancing partners alternate

as

parallel

all

the dancers in danzon

dance patterns (going

in

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean the

Creativity

53

•

same direction) or contrasting dance patterns (going toward and away

from each

other).

While the dance began

earlier in the century,

popularized by Enrique Jorrin's compositions in 1951. Since then,

been danced

until

was

it it

has

today throughout the Caribbean and Central and

South America, and also in Caribbean niches across North America, Europe, and Africa.

Punto Guajiro or Campesino

The

last

Cuban music/dance complex

is

punto guajiro or campesino. High

and low doubled and tripled guitar sounds, stanza singing with

Cuban country

"ay" and "eh," and zapateo dancing characterize

cries of

or folk

music/dance. Campesino has permeated the countryside of the western-

most part of Cuba and music,

its

parts of the central zone.

While

it is

rural

Cuban

forms have penetrated the Cuban professional theatrical world

as well. It originated at local festivals

and celebrations, where families and

neighbors congregated to socialize,

as

punto

libre

or free, independent,

very elaborated song and dance in the west, and punto fijo or song set to fixed, repetitive

accompaniment

The

in parts of Cuba's central zone.

melodies have modal qualities that reference antiquity in Europe (and possibly

North

based in the Spanish decima tradition

Africa). Texts are

and often describe the landscape of the country, love, and comedic tions.

The

situa-

organization of instruments shifts from area to area, but in-

cludes the guitar, tres, claves, maracas, tumbadores, and giiiro. In the

North African/Spanish

west, they add a unique sounding,

ment, the

and

laud,

in the central provinces, they

string instru-

omit the laud and add

bongos.

The forms

are danced with polyrhythmic, often contrapuntal, foot

stamping or zapateo.

The

National Folkloric Ensemble replicates the

dance form with dancers costumed

from

a

previous era, stamping out

as peasant farmers or military soldiers

call

and response rhythms with wooden

sandals or chancletas.

Today,

many

of the elements of punto guajiro have been folded into

son complex or compressed into cancion complex, the sung tradition without dancing. At

enough time ditions, ity

least, that is

my

in these regions to see

punto guajiro

is still

alive

if,

I

have not spent

other small or less-known tra-

and kicking. In comparison to the

of the other four complexes of

smaller and the least formidable.

impression, but like

vital-

Cuban dance/music, however,

it

is

54

Yvonne Daniel

•

Conclusion As

map

I

Cuban dance/music and continue my studies in the that each island nation has its own diverse continuum or

the tree of

Caribbean,

I

find

complement of dances, with minute and

tions

has

relationship to affranchis in

a

Carriacou, Grenada, and to allel

Haitian

dances, like

classifications, but

dance/music of Cuba.

parallels to the

Iaiti,

I

to Big

Yodou and THnidadian Shango ceremonial dances. Kongo Kongo-Angolan yuka, Cuban rumba, Jamaican kumina, and

Puerto Rican bomba have

a

relationship to each other. as

is

Cuban gagd

kaseko, rumba, bomba, and soca's wining

ibbean tree of dance kaseko, or "the

—

—

all

activate specialized

body breaks" (from

to Haitian

"Caribbean

its

distinct branches

casser corps,

extraordinary articulation

style," all the

Cuban Arara is mm. And son,

meaning

a

Car-

— when

cobwebs are cleaned

body breaks into

the

out,

"to break the

breaks out of its

its inertia,

most

stresses disap-

and both the body and the person are

pear, if only temporarily,

on

dance movement such that

Men the body breaks — breaks out of

ordinary to

connec-

also find

Martinique. Yoruba oricha dances par-

bele in

connected to Haitian Rada,

body").

I

Tumba trancesa in Cuba Drum Nation Dance in

feeling

left

good.

That

is

exactly

how

it

feels to

dance Cuban dance traditions, from

Kongo, Arara, Carabali, Yoruba, Tumba Francesa, son, rumba, danzon punto gnajiro

why

— any one

tradition, or all nine of

them. Perhaps that

to is

when Cuban dance/music is marginalized. Cuban dance/music occupies a large tree of its own with roots that have I

react so strongly

spread throughout the Caribbean. Haitian, Kongo-Angolan,

within

its

It

has potent cultures (Spanish, French,

Ewe/Fon, Efik/Ejagham, Yoruba, and Cuban)

contemporary borders, and

its

music/dance traditions

African-derived, one French Haitian, and five original

(including the singing-only complex cancidn cubana)

Cuban

— have

sources of creative reference in the Caribbean and beyond,

— four

creations

been rich orchard

a true

of creativity.

Any definitive

or general work

—

in print, video,

dance/music should include reference to the

or film

— on Caribbean

historical relevance

and aes-

thetic distinctiveness of Cuba. If not out of respect for Cuba's prolific creativity,

the inclusion should count for historical accuracy.

happy, creative music in

There

is

vital,

Cuba and there is a whole lot or spirit-giving, Cuban dances are powerful and conta-

spirit-restoring dance there also.

gious, and affect natives and foreigners alike.

Cuban Dance: An Orchard of Caribbean I

am

particularly grateful for the

support that

I

warm

collegial

Creativity

•

environment and administrative

received as a scholar-in-residence, 1999-2000, from the

Women's

Leadership Institute of Mills College, under the direction of Dr. Edna Mitchell, I

wrote

this chapter. In addition, I

am

Simmons was

as

forever indebted to Smith College for sab-

batical time to contribute to scholarship

President Ruth

55

on Caribbean

responsible for

thereby, in part, for this reassessment of

my

cultures; in particular,

latest trip to the

Cuban dance

history.

region and

4

o o o The Dance World Solemnity,

I

of Ramiro Guerra

oluptuousness,

Humor, and Chance

Melinda Mousouris

Ramiro Guerra made

a long,

uncharted journey to self-discovery

as

an

In the mid- 1940s he broke with family tradition and began serious

artist.

dance studies during law school. While continuing

made an

his ballet training,

he

modern dance movements of the United States and Europe. Although the concepts of Graham, Limon, and Laban opened new terrain, he still felt estranged from his natural way of moving. He pressed further to create a uniquely Cuban technique and aesthetic of aesthetic leap into the

contemporary dance. In searching for a

other dancers and

is

Cuban

way, Ramiro Guerra unlocked the path for

recognized in

Cuba

as the

founder of Cuban modern

dance. Alberto Mendez, one of the original dancers under Guerra tion,

voiced what

reographer,

it

many

feel:

"Although

I

ultimately

was Ramiro Guerra who showed

became

s

direc-

a ballet

cho-

me the potentialities of my

Composer Juan Blanco summarized Guerra influence in this way: Cuban modern dance has developed in such a short time, we owe it to Ramiro Guerra. All that we see today is the development of what he implanted. He was an authentic creator who developed new technique, new expression, original movement, and new dance stars. Thanks to him, too, Cuban music, traditional and commissioned new work, has entered hilly body."

's

"If

into dance performance" (Pajares Santiesteban 1993, 25, 28,

my

transla-

tion).

As

a result

of the U.S. governments effective isolation of Cuba, Cuban

modern dance

is

not well known

in the

56

United

States.

It

has had

a

short

The Dance World

of Ramiro Guerra

•

57

Cuban

but nevertheless tumultuous and impressive history. Prior to the

Revolution in 1959, modern dance barely existed in Cuba, while European ballet traditions were heavily supported. A handful of pioneers led by

Guerra were working

of modern dance.

in the area

a repertory incorporating Cuba's

traditions. Cuba's ety,

Afro-Cuban

traditions existed

where they were not accorded the

its

to build

Afro-Cuban

on the margins of soci-

official status

of "culture."

Initially,

government were wary of Afro-Cuban

factions of the revolutionary ture,

They wanted

Spanish heritage and

cul-

which, because of its roots in Afro-Cuban religion, was perceived as

competition to the political system for people's

loyalty.

Contemporary

who

labeled

it

dance, too, had capitalist art

passionate

its

Soviet-modeled

and feared

its

critics,

a

bourgeois,

how

influence in Cuba. But by i960, seeing

Cuban people were about their traditions,

government rec-

the

ognized the value of connecting these traditions with the state and

founded two national dance companies, one folkloric and one devoted to

contemporary dance.

Ramiro Guerra was appointed to create the contemporary dance company, Conjunto Nacional de Danza Contemporanea, and its repertory. Guerra continued the work he'd begun, exploring the complexity of Cuban expressions within the contemporary context that was modern dance. Because modern dance training was virtually nonexistent vited dancers Elfriede

who were

living in

Cuba, he

in

Mahler and Lorna Burdsall of the United

States,

Havana, and Elena Noriega of Mexico to teach and

dance with the Conjunto. Given

a

budget for twenty-four dancers, from

open auditions he selected twelve black and twelve white dancers the

in-

new company. He recognized

to

form

the different cultural heritages of his

dancers and sought opportunities to use the possibilities of each one. This

group began to study how the Cuban body moved, what made

from bodies result fluent,

in other cultures,

and what

its

movement could

was La Tecnica Cubana, which continues powerful dancers

who

are

open

to

different

The

produce marvelously

to improvisation.

direction, a cross-fertilization of the dancers' different capabilities occurred

it

express.

Under Guerra

's

backgrounds and

and the company realized an arresting

common

aes-

thetic in their productions.

However, the suspicion of contemporary dance continued In 1970, the artistic freedom of the 1960s was challenged try of culture placed control of political officials,

who knew

performance companies

little

when

to surface.

the minis-

in the

hands of

about art and perceived sedition

they did not understand. Ramiro Guerra was one

artist

who was

in all

stripped

Melinda Mousouris

58

of his directorship and not allowed to work.

when Armando Mart was appointed

lasted until 1977,

As

a

result ol

I

1

hut's tenure

loday he

and shifted away from policing

ol art

Ramiro

lives in

cultural minister.

advocacy, the ministry oi culture incorporated

[art's

broader understanding ing

This period of repression

(

ruerra's reputation

artists.

was rehabilitated.

an ambivalent embrace with

his

homeland

from the purge. The intersection of La Rampa and L Street I

lavana

life.

On

the southeast corner stands the

former Conrad Hilton

ment and used

as

hotel of record. In futurist

Iotel,

Iavana Libre

that dates a

is

hub of the

Jotel,

I

expropriated by Castro's victorious govern-

park diagonally across

modular Coppelia

ice

is

the

still

a favorite

cream shops. National

institute, the foreign press office,

blocks north,

I

temporary headquarters, and

its

a

I

a

Dur-

meeting

place, the

all

nearby.

Ramiro Guerra

wall,

business

television, the

and the university are

approaching the ocean

city's

him

Two

lives

in

semiseclusion in the tower of a once-elegant art deco apartment house built in the 1920s.

Some Cubans

still

remember

the building as the resi-

dence of Eduardo Chivas, opposition party leader to the Batista regime. forerunner of the revolutionary exaggerated sense of honor.

He

movement

A

that followed, Chivas had an

shot himself on radio after a speech in

which he apologized for not being able

to deliver the evidence of the

regime's corruption he had promised to the people.

The a

elevator in the apartment house shoots up to the twelfth floor like

sputnik and lurches to a stop.

A winding metal staircase leads two flights

further to the tower penthouse that

is

the sanctuary of

His two-room living quarters exude both the enclosure of exile.

He

lives

amid

a

Ramiro Guerra.

strong sense of kingdom and

artifacts

of modernism from the

1930s through the 1950s intermingled with Afro-Cuban arts and

crafts.

Steep shelf-lined walls holding books, photo albums, and mementos are

broken by

model

PC

a practice

barre installed beneath a

window and by

a

current-

on which he writes and publishes an international dance

jour-

The apartment has two slim balconies that open onto the Havana One looks out on the rocky coast and steely sea across which so many of his fellow artists have scattered, leaving behind the austerity nal.

skyline.

wrought by the Cuban governments

restrictiveness

and U.S. govern-

ment's punitive trade embargo. But Ramiro Guerra chose not to

become

an expatriate. Instead, after his ostracism, he retreated from Havana's daily

life

me.

— and

and cafe society

phone. "Those people

who want

never quite returned. to find

me know where

He to

has no tele-

come," he told

The Dance World

of Ramiro Guerra

•

59

In his mid-seventies and about five feet five inches, with a shock of

may who thrives on social contact. His

white hair and an expressive, compassionate face, Ramiro Guerra prize his solitude, but he

warm,

intelligent conversation kindles the

likes to relax at

a taut said,

also a person

is

home

atmosphere around him.

and Bermuda shorts. They reveal

in a tropical shirt

muscular physique and particularly strong

was developed through

ballet,

He

legs.

and he retained

The

strength, he

ballet training as part

of his dancers' regimen because "Cuban dancers tend to be

a little lazy

with their legs."

His equipoise and outward focus may have been grafted onto an essentially introspective,

cerebral personality

7

Cyrano de Bergerac manner the self stayed inside

.

He recalled as a

pastimes. "I adored marbles. I

pieces of furniture.

through

I

I

in

two of

in

dance partner. His

childhood

arrangements around various

was fascinated by the designs

a stained glass parlor

his

would watch them bounce into random

would group them

light

made

passing

window."

While portraying himself as social

him-

occupied with solitary games. His attraction both to

choreography and to the theater he recognizes patterns and then

child plotting in

exploits of an older cousin, while he

shy,

first idols

he acknowledged his popularity

were

a

neighbor, Carmela,

as a

who danced

an Afro-tango in amateur shows; a Cuban dance team, Ortiz and Richard,

who danced rumba and he accompanied his

guaracha; and Astaire and Rogers on film.

girlfriend, a reluctant ballet pupil, to class,

When

he instead

summoned the courage to enroll. member of the famous ballet family who later proved to be the most interested in bringing Cuban identity into the form. Alonso now lives in the United States. The Pro-Arte Musical Society, the theater and academy where Guerra recognized the potential for himself and

His

first

teacher was Alberto Alonso, the

began his studies in 1940, was the cosmopolitan cultural center of its time. Ted Shawn and Martha Graham performed there when they came to Cuba, and Guerra acknowledged that it was when he saw Ted Shawn that he began to shape an idea of a future for himself.

He tive

was caught between

productions,

among

his desire to

be in the theater and an impera-

1943 he began performing in Pro-Arte them Fokine choreographies of Stravinsky's Pe-

not to dishonor his

father. In

trushka and Polish Dances.

He embarked upon

a

double

life,

finishing his

law degree, but taking part in dance productions under the name of Edgar Suarez. "It so happened that

two

sisters

I

studied after law school with a friend

followed the activities of Pro-Arte.

One

day, as

we

all

whose

sat in the

60

Melinda Mousouris

•

another male they had seen taking dance

parlor, they ridiculed

class

and

men who danced on the stage. When saw what lay in store tor me, decided to change my name and disguise myself. always feared that

excoriated

I

I

I

one day

I

would

ami they would

arrive

say,

saw you on the stage,' hut

'I

it

never happened."

Guerra graduated law school a

touring company

longer

a secret.

in

of Ballet Russe.

"My

father

1946, but soon

When

made peace with my

never surrendered his original ambition for

me

as Dr.

Ramiro Guerra

Guerra related that Russian ballerina

had settled

in

who

Cuba

it

until

left

Cuba

to

work with

he returned his vocation was no

me

career," he said, "but he

and continued to address

he died."

was through the

classes of

Nina Verchinina,

traveled the world with her British

in the early 1940s, that

understanding of movement and develop

he began to acquire

as a dancer.

a

companion and a true

Verchinina, he ex-

plained, belonged to a generation of "baby ballerinas" trained by Nijinska.

She performed with the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo beginning and

later

with

chinina as an

its

successor the Original Ballet Russe.

unknown but avant-garde and

He

in

1933

evoked Ver-

far-sighted master. "She had

an intense power of communication with her students. She demanded total

concentration and

we

finished class exhausted.

She didn't waste time

on arm embellishments or contemplating stereotypic poses; she developed our muscles, aligned our postures, cleaned our movements. She had studied Laban's system and gave

many

exercises

on the

floor, training the

torso and pelvis. She balanced a classical syllabus with the technique,

equally demanding, for developing expressive freedom."

He

also said that

teach his

own

it

was from Verchininas example that he learned

to

dancers. "You can give a class to everyone, but you have to

know each one of your dancers and take care of their physical and mental problems. Graham was more indirect. You had to learn from her." When Verchinina joined as soloist a vassal company of the Ballet Russe from Brazil, she also brought Guerra into the company with her. The company traveled from Rio to Paris to New York, where the tour broke down. Guerra remained in New York. There he studied with Graham on scholarship, with

Limon, and began

to improvise with Franceses Boas,

the daughter of anthropologist Franz Boas.

choreographers

like

Graham, de

ican folkloric or urban material.

Mille, and

saw productions

Robbins

utilized

in

which

North Amer-

Having arranged board by working

brownstone building superintendent, he

mian existence that drew

He

to a close

when

lived a frugal but his visa expired.

as a

happy bohe-

The Dance World

of Ramiro Guerra

61

•

to Cuba in 1948 and his appointment in 1959 dance division of the new national theater, he pursued a

Between Guerra 's return as director of the

course of investigation and experimentation. Throughout his youth he

had been accumulating knowledge of Afro-Cuban secular dances descended from the Yoruba and

Cuban

Congo

peoples of Africa and from Afro-

religious societies. In 1949 he traveled to

Colombia

to investigate

Latin American folklore. At the same time he was examining techniques

of developing character and narrative through dance, music, and stagecraft. "I

now had

a specific goal to

acquired in the United States,

wanted to themes and

my

translate

stories that

I

my

which

to apply the technique

and

studies,

feeling of

my

I

had

research," he said. "I

Cubanness into dance and develop

connected with Cuban roots."

Freelancing, he choreographed and performed in diverse theatrical

Department of Education commissioned him

contexts. In 1950 the

to

present folkloric dance programs. He mounted choreographies of Colombian, Panamanian, Venezuelan, and Mexican dances, as well as of Cuban contradanzas and Abakud ceremonies. During these same years he worked closely with a theater group, Las Mascaras, whose founder Andre Castro, like Guerra, was influenced by Stanislavski.

dances and

movement

He

choreographed

for the actors for productions of Garcia Lorca's

Yerma and Boda de Sangre. In 1953 he worked with the Gran Teatro in Spain on further productions of Lorca and of Greek legend.

Greek mythology later as director of the Conjunto. By 1952 and 1953 Guerra began to create original Cuban

He

would

return to

ballets.

In

1955 he created Toque and Habana, 1930 for an experimental dance group formed by Alicia Alonso. "These ballet dancers knew nothing about the existence of modern dance," Guerra explained. aesthetic and the music

of Spring' was

when

was

as difficult for

"They were startled by the them as Stravinsky's 'The Rite

Nijinsky premiered his ballet." Toque, which por-

trayed a Santeria service, ignited a scandal

The

fertilization rite.

when Guerra incorporated

mothers protested to the

ballerinas'

Guerra called upon Fernando Ortiz, Cuba's authority on Afro-Cuban ligion, to lecture

on the significance of the material. Parents

was able to proceed and continued developing

a

a

directors.

satisfied,

re-

he

modern dance group un-

der Alonso's direction.

By

the late 1950s

Cuba was

the Batista regime escalated as fell

in

came

December

to power,

it

1959.

in the grip it

of civil war.

teetered on collapse.

Not long

The repression of The government

government Ramiro Guerra was ap-

after the revolutionary

established a national theater.

Mclirula Mousouris

62

pointed director of build and direct

a

dance division, lie now had the opportunit)

its

permanent troupe

of dancers. In

t

i960 the dance divi-

became two separate national companies, the ConjuntO Folklorico Nacional ami the Conjunto tie Danza Contemporanea.

sion

The

celebration of liberation prompted patriotic

Mambi,

narrative dance celebrating the

a

independence against Spain

1H98,

in

work

a

Two

rebel army's struggle against Batista.

Cuban

who

fought lor

inviting comparison with the

other

initial

Company

reographed tor the Contemporary Dance

Guerra created

art.

soldiers

works Guerra cho-

of the newly created

National Theater were The Pilgrim ofAnaquille and

I.a

Rebambaramba,

both from novels of Amadeo Roldan, with librettos by Alejo Carpentier.

Guerra

premiere these works, but he sought

said he felt an obligation to

on which the

liberty to revise several situations

whose

stories turned

ro-

manticizing he found outdated. Carpentier agreed. "In these two works,"

Guerra

related, "the

acter and conflict.

I

primary tasks think

I

I

set for

succeeded

myself were developing char-

in establishing a clear exposition

and strong communication with the audience. However,

I

too strictly both to narrative and to music. In Suite Yoruba

was

still

tied

achieved a

I

balance between narrative and dance texture." Suite Yoruba

was

a sensation

continues to stand as

The work, ties) in

when

it

premiered

landmark dance.

a

very simply,

is

a quartet

the Yoruba pantheon:

It

in

Havana

was adapted

in

I960 and

for film in I962.

of dances to orishas (prichas or divini-

Ochun, Chango, Yemaya, and Ogun.

Yoruba was performed to the authentic bata

Suite

drum music and chant belong-

ing to these orishas ceremonies. However, Guerra was able to maintain the intensity of traditional dance at the

dance movement and incorporated Elfriede Mahler,

who danced

a

same time

as

he expanded the

mythological habitat.

The

late

company at this time, interpreted Ramiro was the only one to synthesize

with the

the work's impact: "It wasn't that

modern and Afro-Cuban religious traditions, but that everyone felt that he did it right. You couldn't feel where the traditional left off and the contemporary began."

The dance opens

with an arresting Afro-Cuban syncretism.

giously transfixed face of a dancer appears in the oval cutout of

decorated painting of

through a curtain

it

as

Yemaya

a

The a

reli-

haloed,

Caribbean-represented Virgin Mary. She steps

to dance with her attendants. In the original version,

separated the dances. But in his filmed revision, Guerra elimi-

nated the curtain and created thematic interludes linking the orishas.

The

movements of a mimetic rumba between Yemaya and Chango work

nar-

The Dance World

Yemaya

ratively to recall that

emerges with

is

Chango's mother.

his warrior's personality.

ence recognized dancers on

all

From

Ochun

the duet

group recedes toward the background

The dance ing his ax and

Chango

Ogun his machete that seems to shake utilizes

as his dogs,

forests.

Chango

the forest to

film version he closes in

Chango

wield-

its

foun-

musical stops and rhythm changes, ever tightening

engagements, forceful ruptures, and leaping reentry into the

rates tumbling.

Each

as the focus shifts.

builds to a climactic confrontation between

Guerra

Chango

appears dancing over swirling

Ogun, with dancers bearing the branches of his

river gods,

63

•

performed, the audi-

first

fours appearing with

never before depicted on stage.

dation.

When

of Ramiro Guerra

on the

ferocity in the warriors' faces.

The warriors somersault over each other,

flying like the feathers of two cocks

fray.

In the

He incorpo-

the raffia skirt of

devouring each other. Finally

Ogun, the recognition of crushing defeat projected through

his eyes, flees

into the darkness.

Guerra prepared

method

personalities.

added

his dancers for their roles

through the exercises of

acting, requiring that they integrate the technique with their

Some

spirituality to their dance.

Rivero incomparable roles in this

and

own

of his dancers practiced Santerfa and brought this

as

Guerra stated that he found Eduardo

Ogun, but

his other ballets.

that he generally rotated the other

He did so, he said, to capitalize on varied

personal qualities as suited to stage, television, or film, but also to keep the

dancers fresh and always working.

Guerra had been developing

movement of

his

in his

company evident

technique classes the seamless

in Suite Yoruba.

His appointment

as

come with Cuban technique of contemporary dance as well as

director of the dance department of the National Theater had a

mandate

a

company and

of the

to develop a

German

repertory.

The raw

ingredients were: the theoretical base

school that grounds dance in the

and establishes the dancer

as

movements of daily

choreographer of his/her

own

body;

its

life

di-

embedded quality of dance, song, and instrumental music in Afro-Cuban life; the modern dance techniques of North America; and the discovery of isolations that perfected Afro-Cuban movements. Teachers of folkloric and modern dance worked in concert and rect expression in the

from these ingredients an organic technique emerged. Guerra dated

movement

his attainment of a

possibilities

language of dance through which

perpetuated themselves to

a

period of close col-

laboration with Mexican choreographer Elena Noriega. Noriega had de-

veloped modern dance in Mexico and was embarked upon

a

search paral-

Mclinila Mousouris

64

to his

lei

own. "Before Elena," Guerra

But with Elena,

ers.

able to focus

on

I

now

could

said, "I

multiplicity of possibilities

a

was

horse with blind-

like a

analyze at the same time as create.

I

was

and not surrender to the

first

solution."

Noriega taught technique

classes to the

Conjunto de Danza Contem-

poranea that brought Guerra closer to the core of Cuban movement:

When then

We

I

worked with Graham,

I

are not angular and set.

tional, improvisational

discover physical

changes.

ground

The

is

I

thought

I

was deficient

Cubans have something

realized that

—

The Cuban

as in life.

possibilities

We

feeling

is

anarchic,

emo-

Perhaps we are also more open to

and more adaptable to dynamic-

torso undulates and

different too.

But

at first.

different in our bodies.

is

let go;

in tension

with the pelvis.

the emphasis

is

The

down, down,

down.

Working with

my own

Elena's experiments spurred

to

work guided by

personal experience. In creating technique

treatment to oppositions that

way of dancing of Cuban

The

me

I

I

gave special

consider to be the spiritual base and

people.

technique sequences he developed became the building material of

one of

his

most eloquent dances, Chacona. Chacona

also

announced

his

entry into a period of purely abstract dance.

The movement

of the preclassical sarabanda and Chacona and the his-

tory of their migrations had long fascinated Guerra. explained, were Seville,

tion.

first

These dances, he

brought from the Americas by Spanish

where they were assimilated

in the style of

During the Inquisition they were outlawed

sailors to

other dances of seducfor their eroticism

and

dancing them could be punishable by imprisonment. These dances resurfaced, however, in the Spanish court, formal

crossed the ocean once

more

and de-eroticized. They

to the Spanish colonies,

where the Afro-

Caribbean slaves assimilated them by adding hip and torso movement and rhythmic complexity. Chacona crystallizes

this

union of formalized European dance with the

African body: undulating torso and rotating hips, restrained within grave, disciplined

body frame. Conjunto designer Eduardo Arrocha

ated Baroque-inspired black and white costumes with

and puffed the

stiff

a

cre-

high collars

sleeves, contrasting with flowing capes or trains that enter into

movement. The dance,

for three

women

and two men,

shifts

duet, trio, and ensemble sections. Chacona has been performed

between

most

effec-

— The Dance World

Fig.

5.

From

of Ramiro Guerra

65

•

Choreography by Ramiro Guerra. Used by permission of

Chacona.

Ramiro Guerra, Havana.

tively in the Plaza de la Catedral in old

of shadow and

light,

tions, sections

of

it

Havana, where

arcades and archways.

are

danced

in 4/4, but

Working

modern, African, Iberian

—into

the freedom to open his narratives

with

it

and to move against

it.

Negreros and Oifeo Antillano. character of

Greek heroes

has

made

full

use

accompanied by Bach's "Cha-

conne" in 3/4 time. Guerra stated that the fusion of styles from archaic,

it

further with opposi-

a multiplicity of sources

own movement brought him and greater freedom in music, to move his

He created two tragic love sagas, Medea y los He had worked with the tragic fates and

in his early days in theater

and now wanted to

narrate the dramas in experimental forms. In Medea, he divided the role of

the heroine into parts to be played by three dancers, as mother, lover, and avenger.

In Orfeo he transposed the story to the Caribbean. Orfeo, a drummer, sets

out in search of Euridice

(a

temptress in Guerra 's version, not an in-

nocent) through Santeria, enlisting the aid of his orishas, the

kingdom of Oja

now an skull

evil spirit.

of death,

(death).

When he

But the Euridice with lifts

whom

who he

is

lead

him

reunited

to is

the red fishnet cloaking her, he finds the

who tries to kill him. The

final act

returns Orfeo to a carni-

66

Melinda Mousouris

appears to be the same as

val thai

theater of his

own mind.

its

the opening section, but

is

body

is

smother him.

Spirits

Guerra

to his spurned bride.

sever

in

set the

unfolding from everyday

lis lifeless

I

hour-long work on

reality. Its

score

the

mad

returned

black stage to

a

combined

live carnival

music with electronic music, recorded natural sounds and voices, narra-

and distorted speed changes.

tion,

The Conjunto under choreographers such

Guerra's direction performed works by other

company

as

soloists

Geraldo Lastro and Eduardo

Rivero; Elena Noriega, whose contemporary dance was based folklore; Elfriede

who

Mahler,

Lorna Burdsall, who during

in

Mexican

created works around political events; and

period mounted works of American cho-

this

reographers and created new work with contemporary social content. Initially,

Danza Contemporanea had no previous

the Conjunto de

ence working together,

modern dance had

little

experi-

repertory, and faced the further obstacle that

neither the prestige of ballet nor the following of

popular entertainment. Within two years their performances acquired

a

chemistry that communicated very immediately with their Cuban audi-

They contained themes and movement and visual art.

characteristics people could recognize,

ence. rich

The Conjunto

also introduced

Cuban modern dance

to enthusiastic

audiences in Western Europe, the Eastern bloc, and China. Their tours,

however, were fraught with problems that ranged from travel sickness and unreliable Soviet transports to political tensions and defections.

The

1970s ushered in

and what Guerra describes

a third,

stage of development. "In this stage," he explained, "I

ways of moving.

I

wanted

to exploit the outdoors.

to

combined the theater and life.

They combined

talk. I

make use of every space and

When

I first

circus,

all

I

an ultimate

surface.

saw Peking opera

the ideas

as

was looking I

for

new

wanted

in i960,

which

had germinating came to

song, dance, narrative, acrobatics, and sometimes

loved the music and the costumes."

His attention shifted to the spectrum of humor. developing metaphor, irony,

His kinship with

artists

the United States and for openness. "I

satire,

working

Europe

is

wanted to open

burlesque.

in the

I

"I

became

became more

atmosphere of

apparent

in this

and

my work to chance,

social

interested in aggressive."

upheaval

in the further

in

quest

freedom, and creativ-

ity."

Guerra developed

his ability to satirize within the context of his experi-

mental aims, which included leaving space for dancers to improvise and for alternative endings. In

Impromptu Galante he

satirizes

machismo and

The Dance World the feminine mystique, inflected with peculiarly

of Ramiro Guerra

Cuban

67

•

cultural habits.

his last Whereas work for the Conjunto de Danza Contemporanea, El Decalogo del Apocalipsis (The Ten Commandments of the Apocalypse), as "evoking a tragi-

the tone of Impromptu Galante

is light,

Guerra described

comic nightmare." Decalogo was

Ramiro Guerra

's

magnum

opus, in which he endeavored

to push the capacities of the dancers and the audience to their limits.

two-hour work with no intermission was National Theater,

a

The

set in the exterior facades of the

modern complex housing two auditoriums, with mul-

tiple focal points, sculpture

gardens, catwalks, and exposed stairways.

theater faces the sacrosanct Plaza de

la

The

Revolution, used by the govern-

ment to address mass assemblies and behind which Cuba's most important government buildings are ally

located.

The

National Theater was tradition-

home to contemporary dance and Guerra acknowledged

in hindsight

that he did not take into account other possible implications

when he

The performance

required

chose the location for his iconoclastic work. the audience to struction

move

work and

to twelve different sites in the vicinity, through con-

the streets of a reputedly rough neighborhood

other side of the theater

known

as

on the

La Timba.

With respect to movement, Guerra's aim was to create dance movement inspired by the architecture, close to the forms of the building, or suggested by contact with it. He wanted the dancers to explore moving on all the building surfaces, using varied body parts and centers of gravity, capitalizing

on the elements of danger, disequilibrium, and recovery to

create unusual images and rarely observed

body

action.

The

score

is

a

multilayered collage that includes electronic sounds and an eclectic range

of acoustic music.

Some sequences

incorporate live music, sounds and

rhythms enunciated by the dancers, and

text

sung by them. Guerra de-

scribed the production as partaking of the psychedelic aesthetic of the 1960s, into which archaic, Christian, and

porated.

While the reference

ent, in his theatrical design spirit

Afro-Cuban elements

are incor-

to the psychedelic art of the times

and

in the

is

appar-

costuming by Eduardo Arrocha the

of Cuban carnivalesque pageantry

is

also unmistakable.

The subject matter evoked in Decalogo is the convulsive social change of the 1960s: the collision and confrontation of classes, interest groups, nations; the redistribution

of power; the celebration of moral experimenta-

tion and the lifting of taboos in pursuit of

hedonism or of new

values.

"A

world howling, moving, changing, and exploding, eradicating identities to create

new

directions,"

Guerra wrote (Guerra 1999,

150).

Guerra created

3H

^ W* *^

;

^

1 1

Bftk^V ^HmjQ ^^y ^Ii^B

m^ftrf i

jlilitl Um£ [••till.

*

\4^B

A-

^Lv lUH

B^BP

/

*

Bhb^AHHBII^I Fig. 6.

From

ElDecalogq delApocalipsis. Choreograph}' by Ramiro Guerra. Used hy

permission of Ramiro Guerra, Havana.

The Dance World

of Ramiro Guerra

69

•

the furious activity of a world gone mad, with his dancers climbing up walls like spiders, falling, leaping, or tumbling

down from

balconies and

ledges like fallen angels, running through the streets, tangling in con-

dropping to the asphalt to stare

struction, bathing in fountains,

at the

stars.

Within

each an inversion or commentary on

this texture, ten vignettes,

one of the Ten Commandments, are performed

in various enclaves of the

theater and vicinity. Four dancers identified as sibyls lead the spectators

from one

site to

penwolf's

Magic Theater.

the next as through Dante's Circles of Hell or the Step-

The Ten Commandments prologue, "Kyrie,"

is

are framed

blur the transition from ordinary ers

move up

formity

is

prologue and epilogue.

to theater.

life

a stairway intoning a

The

like a

The

happening to

Ten dimly lit seated danc-

Gregorian chant.

movements open

dancers'

some dancers

The

ceremonial uni-

from

"Reign of the Sky," the epilogue, point of the building

by

lit

to

become

increasingly anar-

curling themselves around banisters as the group rises

to the top of the stairway to recede

appears

a

broken when jazz instruments using the same theme overtake

the chants. chic,

by

conceived to work minimally

—ten

is

stories high.

artificial fire.

By

a

sight.

set

on the ledge

A dancer dressed

that as a

is

the high

cosmonaut

rope ladder leading up the side of the

building, the celebrants of violence climb to join the cosmonaut.

The such in

Ten Commandments. Some, commandment against murder as a crucifixion

vignettes portray inversions of the

as the inversion

which

a

of the

lynched Negro

troversial in

is

carried

on

a cross to

Golgotha, were noncon-

Cuba. Others, involving sexual behavior, triggered establish-

ment indignation. In "The Foolish Virgins," Guerra depicted prostitution for luxuries. In "The Song of Songs" he suggested heterosexual orgy, homosexual abduction, and quasi-tribal phallic worship.

performed

as

The

an ironic counterpoint to biblical poems or

each ends with

a refrain

from

a

poem

sequences are

as parodies,

but

of isolation by Jorge Zalamea that

speaks of wandering and seeking what one doesn't find. In

summing up his

Guerra stated that he wished to conjure up

a pre-reflective

intentions,

make moral judgments, but that he felt that burlesque and irony were embedded in the human activity shown, which the audience could reflect upon in retrospect.

world, not to

Guerra and the Conjunto worked on Decalogo

on

site

before

its

Timba, Guerra

for a year

and rehearsed

anticipated performance in April 1971. Residents of

related,

were among

his

La

most attentive observers, offering

Melinda Mousouris

70

The

advice on viewing and staging vantage points.

National Cultural

Council posted billboards inviting the public to attend the premiere. But

two weeks before basis of reports

was scheduled, the production was canceled on the

it

from

its critics,

would have been received

demands on

Guerra was never

to

know how

work

his

While he had tested the work's questions about its demands on the audience

in its entirety.

his dancers, his

would remain unanswered. After the premiere ofDecalogo was canceled, Guerra was the

Conjunto de Danza Contemporanea

The company continued under other directorship,

but the dances he cho-

reographed were dropped. By the time he was permitted the dancers he had trained had retired or

removed from

for unspecified political reasons.

to

work

again,

other countries. Guerra

left for

declined to implicate high government officials in the decision and held responsible the ministry of culture of that era, which, he explained, had

been put that

in the

hands of the

military.

"These men mistrusted everything

was new. They were weekend directors. They managed the perform-

ing arts companies for

moved on

a

while, sometimes

removing valuables, and then

to other positions in the bureaucracy.

for seven years, but

was kept from working

I

my salary was not suspended,

as

Guerra seems not to have foreseen the response

happened

his

to others."

w ork drew. Follow-

ing his dismissal, his avant-garde output abruptly ceased. "I studied, wrote, and did what

I

had no time to do before." Apart from short

Colombia where he continued

to research Latin

American

trips to

folklore,

most

of his physical and mental activity took place in his apartment. While he

himself was prevented from working, he continued to follow the work of

such choreographers

as

Meredith Monk, Trisha Brown, and Pina Bausch

through videos sent to him and wrote about their work

in essays

on post-

modernism. In 1977 Armando Hart was appointed cultural minister and made it his mission to improve relations between the government and the arts.

Eventually the government came around to

a

recognition of what

Guerra had contributed. In 1988 an apology to Ramiro Guerra appeared in Graimifl, the official state

newspaper. In speaking of the dismissal of

"the acclaimed and then later maligned Maestro

Ramiro Guerra," the au-

thor said, "In this arbitrary fashion, the intelligent, serious development

of modern dance in

Cuba was

mature harmoniously

cut

in far less

Granma, 8/16/88, quoted

off.

As

a result

the opportunity for

it

to

time was wasted" (Rosa Elvira Pelaez,

in Pajares

Santiesteban 1993).

1

The Dance World

of Ramiro Guerra

•

7

Guerra, while he accepted the apology, did not attempt to resume his

former

want

life.

"The company we had

built

had been destroyed and

I

did not

to start over," he explained. Instead he applied himself to folkloric

research and presentation, concentrating province.

He mounted

first

Triptico Oriental, a

on the

folklore of Oriente

panorama of

traditions of the

Haitian-influenced, eastern region of Cuba, including gaga, carabali,

tumba francesa, and carnival

grams devoted

chancleta (clog dance).

He created smaller pro-

to a specific focus, such as a religious purpose, instrumen-

music, or an urban secular tradition. In the city of Trinidad he

tal

similarly

comprehensive investigation of the folklore of Las

made

a

Villas prov-

ince and staged Trinitarias, a spectacular that lasted through the night.

In 1989 he published for preserving

La

and presenting folklore. In

cannot be resurrected with

and

Teatralizacion del Folklore, his theoretical base

full

it

he asserts that while traditions

knowledge because time erases meanings

origins, the goal of preserving folklore

must be

authenticity.

Unlike

the integration of folklore with contemporary dance in which creative liberty can be utilized, perpetuating and presenting authentic folklore re-

quires the greatest possible precision, not blurring the boundaries of each tradition.

He maintains that liberty can be taken with the staging, to avoid

monotony, and with costume design, to enhance

traditional dress for the

theater.

Guerra returned to celebrate the

his old milieu in

This work, Memoria Fragmentada, collective experience

was as

his it

my intention,"

memory

1990 to create

Conjunto de Danza Contemporanea's

itself is

is

is

a

biography

in

a television

which the company's

reduced to fragments shown on stage and

Guerra

said, "to

work to

thirtieth anniversary.

film. "It

rework, superimpose, and rearrange,

prone to forgetting and reordering the past." Part of

audience remembered the repertory, and his challenge was to resurrect

in a

new

perspective with an element of surprise.

He

returned to his

techniques of open theater.

Dancers from Suite Yoruba, Medea, and Oifeo appear in the theater lobby and disperse. They appear next on stage and, through an atmosphere of smoke and indistinct speech, visit

the past in a

mood

a

voice invites the audience to re-

of humor and burlesque.

The

dancers step in and

out of character, moving by association between excerpts from their roles to autobiographical

life

situations. In a

sequence near the end evoking the

company's struggle against outside control, he evokes bureaucrats lids

encircling the

company in wheelchairs and

as inva-

as opportunists striding in

72

•

Melinda Mousouris

their midst

on

stilts,

carrying their suitcases, ready to leave the country.

To

recreate the period or tension of Decalogp, he had the dancers run in flight as

though responding to an offstage

sound, dislodging the audience for

or accident, and had an alarm

fire

long

a

moment from

its

comfortable

role as spectator.

When

asked whether he had feared the consequences of pushing the

government too with."

More

wrong and

far,

Guerra

replied,

"They have

to have

seriously he added, "I speak out against

the

to a close, the

government has shown me government took

a

more

respect."

Ramiro

what

I

to fight

believe

is

As the century drew

visible step to

honor Ramiro

Guerra. In December 1999,

it reissued his book of essays, Coordenadas him the National Dance Prize. While he says he has no need to work further, mentally he persists in entertaining choreographic ideas. It would appear that Ramiro Guerra years as an artist are not over. While there was no escaping the conse-

Danzarias, and awarded

's

quences of the purge, the gratification he exudes when speaking of years with the Conjunto de

have had

my own

problems," he

junto were the best in

work, with

my

Danza Contemporanea said,

"but

my life. I was able my country."

people, in

my

is

stronger. "I

early years with the

to realize

my

his

may

Con-

personality in

my

5

o

The Tecnica Cubana Suki John

The tecnica cubana,

or the

Cuban modern dance

technique,

is

a

unique mix

a powerful hybrid that is more than the sum of its Cuban Revolution of 1959, Ramiro Guerra was appointed director of the Department of Modern Dance within the Teatro Nacional in Havana, with the goal of creating an indigenous Cuban modern dance

of dance traditions, parts. After the

form. Guerra had the foresight to bring together an eclectic group of

amateur and professional

They

modern,

ballet,

folkloric,

and nightclub dancers.

culled their resources and training, and began to synthesize previ-

ously diverse dance forms into a truly

technique that

Cuban asiaco

or stew.

tremendously athletic and expressive,

is

The

result

a reflection

is

a

of the

African, Spanish, and Caribbean roots of Cuban culture within the theatrical tradition

The writer,

of modern dance.

tecnica cubana has played a major role in the

who

is

also a dancer

the mid-1970s,

I

development of this

and choreographer. At the age of fourteen,

went to Cuba with the intention of studying at the

in

Ballet

my older brother in a Cuban brigade, building a school in the countryside. Apparently my father, a sci-

Nacional de Cuba, but instead ended up with

entist

who

details. I

taught

collaborates with a

Cuban

laboratory, had not sorted out the

was taken under the wings of several young Cuban

me

a little

play drums,

Spanish and a few

giiiros,

salsa steps.

women who men would

At night, the

and spoons, pounding out the rich syncopations of the

orisha songs of Santerfa.

In 1988

I

ranea de

returned to

Cuba

for a

two-week

stay.

A modern

dancer by

much of my time in the studios of Danza ContempoCuba. The company that Guerra had founded decades earlier

this point, I

spent

73

74

Sukijolin

•

had become

major

a

artistic force in

Cuba and

combined the strength of the Cuban

ham and ( lunningham complexity

tecnica cubana

elements of the Gra-

techniques, and the sensuous fluidity and rhythmic

\fro-Cuban

ol

The

abroad.

ballet tradition,

folklore.

I

was amazed by the absolute physical

master)- enjoyed by dancers trained in the tecnica cubana.

A

typical

com-

bination would involve multiple turns (with and without contractions), dives to the floor, leaps to the rafters, and syncopated isolations of the ribs,

and head. Flexed sickled

hips,

feet, raised hips,

twisting torsos, and rolling

heads identified the tecnica cubana as distinct, even as

extended lines and sailing turns of

Guerra and

Most

—

professional dancers in

ENA—the

La

—

Cuban technique unlike any dance form that

truly

incorporated the

it

and traditional modern.

among them Klfriede Mahler, Lorna Manuel Hiran had successfully created a

collaborators

his

Burdsall, Elena Noriega, and

classical ballet

Cuba

I

have seen elsewhere.

pass through a ten-year

program

in

Escuela Nacional de Arte (National School of Art). La

tecnica cubana

Dancers study

is

all

taught alongside classical ballet and

Cuban

folklore.

three dance forms, along with academics, acting, and

music. Ballet dancers focus on ballet, just as

modern and

folkloric dancers

begin to specialize as they mature. As in the Soviet system, some dancers are channeled into teaching while others are encouraged to perform.

Upon

graduation, dancers are chosen for the Ballet Nacional, Danza, the

Conjunto Folklorico, or

one of the provincial companies or schools.

for

Companies outside Havana include Danza Libre, founded by Elfriede Mahler in Guantanamo, and Teatro de la Danza del Caribe in Santiago de Cuba, directed by Eduardo Rivero, choreographer of Siilkari, a signature Danza Contemporanea. I attended the Kuopio dance

piece of

In 1991,

me

draw

for

and

a

small

led

by

had been the

had

cubana with a

a

ricochet ity

Gestos Transitorios,

the Prix de Lausanne in 1986. This particular piece, for

festival,

combined the raw athleticism

the particular attributes of the

— the Yoruba

moves

—stood out

The major

of the tecnica

sophisticated understanding of tanztheater. In the context

European

and aesthetic

as

Finland.

Conjunto Folklorico

from Danza, Narciso Medina. Medina's arresting Meta-

won

three virtuosic male dancers,

of

festival in

inclusion of the

Cuban modern company then known

a soloist

morfosis

festival's

to

Cuban technique

influence, the sinuousness of the spine, the

and from the

floor,

and the pervasively

in relief. After a vibrant

cubana to wide choreographic use,

I

and was welcomed into their midst.

virile physical-

performance that put the tecnica

accosted the dancers

at

the stage door

The Tecnica Cubana

•

75

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:

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Fig.

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i«

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Choreography by Narciso Medina. Photograph: David

Garten. Used by permission of David Garten, Waitsfield, Vermont.

Throughout the 1990s I was lucky enough to choreograph for Narciso Medina's company on several occasions, and for Danza and the Ballet Nacional as well. A brilliant choreographer, Medina is also a pied piper of sorts. Dancers from all over the world study not only at Danza Contemporanea's semiannual workshops, Cubadanza, but also in the small acad-

emy Medina has built,

the

first

independent dance school formed

in

Cuba

since the revolution.

While in Cuba, I studied the tecnica cubana, taking private or company class on a daily basis with the master teacher of Danza, Manolo Vasquez. Company class at Danza often begins with a freestanding center barre.

The

dancers start in parallel with the feet touching, knees pulled tightly

together, hands clasped behind the back, and the head exercises

open from contraction

without an arch upwards. parallel

second position,

string stretches sitting into

may

From

at

down. The

first

in parallel into first position, with or first

position, the heels pull back into a

which point upper body movement or ham-

be added. Often there

is

a variation that includes

one hip and extending the torso and arms

in the opposite di-

76

Sulci John

rection.

The arms

have

a soft,

mold required

lifted-elhow

tendues and ripples of the spine can

From

may

here the exercise

other side. After working

second position. besques, hip loric twists

Many

A

rolls,

is

all

to the rigid

Relcvcs, head rolls, parallel

he inserted

second.

in parallel

return to the beginning and repeat on the

in parallel

second, the legs are turned out to

long sequence early

in the

warm-up might

changes of weight, percussive drops to

include ara-

plie,

and folk-

of the head and neck.

exercises are repeated in different rhythms, emphasizing con-

trasting dynamics.

cubana

opposed

bird-like quality, as

in ballet class.

One

of the identifying factors of

the use of a musical ensemble. Several

Bute or guitar player always accompany

a class in the tecnica

drummers,

company

The music ranges from country melodies

temporanea.

a singer,

classes at

and

to the orisha songs

of Santerfa. This attention to musical detail marries the dancing to

Cuban called

"Merce," after Merce Cunningham. Beginning

high contraction in their sockets.

first

direction, a

low turn or

in plie a

is

unfurled into

a

flatback in plie.

can lead to an extension of the leg

change of direction. The Merce

is

From in

any

used as an

introduction to other exercises, including at times the rapid degages a

second from

first

A

spine and head inwards, turning the arms over

the spine

deep contraction

a

a series

in parallel, the legs

position and the head and palms open upward.

rolls the

Then

its

rhythmically and kines-

Take, for example, one staple in the center warm-up,

turn out suddenly to

here

movement both

roots. It transforms the

thetically.

a

Danza Con-

position associated with the

Graham

la

technique. WTien

practiced to the rich syncopations of Cuban music, as opposed to a single

piano or drumbeat, the exercises of both

on

a

Graham and Cunningham

take

sensuous richness that invites embellishment in the head, pelvis and

torso.

While the work

is

clean and specific, the variations in dynamic and

speed afforded by the rhythmic complexity of the music affect the feeling

movement profoundly. The warm-up follows a logical sequence

of the

incorporating

plies,

tendues,

degages, rond de jambes, and battements, but the exercises themselves are often long and

hip and head hip

lifted,

filled

rolls;

with previously unmatched elements. These include:

drops of the elbow; ganchos (an extended turned-in

with the foot flexed and sickled, usually with the torso in

ralled contraction); ripples

through the spine from base to head;

the knee and back to standing;

falls

in the

warm-up, often

in the

a spi-

shifts to

to the knee or floor; turns in spiral,

contraction, on the bottom, or on the knee.

cluded

leg,

A

floor

sequence

may

be in-

midst of an exercise that begins and

The Tecnica Cubana ends standing.

more

The

floor

work has

Graham

a distinct

77

•

base, but includes

rippling flexibility in the spine and folkloric pecking and twisting

motions of the head. tion seated

on the

It is

not unusual to go from a

Graham

fourth posi-

floor to a shoulder stand to a standing releve balance.

Traveling work begins with turns and extensions, with the floor pattern often doubling back

on

itself in space. If

the musicians play a familiar folk

tune or orisha song, the dancers often join in singing as they wait to dance.

Turns

in classical attitude are frequently practiced with a high spiral of the

upper body, while pique turns are usually done in

parallel with a contrac-

tion into the passe hip. If pique turns are practiced turned out,

it's

not

unusual for the dancer to go in and out of contraction in the course of one revolution on a plie in releve.

men

Oftentimes the

on the choreographed combina-

will elaborate

tions, taking a standing turn to the floor, balancing feet,

on the tops of

their

diving to their hands and sinking slowly to the floor, ricocheting back

huge second position

to standing, or springing into a

walking off the osity with

floor.

Cuban male dancers nurture

good-natured competition in

Leaps,

Graham

class.

jumps are

attention paid to petit allegro, big

buffalo jumps, tours en

l'air,

a

split

jump before

their exceptional virtu-

While there

is

not

a lot

barrel turns,

and

all

sorts of

turns without names are followed by spectacular improvisation by more pyrotechnical dancers at the end of class. air

Company class step that

is

cubana usually ends with

in the tecnica

a variation

freshwater goddess

on

a

the

low traveling

several orisha images, including that of the

Oshun observing

stamping walks are followed by dancer takes tiny steps in

of

highlight of the technique.

plie,

herself in the mirror.

a rapid

These low

shaking of the rib cage as the

vibrating from the

tail

bone through

to the

top of the head.

The

tecnica cubana includes a full set of floor exercises and a complete

standing

warm-up holding onto the barre. Both of these are used as the fit. Manolo Vasquez, who has trained a generation of

ballet masters see

Cuba's finest dancers, invokes martial arts and yoga in his teaching. Other

more specifically to Afro-Cuban sources, to Graham, or Cunningham. Some focus on footwork, speed, or balance. As more dancteachers refer

ers graduate ing, the

from La ENA, and others pass from performing into teach-

technique evolves further.

that continues to be expanded

tecnica cubana

is a

living practice

and refined by the master teachers and

dancers working in this young and

The power

The

vital tradition.

of the tecnica cubana, combined with the surreal imagina-

7K

•

Sulci John

tion of the

Caribbean and the urgent Cuban need

for self-expression, has

resulted in a vibrant dance culture that continues to flourish and expand.

Contemporary Cuban choreographers

— Medina,

Lidice Nunc/,

Lesme

Grenot, Rosario Cardenas, Isabel Bustos, and Mariana Boal, to name tew

— continue

to

experiment with and enlarge upon the tccnica cubana

a

in

which they were trained. Small companies hurst on the scene across the island even as established troupes continue to

work

steadily,

with and

without government support. Despite material poverty, lighting outages, the lack of

good shoes, costumes, technology, and vitamins, Cuban danc-

ers constantly

experiment with new choreography, finding ways to use

their superior training to dramatic effect, creating riveting dances with

the glowing raw material of their bodies.



O O

JAMAICA

6

o o o Jamaican Dance Theatre Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage

Rex Nettleford

Jamaican dance theatre enjoys an ancestral pedigree dating back centuries.

But

fifty

or so years,

as a conscious

when

performance

art

it

may be

said to date

Ivy Baxter and her Creative

the spirit of the self-government

movement

Great

where

else

generally,

would

and

mere

Dance Group caught its

form and purpose on

this spirit express itself

a

in Jamaica's nationalist urge

not only to delink the centuries-old colony from Britain, but also to find

back

more than

Mother Country,

its

own

terms.

No-

in the creative arts

specifically in the dance that played a central role in that

awesome process of "becoming," shaped in the dynamic encounters between Africa and Europe on foreign soil, between plantation and plot, between Great House and outhouse, between martial law (massa's law) and the imaginative wit and creative resistance of chattels.

For the African that

slave discovered

soon enough that his/her control over

prime instrument of expression, the body that encased the

intellect

and imagination, placed such expressions beyond the reach of the oppressor,

who,

in

any

case,

needed that very instrument for the energy so 7

for high productivity in the cultivation of sugar. ation, ritual worship,

vital

Dance, through recre-

and nonverbal communication of the inner

stirrings

of the soul, became a survival tool that spoke to conquest over dispersal

and denigration. It,

indeed, celebrated the African Presence in this part of the Americas, as

well as the iconic stature of that Presence in the civilisation, as

it

had done time out of mind, both 81

making of

a definitive

in antiquity in the

Medi-

82

RcxNettleford

•

terranean and later in the Iberian peninsula before extending

itself

across

the ware tenebrosum, the Atlantic, to the Americas. So, flag

on "August

6,

1962, Jamaica pulled

of imperial Britain and replaced

of an independent Jamaica.

marked will to

a

A

it

down

the red, white and blue

with the gold, green and black flag

national

anthem and other emblems also as a mark of the

break with the past" (Nettleford 1985, 39). Hut

own

a future that

would make sense to Jamaicans and the

Anglophone Caribbean, the National Dance Theatre Company

rest

of the

(NDTC)

of Jamaica was founded, with restrained enthusiasm and guarded confi-

dence admittedly, but with

a

firm "purpose to secure for the Jamaican

people one way of articulating their cultural identity and to build

faith in

was virtually denied them by the three centuries of

a historical reality that

British subjugation" (Nettleford 1985, 39).

Jamaica's

NDTC was a cultural

but out of "the genuine belief that a nation, a

spirit

institution created not out of hubris, in

order to survive as

a political entity,

people, must nurture the ambience within which the creative

of the people can enrich the polity" (Nettleford 1985, 39).

The

founders of the

minded

company were

"political" objective

achievement of excellence

mance,

in

the wider

all

seized by the fact that this high-

had to be matched and bolstered by the

in the art of

dance

itself

—whether

pedagogical discovery and transmission, or in

its

in perfor-

outreach into

community and the wider world. But none of this could happen

without experimentation and exploration towards

a truly distinctive

vo-

cabulary, technique or set of techniques, and style faithful to the Carib-

The

bean's sense and sensibility.

tremendous energy,

NDTC founders brought to the exercise

integrity, sustained application, dedication,

ligence rooted in field investigation, in debate critics

and

intel-

among themselves and

(none of whom has been indulgent), and

in the

with

building of arenas of

action in an ongoing discourse through the establishment of a School of

Dance (now forming annual

a division

of the Edna Manley College of the Visual and Per-

Arts), as well as in

festival

community dance programmes through

the

competitions presided over by the Jamaica Cultural Devel-

opment Commission (JCDC), and in nearly a hundred overseas tours to the United Kingdom, the United States and Canada, the old USSR, Finland, and Germany, various countries in Latin America, and the wider Caribbean including Cuba, Puerto Rico, and Martinique. Besides being the nodal point from which other efforts have sprung

both

in

Jamaica, where there are

sembles, each with

its

own

a

growing number of smaller dance en-

"voice," and in the wider Caribbean (from the

Fig. 8. Celebrations.

work

Choreography by Rex Nettleford.

A Caribbean Creole dance-

inspired by the joropo and Carnival of Trinidad, the scarf dances of the

French West Indies, Rastafari ofJamaica, and the coquette's dances found

all

over.

Photograph: Denis Valentine. Used by permission of National Dance Theatre

Company of Jamaica.

84

Rex Ncttleforcl

•

Bahamas

NDTC has remained something of a flagship of

Guyana), the

to

Caribbean dance, with the Jamaican sample being now, arguably, variation

on

So what distinctive

tency?

is

theme? What

this

does one look for

itself in Jamaica,

mere

this

Caribbean dance (theatre) that its

own

is

so

inner logic and consis-

Caribbean dance-theatre

as

it

Cuba, Barbados, Trinidad, and elsewhere

in

the region?

Caribbean dance, which in a

is

and recognisably an entity with

What

a

theme.

a

is

in

expresses

the dance of people nurtured over centuries

dynamic Caribbean environment of nearly

million souls,

fifty

in-

is

creasingly seeing the need to liberate itself from the narrow classifications that turn

on the amount of melanin

perform dance

tions of predestined

in the skins

White domination and non- White

bean dance cannot possibly accept the current dance-art (and

all

of those

who

create or

Caribbean. For these categorizations indulged no-

in the

other art forms) into

classical

inferiority.

classificatory

Carib-

scheme of

(meaning European),

con-

temporary or modern (meaning

White American with Martha Graham,

Charles Weidman, and Doris

Humphrey

European counterparts dating back

their

as chief historical icons

to

Mary Wigman), and

(placed at the base of some cultural hierarchy and

and especially the ordering and

a

art

what needs

meaning everything else

coming out of people of African

ancestry).

re-defining are here mandatory, especially

aesthetics, standards of excellence,

to be released

Caribbean dance,

like

and

ethnic

if

A

re-

questions of

and practice merely serve to prop up

from current Eurocentric other definitive genres of

bias. artistic expression,

is

demonstrably capable of multiple and interactive modes of expression, better perceived and described as ancestral/traditional, contemporary/popular,

and

classic.

mined

Just as Europe deeply

traditional) dances

and lore and

its

its

own

national (ancestral/

popular expressions emerging from

mannered "indulgences" at court, to create European classical ballet, the Caribbean for some half a century has been forging out of its traditional lore, for the concert stage, what can be called

the urban streets, as well as the

a classic

mode. These dances

all

they are shaped by the creative

share

many common working

artists

McBurnie's Little Carib Theatre and

in

elements, whether

Trinidad with Beryl

Cuba with Ramiro Guerra s work in the work of La-

in

informing the Danza Contemponinea, or expressed vinia

Williams and Jean Leon Destine

in Haiti,

Santo Domingo, of the early Ivy Baxter tional

Dance Theatre

in

Bridgetown, or

in

of Fradrique Lizardo

in

Jamaica, of the Barbados Na-

in the extensive

and internation-

Jamaican Dance Theatre: Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage

ally

acclaimed repertory of the National Dance Theatre

Company

85

•

of Ja-

maica.

The emergent "classicism" in Caribbean dance art also has much in common with the traditions of American dance theatre identified with Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus, pioneers of African-American dance, with Geoffrey Holder of later years and with latter-day exponents like

Garth Fagan, the Jamaican-born and bred choreographer who

is

now

company and his success choreographing the Broadway musical The Lion King. His company is seen by some as a modern dance ensemble with a "Caribbean impulse," in creating waves in the United States with his dance

contrast to the Jamaican

NDTC described by the critic Clive Barnes as "a

Caribbean company with

As Richard Long,

a

modern dance impulse."

in his well-researched

and

Black Tradition in American Dance, points out,

dance have

a

common

finely illustrated

all

book The

the above expressions in

source of energy in the ancestral/traditional dance

and lore of the Caribbean. Ms.

Dunham owes much to Jamaica and Haiti,

Pearl Primus and Geoffrey Holder to Trinidad, and Garth Fagan to Ja-

maica, for inspiration, raw data, and ways of moving that are valid alternatives to the

"approved"

some would

see as essentially

balletic

forms that came originally from what

"White" sources.

Back in Jamaica and the Caribbean, forging genre out of the

realities

of Caribbean

life,

a

Caribbean dance-theatre

music, movement, and tradi-

became the commitment of McBurnie

tional lore

Cuba, and the moving in Jamaica.

As an

art

spirits

Guerra

in

of discovery, dance demands continuing exploration

The

and experimentation.

traditional sources, alongside the fecund

dynamic innovations of the contemporary urban all

in Trinidad,

who founded and have nurtured the NDTC

streets,

and

and along with

the inescapable influences from elsewhere, continue to inform the pro-

cess of creolisation that

foot

began from the time the very

first

migrants set

on Caribbean

started to

soil from the Old Worlds of Europe and Africa and become "new beings" on the Planet. Later arrivals from India

and other parts of Asia

in the nineteenth century have only intensified the

process, especially in places like Trinidad,

where the descendants of once-

indentured East Indians participate in the annual Euro-African pre-

Lenten

carnival, while Black

West Indians

are to be found

drumming or own

dancing in the Muslim Hosay Festival of the East Indians, whose

dance and music forms are undergoing creolised transformation of Europe and Africa in earlier centuries have done.

as those

K6

Rex Nettleford

•

Debate as to whether Blacks arc suited is

irrelevant in a truly multiracial

especially

macy

to

when such debate

is

to

dance White European ballet

and culturally textured environment,

predicated on

non-Caucasian elements

in a social

a

denial of cultural legiti-

complex whose dynamic

measure by these very elements.

determined

in large

mit that

predominantly Black colonial societies

in

only

is

It

fair to

is

ad-

Caribbean,

as in the

who feel the debate is critical to their own sense of selfworth, since they may well have been taught to believe that things European are superior to their own achievements. So one is likely to get many there are people

Caribbean people and American Blacks arguing with deep conviction that

no dance-art ballet.

sive

is

valid

without

The hyphenation

and limiting,

a

thorough grounding

of identities

becomes

European

irresponsible,

if

classical

not offen-

Black dancers functioning in societies that regard

as

themselves as homogeneously White

An

in

understanding of

may

well discover.

complex process of creolisation

this

is

critical to

the understanding of Jamaican and Caribbean dance, coupled with an

understanding of the myths, legends, cosmology, and ontologies that determine and characterise the emergent culture that

Nothing

in this

is

is

the Caribbean.

uniquely "Black," since the same process has deter-

mined time out of mind the development of all civilisations. The remarkable thing is that one is forced always to remind the wider world (and particularly the powerful North Atlantic), that this is so when applied to African civilisation and

its

offshoots in

its

diaspora in the Caribbean and

the rest of the Americas or elsewhere.

The lective

traditional ancestral repertoire of dance

Caribbean imagination

is,

for the

most

and music out of the col-

the products of early cross-fertilisation are varied and luxuriant.

bas and comparsas, the

and

festival

ring

games

And The rum-

part, African-derived.

merengues, cumbite (work) dances, carnival

beles,

dances, the quadrille and contredanse, the schottische and are

some of the

Creole sources that

prompt from Caribbean

choreographers movement-designs for the concert stage.

No

less vital to

the creative urge are the rituals out of the African religious complex that

have survived involuntary uprooting and transplantation across the

Middle Passage. Kumina of Kongo origin and Pukkumina, of

as well as

Kongo and Yoruba

Etu

(a

rites

Yoruba-based of

thrives, the

Rada and Petro

Yoruba, and

Kongo

its

syncretised form,

rite) of Jamaica,

the wide range

Cuba and of Trinidad where Shango still of Haitian Vodou which are of Eon,

rites

origin, like the "nation dances" of Carriacou of the

Jamaican Dance Theatre: Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage

Grenadines, have

all

served as rich sources for what

bean dance" by outside observers of dance

is

called "Afro-Carib-

in the region.

Contemporary sources follow the popular music forms such and

soca (out

87

as

calypso

of Trinidad and the Eastern Caribbean) and reggae and

dancehall (coming out of Jamaica with strong diasporic counterparts in the United Kingdom). Zouk and cadence from the "French" parts of the

region are also

a source.

Dancehall

is

supreme

in Jamaica,

spreading to

parts of the region, while variations of son remain a staple in a priately isolated since 1961

from the rampant

all

Cuba appro-

cultural penetration that

American (U.S.) pop culture (including televangelism) threatens these days.

The contemporary pop forms

offer challenges for distillation in the

hands of the imaginative choreographer, and the

NDTC,

along with

many

smaller ensembles in Jamaica and elsewhere, have in their repertory

works based on the pop idioms.

They have been

integrated into a serviceable

body of technique and

dance vocabulary taught under various nomenclatures abroad and developed within the region by

a

at

home and

number of exponents.

Back in Jamaica and the wider Caribbean, the technique, research, and vocabulary-building for art dance gathered strength through research,

ongoing experimentation

in choreography, exploration in pedagogy,

and

exchange of teachers working mainly out of Jamaica (Rex Nettleford, Sheila Barnett, Ivy Baxter, Bert Rose, Cheryl

Ryman, and Barbara Requa,

who is currently dean of performing arts at the forming

Cuba (Eduardo Rivero of

Arts),

College of Visual and Per-

Dance

Santiago's Caribbean

Theatre and others from Danza Contemporanea), Haiti (Lavinia Williams and Jean Leon Destine), and Trinidad (Beryl McBurnie of Little

Carib Theatre).

The straightforward repertory of actual traditional dances is one But the technical discoveries are strong people move, whether in

motor responses

fear,

joy,

thing.

terms of the way Caribbean

ritual, for recreation,

concerns; whether in jumping for

standing frozen in

in

or in reaction to everyday

crawling with

fear,

writhing in pain,

or shimmying with anger. Very few of such loco-

are peculiarly "Black" or "Caribbean," but Caribbean

people do express these emotions in body language that betrays releasing energy and a vocabulary of "dance" that

from that of other

is

a

way of

distinctively different

cultures.

A rigid back centered on a firm pelvis is bound to craft designs different from

a supple

undulating spine synchronised into

a contraction-release

88

RexNettleford

•

Therein

signature of an equally supple pelvis.

one important

lies

differ-

ence.

The body

setting

in axial

up of polyrhythms through simultaneous

isolations in the

splendour and the syncopated contouring of designs

from point

release of energy' and the progression

in the

to point are signatures of

cultural significance that speak to African continuities in the heritage of

the region. Europe's heritage also persists, albeit in newly reconnected,

long adapted versions of jete, fouette, arabesque, attitude, pas de bourree,

pasde basque, with

its

sissonne

and so on,

as

can be found

in the

Jamaican quadrille

heel-and-toe polkas, or in the Haitian contredanse with

its

elegant

balance and waltz steps, which admittedly finally break out into earthy gyrations.

As

I

have said elsewhere there

way Caribbean people move

is

a logic

and inner consistency

that gives to the

commonplace

jump, and walk distinctive aesthetic significance.

skip,

The

emphasis on weight

movement-pattern

in the negotiation

and shaping of many

modern dance,

does the contraction-release complex, usually identified as

ham

invention, but organic to

modern dance by attenuated. steel.

Arms

a

It is as

all

a

as

Martha Gra-

African dance, which predates American

few centuries.

Movement

is

moulded more often than

though the material being worked on

is

clay rather than

flow like rivers and torsos undulate like the outlines of rolling

or the ebb-flow of the surrounding sea.

tions in the preparation of the

Caribbean dances,

These

are technical founda-

body as the instrument of dance

as I say in

my

expression.

1985 publication Dance Jamaica —

Cultural Definition and Artistic Discovery, emphasize the body's centre as to celebrate

life itself.

These dances seem

ation and childbearing guaranteed

to recall a period

men and women

purpose. Building strength in the legs and feet toes are

a

finds kindred association with the fall-recovery, ten-

sion-relaxation complexes of some schools of American

hills

in the

crawl, hop,

is

a

when

sense of place and

critical:

strong feet and

needed for earth-centered movements, and sinewy calves

resistant to the strains of site for attitudes

shuffling.

of obeisance to the gods during

strong thighs support particular spirit.

marching and

The

a

if

procre-

will

be

Strong knees are requiritual

ceremonies, and

torso rippling horizontally while possessed of a

flexed foot

is

useful as

symbol not only of hoe and

pickaxe, but also of resolution, strength, and earthiness.

The

arms, like

other parts of the body, must be able to describe the curve of mountains, the flow of rivers, and the ebb and flow of oceans, just as in other traditions the

movements of swans and

the shapes of Gothic cathedrals, sky-

Jamaican Dance Theatre: Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage

and pine

scrapers,

trees piercing the winter sky have

dences in dance attitudes.

Movement

open; in northern environments

perhaps

as protection

it is

in the

•

89

found correspon-

Caribbean

is

more contracted and

outward and self-centered,

of one's body against the wintry cold, or as psycho-

logical retreat into the caves of the heart, reflecting

some kind of Freudian

escape from a cruel world. Such spiritual imperatives are beginning to

impinge on urban and middle-class

life

(NDTC) dances have portrayed them. if

and

in the Caribbean,

a

number of

But the natural environment, even

now more fragile, is less eroded and peasant sensibilities still abound. The flow from toe to crown dictates technical training that encourages

coordination of the total body, while different parts of the

many aid

body

to set

also allows for the isolation of

it

up rhythmic counterpoint. There are

technical discoveries throughout the international dance world to

Caribbean choreographers and teachers.

It is

not

difficult to justify

borrowing from established techniques of Western dance-art to serve the Caribbean dancer. But indiscriminate eclecticism

special needs of the

must

give

way to an

integrated system of technical training.

Much

of this

be accomplished by conscious efforts in schools and studios, but the

will

most satisfying solutions will

inevitably be developed

by means of innova-

choreography addressing technical needs. Caribbean dance culture

tive

must therefore speak with kinetic force

its

own voice;

is, it

must move with

and aesthetic conviction. That voice

ance of a vocabulary that

is

is

its

summary

the

own

utter-

served by the technique.

only for the sake of convenience,

If

that

have also said that distinctive

I

dance movements and gestures must have names. In the Caribbean the question immediately arises as to which language should be used.

European

classical tradition settled for

The

French, at one time the lingua

franca and international diplomatic language, only recently eclipsed by

English.

The modern dance idiom

—such

English terminology

and

in the

United States has

But for many people

steeped in the Eurocentric bias, a plie seems to suggest a technical feat than the "deep-knee bend," and rising

than

a developpe,

a releve.

An

communication, especially for those a

one's toes

is

best

and the "change of the back" may be considered somein carrying

ment. In Jamaica the question of language presents

they lack

on

more profound

"extension" carries less prestige

what inelegant when an epaidement succeeds

when

on

as spirals, relaxation, tension, contractions

releases, leaps, stretches, bends, falls, recoveries.

accomplished by means of

insisted

a

out the move-

problem

in

dance

who settle for the use of French, even

knowledge of European

ballet technique.

90

•

Rex Nettleford

Of course,

American modern dance

the terminology of

able since English

the official language of the entire

is

is

also accept-

Commonwealth

Caribbean. Yet there are no English words that describe the basic steps

from Kumina, Drnkimini, Tambu, and

all

/•.'///,

Thus dance steps derived from Caribbean

The low back-bend with

native names. air

on top of inching toes

community ofJamaica tively in

and

described by face

up

in the

Maroon

the masumba, which Sheila Barnett used effec-

her dance-drama, "Ni-VVoman of Destiny." This inching move-

ment using

on

the toes

a flat

bras where the arms are set

earning

as if

foot firmly fixed

Western dance. Nor

in traditional

head

pelvis forward

called the limbo in Trinidad. In the

is

it is

indigenous Jamaican dances. rituals are best

twisted extension classical ballet

a

is

akimbo

weight.

there a

on the ground has no name

word

for the kind of port de

— whether placed on the hips or over-

There

is

no word

for the extension

—of the spine into the shape of the

manuals

this

posture

is

letter S; in

even frowned upon.

Nor

—or

many

are there

terms for the countless movements of the feet or the pliant torsos of Caribbean dancers re-creating the throes of

possession (as in Puk-

spirit

kumina, Shango, or Cimifa) or imitating the improvisations of recreational dances.

For the purposes of codification, an analogy to Caribbean music may be instructive. sic

The

oped out of the calypso, it

Trinidadians have added calypso to international

mu-

terminology to mean specifically the balladic musical forms that devel-

is

ritual of

pre-Lenten Carnival.

even more expressive.

a distinctive

name

The Jamaicans

that describes the music that

from the urban ghettos of Kingston. being native to tango, and

K/iiso,

It is also

the Creole term for

created reggae and gave

emerged

since the 1960s

creole in the strict sense of

Caribbean country. Rumba, samba, cha-cha, mambo,

a

merengue have

also

been Latin America s contribution to the

vocabulary of music and dance throughout the world. As with jazz

United

trovertible.

The

rituals

Vodou complex with

tradition has

all

them

of

is

in the

incon-

of Vodou, Kumina, Pukkumina, Santeria, Shango

and masquerade have lent their names to Haiti's

on

States, the imprint of the African presence

its

specific

dance forms, especially

panoply of rites. Jamaica's dance theatre

drawn on the Haitian

tradition as part of the sources of Afri-

can continuities in the Caribbean.

Cheryl Ryman,

a

dance researcher and former

isolated a core vocabulary that evolved

four decades of the National

now

also informs

NDTC

and sustained

itself

Dance Theatre Company's

Jamaican dance

activities

principal, has

over the nearly existence and

independent of the company.

Jamaican Dance Theatre: Celebrating the Caribbean Heritage

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•

>H

Glossal)

strong resemblance to the kadjia of Benin. Also called damn- and for-

merly spelled

I'ag'ya.

Lalinkle (French Caribbean 16)

dances performed

—

In northeast Martinique, a series

at night, at funeral

very Laplas

fast

bele.

The

of

dances

mango, ting-bang, mabelo, and kanigwe.

are: karcsc-yu, benezuel, ironic

Lanflanmansyon (French Caribbean

Nickname by which

wakes and sware

16)

— Creole

for "the

ignition."

quadrille dancers call the finale, because

it is

in a

tempo.

—Vodou sword-hearer. Nearly always

a

man, he dances between

the two flag-bearers in the Flag Corps.

Latin Jazz (Cuba

3)

—A major

division of jazz music that integrates basic-

structures of Cuban music, including clave organization and the use of

percussion in the

Laud (Cuba

3)

full

range of the African traditions of Cuba.

—A string instrument with rounded back from North Af-

rica via Spain, played characteristically in pnnto librc or freestyle

form

Leggo

in the

(Virgin Islands

behave

in

song

western region of Cuba. 1

5)

any way one

— "Let go"; to

let

go of all

inhibitions, be free to

without the fear of consequence or reputa-

feels

tion.

Lewoz (French Caribbean loupe. The set comprises and mennde.

It is called

16)

—African-derived

set

dance of Guade-

tumblak, kaladja, kadjenbel, graj,

ivonle, lewoz,

lewoz-au-commandement when performed with

a

caller.

—Men and women freed from Limbo (Trinidad and Tobago —A competitive dance originally seen Libertos (Puerto Rico 12)

slaver)-.

1

Waking ceremonies

7)

Passing below a bar held by two individuals progressed acts to the

at

for the dead, passed to the realm of entertainment.

"human limbo," with

in

nightclub

the dancers' bodies replacing the bar.

—

An African ethnic group that has come to be syn3) onymous with Yoruba in Cuba; the name of an African religion in Cuba; the name of an African language in Cuba; the name of a dance/

Lucumi(s) (Cuba

music tradition that

Lwa

(Haiti 9)

is

— A Vodou —

also called spirit.

Yoruba, Oricha, or Santeria

The

older spelling

is

in

Cuba.

loa.

Madruga (Cuba }) A metal cross-shaped shaker instrument, used in rumba to set the pace and assist the division between singing and dancing sequences.

Majo jon

(Haiti 9)

— Baton major. Costumed

in a

cloak

made up

ot sequins

or bits of mirror, and sporting sunglasses, he twirls his baton and

dances the chay o pye.

— Glossary

Make

(French Caribbean 16)

gwoka ensemble.

It

—The dominant drum

•

359

Guadeloupean

in a

plays the rhythmic variations in response to the

dancers' movements.

Makuta (Cuba

3)

Mambo

3)

(Cuba

—A Kongo-Angolan dance that survives Cuba. —A twentieth-century type of son music with two in

tions in the dance: a bouncy, playful quality in

Cuba,

a

varia-

smooth and

suave quality elsewhere; also a section of the son music where brass

instruments take the lead and make improvisational developments.

—A Vodou

Manbo, Mambo

priestess.

Mangulina (Dominican Republic

10)

—A Dominican

social

dance of the

southwestern region in 3/8 time, perhaps derived from the Andalusian seguidilla.

Today performed

in a triptych with the carabine

and the valse

or danza.

Mani (Dominican Republic

10)

—A

spiritualist party

Vodu

of Dominican

that celebrates initiation, healing, or a patrons saint's day. Traditionally

public and characterized by music and dance with either palos or, in the central-south, salves ensembles.

Manman—The

"mother" drum of the Vodou ensemble, played by the

master drummer. Largest and lowest-pitched, leads conversations with the

Maraca(s) (Cuba

3)

it

executes the kase and

segon drum.

—Handheld shaker, musical instrument usually played

in pairs.

—

Marimbula (Cuba 3) A percussion instrument with metal prongs over an opening of a wooden or gourd structure that is plucked or hit with music sticks. (Dominican Republic 10) Marimba is the Dominican term for the same instrument (not to be confused with the wooden xylophone widely known

marimba), the Cuban-originated adapta-

as a

tion of the African thumb-piano or mbira in giant form. Developed to

serve as a bass instrument in a social dance ensemble.

Maroons

(ed.)

— Escaped

slaves

Mas (Trinidad and Tobago Maskawon a

18)

who formed

their

own communities.

—The Carnival costume; from masquerade.

—Dance associated with

a

prominent Carnival band. Displays

trembling of the shoulders.

Masumba

(Jamaica 6)

Mayi, Mahi the

—Jamaican Maroon form of the limbo dance.

— One of the dances associated with the Rada division within

Vodou

pantheon.

Named

after the

Mahis of West

Africa,

it

uses a

kind of backward pedaling foot movement.

Mayoacan (Dominican Republic that

10)

—The wooden, horizontal slit-gong

accompanied the Taino areito song-dance

ritual.

360

•

Glossary

Maziouk (French Caribbean

16)

— Mazurka.

European-derived dance of

Martinique. Similar to the Lakonmet pitche of

decade

new version

a

has borrowed rhythmic elements from

Mazouk ((Aiba

3)

St.

Lucia. In the past

has developed, called the maziouk-zouk because

it

zouL

—A contemporary mazurka with Caribbean instrumen-

tation, in 3/4 meter.

Mereng gave

(Haiti 9) its

name

— In

French, meringue,

to a popular dance

dence. Represents

a

has

social dance. It

become

frothy pastry that possibly

fusion of slave dances and French ballroom forms.

Merengue (Dominican Republic minican

a

around the time of Haitian indepen-

is

10)

— Currently the most popular Do-

the variant of the northern Cibao region that

nationally popular, and there the original guitar family in-

struments of the nineteenth century were replaced by the accordion starting

around the 1880s. In the early twentieth century

7

a

process of

adaptation to the ballroom began, leading to the development of a

commercial, orchestrated merengue, which diverged from the folkloric

merengue

Minuetes (Cuba

known

tipico (also

Both are

coexists.

3)

as perico ripiao),

with which

it

now

in 2/4 meter.

—Minuets; court dance form of sixteenth and seven-

teenth centuries in Europe, performed by colonists in the Americas up to the nineteenth century.

Mitotes (Cuba

3)

—Ancient indigenous dance/music form

South America; resembles native dance descriptions

in

in

Mexico and

Cuba

at

time of

contact; see areitos and batocos.

Mizik rasin

—

Literally, "roots music."

commercial music

style influenced

A

late

twentieth-century Haitian

by 1970s rock and reggae. Tends to

use the rhythms of Rara.

Mokojumbie

(Trinidad and

Mulato/a (Cuba

3)

Tobago

18)

—Carnival masquerader on

—A person of mixed African and European

stilts.

heritage;

somewhat privileged class in Cuba. Musique tipique (Cuba 3, West Africa) Mainly son but also rumba or Caribbean music in West Africa. Muzikdi zumbi (Curacao 19) Literally, "music of the spirits"; Curacaon formerly

a

—

—

music form.

Myal (Jamaica (the inner

Nago (Haiti

7)

—An African-derived ceremony honoring the ancestors

sanctum of Kumina). 9)

— Dance of the Nago or Yoruba division within the Vodou

pantheon. Powerful, Oguns),

it

like the spirits

utilizes thrusting chest

it

dramatizes (the several

movements.

Ogo us or

Glossary

Nanigo(s) (Cuba

3)

361

•

—Another name for Carabali cultures from Africa that

survived in Cuba; like

Abakua and iremes,

masked

refers to the

spirit

dancers and their stories.

Nasyon

— "Nation." A division of the Vodou pantheon, sometimes

rectly associated with an ethnic a

group from

Africa.

di-

Each nation shows

unique temperament, or ethos.

NT Night

(Jamaica 7)

—Ninth Night postdeath ceremony. Ninth Night

a number of islands. Novena (Dominican Republic 1 o) The nine-night

ceremonies are held on

—

(i.e.,

ritual for the

a saint's festival) or for the dead; the final event

is

Virgin

the largest and

longest of the sequence.

Nyabinghi (Jamaica

7)

—Warrior; Rastafarian term derived from Jomo

Kenyatta's Nyabinghi fighters; the

name of

a three-part

drum

en-

semble, and the drumming, chants, and ceremony at which they are played.

—Metal percussion instrument

Ogan

in

Arara dance/music tradition of

Cuba; functions as organizer of rhythm instruments in performance. (Haiti 9)

clapperless bell, sometimes a

The

basic timekeeper of the

Oricha(s) (Cuba 3)

—The

hoe blade, or sometimes

Vodou drum name of

Lucumi, or Yoruba

in

a

a flattened,

machine

part.

ensemble.

divinities, divine spirits

manifest through dancing; a called Santeria,

ceremony or

—A small iron gong, sometimes

of Yoruba belief

who

the Yoruba-based religion also

Cuba;

also Orisa, Orisha (usual

spelling in the United States), or Orixa (Brazil).

Orisha religious system or Shango (Trinidad and Tobago anthropologists registered the tentions found in Trinidad.

common terms

1

7)

—The early

for African religious re-

Shango became the popular term

for the

predominantly Yoruba system inherited and maintained by adherents

who

follow the tenets of the ancestors.

Orquesta

pean

tipica

trio

(Cuba

3)

—The name

for the musical

ensemble of Euro-

of violin, piano, and flute with added African percussion and

rhythms for danzon complex dances of the nineteenth century

7 ;

also

called charanga francesa during different periods; in twentieth century

involves the sweet, elegant sound of a

Cuban

or Latin orchestra for

chachacha and son.

Ougan, Houngan

(Haiti 9)

—A Vodou —Vodou song

Ougjenikon, Houngenikon

priest. specialist.

Leads

in call

and re-

sponse singing. Ousi, Hounsis

—A Vodou

initiate.

One who

has gone through

a

kanzo.

362

Glossary

Palo, Palo

Monte (Cuba

religion ol

j)

— A Kongo-Angolan or Central African-based

Cuba.

Palo (Dominican Republic to)

— The Afro-Dominican drum made

hollowed-OUt tree trunk. Also called atabal

in

many

with extra-official religious brotherhoods and saints' in

Iroin a

areas. Associated

Played

festivals.

ensembles of two or three.

Palo abajo, palo arriba (Dominican Republic 10)

— Two rhythms of the

south-central region. Originally played for the dead, but also

danced by the living

in

some

lugubrious tempo; palo arriba

Pambiche (Dominican Republic merengue

ti'pico

areas. Palo abajo has a triple in

is

10)

may

be

meter and

duple meter with faster tempo.

—A variant rhythm and dance of the

that developed in Puerto Plata. Consists of the jaleo

section only, allegedly an adaptation of the dance-style ineptitude of

the U.S. Marines during the

first

—A Dominican hand drum

Pandero

liturgical salves, altar

music of

occupation by U.S. troops (1916-19). tambourine. Accompanies non-

like a

saints' festivals.

Generally

a

woman's

instrument.

Papiamentu (Curacao

19)

— Language

spoken

in

Curacao, Aruba, and

Bonaire.

Parang or Parranda (Trinidad and Tobago

18)

—The

first is

Trinidadian

came

Creole, the second Spanish for the old Spanish-type songs that

from Venezuela, performed Parigol

at

Christmastime.

— One of the dances of the Rada

theon. Like a slow, graceful mayi.

Pasadia (Dominican Republic 10)

division within the

Some

call it ftva rigol,

—A daylong dance party held

bar or pub for the enjoyment of any and

and end of

a

—

The 14) bomba dance

Paseo (Puerto Rico

certain social dances

Vodou

stylized

at a local

all.

walk steps used

solo, (ed.)

pan-

or three streams.

at the

beginning

—Also, the walking section of

from Spanish-speaking

islands, including

danza

(Puerto Rico), merengue (Dominican Republic), and danzon (Cuba).

(Dominican Republic

10)

—The

first

part of the orchestrated

meren-

gue, allegedly derived from the polka, adopted from other ballroom

dance to make the merengue acceptable

in the dancehall.

Played for

the purpose of the man's selection of a dance partner and their posi-

tioning on the dance floor.

Pasodoble (Dominican Republic

10,

Spain)

— A Spanish popular dance,

the two-step, characteristic of bullfighting music as well as the dance hall.

Glossary

for,

Peristyle (Haiti 8)

363

—

Synonymous with, and the more Dominican merengue tipico. The front part of a Vodou temple (hounfor) where

Pericoripiao (Dominican Republic 10)

popular term

•

the

—

the public ceremonies are held.

Petwo, Petro (Haiti

two main

9)

—The hot dance of the Petwo division (one of the Vodou pantheon. The chest trembles, disjointed movement with respect to each

divisions) within the

the feet execute a kind of other.

Pique (Trinidad and Tobago with

much

1

7)

—A

spicier version of the bele or bel air

coquetry and accented hip movements.

accompany the dancers Piquete (Puerto Rico 14)

in

Drums and

chants

both dances.

—The

bomba drummer

improvised movements of the

dancer that are to be interpreted musically by the lead (subidor).

Pitche (French Caribbean 16)

—Variable step with

a lift

on

3, 5,

or

6,

toes

pointing down.

Playing mas (Trinidad and Tobago

formance of a Carnival costume;

1

8)

—The actual enactment and per-

also, to

don

a

costume and participate

in the competitions at Carnival time.

Plena (Puerto Rico 12)

—Developed

in

Ponce toward the end of the nine-

teenth century, the plena integrates African and European elements. Traditionally accompanied by the accordion or the armonica (har-

monica), the

out

giiiro,

jingles), the

and the pandereta (hand drum or tambourine with-

plena has a contagious rhythm and a vivacious dance

step. Its lyrics serve as joyful social

Pocomania, Pukkumina (Jamaica

7)

commentaries and newsletters.

—A Jamaican

religious rite fusing

Baptist and African rituals.

Polka-la-poule (French Caribbean 16)

—Last figure

of the Martinican

version of the French quadrille.

— One of two bearers the Vodou Flag Corps. —The centerpost of Vodou around which

Pot drapo

flag

Poto-mitan (Haiti initiates

dance.

It is a

in

a

9)

peristyle,

channel through which the lwa enter the material

world.

Pot-pourri (French Caribbean 16) contredanses.

— Small

suite

of two or three French

The contredanses en pot-pourri were very fashionable in

the French salons at the end of the eighteenth century.

—

Premye chante Lead Vodou, Carnival, or

singer in call and response singing, whether in folklore representations.

m

^64

(

Pripri

loss.

i

(Dominican Republic

10)

—The

social

dance ensembles and ac-

companying dances of the eastern and southwestern regions of the Dominican Republic, each with different types of ensembles and music. Profesionales (Cuba 3)

among

(Aiba; concert level

Pueblo (Cuba

3)

— Generally, artists.

—The people, the

Pukkumina, Pocomania (Jamaica

public. 6)

—An

African Jamaican possession

syncretized with Christianity.

ritual dance-rite

Punto guajiro (Cuba Cuba;

trained, fully accredited workers in

also called

3)

—The

rural,

country music/dance complex of

campesino.

—Eighteenth- and nineteenth-century French

Quadrille (Virgin Islands 15) set

dance widely danced in the Caribbean. See French quadrille for the

form

set in early nineteenth century; see chapter 15, Virgin Islands,

and chapter

16,

Quelbe (Virgin

French Caribbean, for modern continuations.

Islands 15)

—Also

and

called fungi

A

scratch.

distinctive

Virgin Islands musical tradition; an essential accompaniment to

St.

Croix quadrille.

Quinto (Cuba

3)

— Soprano

or high-voiced tumbador, a small barrel-

shaped drum.

—

Raboday A Carnival or Rara band and the dance associated with it. Makes use of much hip and foot movement. Rada (Haiti 9) A major division of the Vodou pantheon. Derived from Arada, a people from Dahomey (now Benin). The other major division

—

is

Petwo.

Rancheros (Cuba

3,

Mexico)

— Contemporary

Mexican farm workers; related Rara (Haiti

9)

— Public

festival

tures include hocketing in

Jamaica

Leonard

P.

7)

Howell

Reggae (Jamaica

7)

—A

rural couple dances

son and punto guajiro

in

of

Cuba.

held throughout Lent in Haiti. Special fea-

bamboo trumpets and

shimmering sequins or

Rastafari

to

bits

a

baton major costumed

of mirror.

religious concept developed

in

Jamaica by

in the 1930s.

— Indigenous popular music of Jamaica developed

in

the 1960s.

Reto (Puerto Rico

drummer

in

14)

—The challenge that

bomba,

to

the dancer's improvised

make sounds on

a

the

dancer makes to the lead

drum

that correspond to

movements.

Rezo (Dominican Republic

10)

—Term

brotherhood of Villa Mella for the

in

last

the Afro-Dominican religious

and longest

(all

night or

all

day)

Glossary

prayer ritual of the nine nights following burial.

drumming, and dance by the relative

of the opposite

spirit

•

365

The rezo includes who possesses a

of the deceased,

sex.

Ritmo de habanera, ritmo de tango (Cuba

3)

—A rhythmic pattern of

five

pulses sounded within three beats; also called cinqnillo.

Rocksteady (Jamaica

Rumba (Cuba

3)

7)

—A slow ballad-tempo counterpoint to

ska.

—A Cuban dance/music creation of the nineteenth cen-

tury that continues in the present; the

name of a dance/music

family of

dances or complex from the mixtures of African and European cultures in

Cuba; percussion, human voice, and improvisation within

a set

structure of dance and of instruments.

Rumba, Rhumba

(International

dance, distinct from the

cial

basic

son step pattern and

—

ed. in consultation with Y. D.)

—A so-

Cuban rumba defined

above, that follows a

became popular

in the 1930s in the

first

United States and elsewhere outside of Cuba.

Rumba clave (Cuba ies

by one-half

3)

—The organizing rhythmic pattern of rumba; var-

beat from son clave; a stretched syncopated rhythm

a

from Carabali music/dance tradition that helped to identify the new creation in Cuba.

—True rumba performers. —A type of son music and dance of the twentieth century;

Rumberos (Cuba Salsa

(Cuba

fast,

3)

3)

a

constantly turning, couple dance in virtuoso display; developed by

Puerto Rican and other Caribbean musicians in the United (Puerto Rico

City in the

1

2)

—Music/dance phenomenon originating not a new rhythm, but

late 1960s. Salsa is

making music,

a

new way of freely combining

a

in

States.

New York

new way of

diverse Afro-Caribbean

rhythms. Salve (Dominican Republic 10)

—Altar and procession/pilgrimage song

genre of Dominican folk Catholicism. cred, liturgical salve de la Virgen,

The genre

includes: (1) the sa-

sung antiphonally and unaccompa-

nied, in groups of three, during a saint's festival of personal sponsorship

and during processions and pilgrimages;

accompanied enced

salve con versos

salve con panderos (with

(2)

the African-influenced,

of the East and yet more African-influ-

hand drums) or salve

con palos (with long-

drums) of the central south. This nonliturgical salve the altar after the salve de

sponse form.

The term

la

Virgen and

versos, in

erence to the salve prayer,

songs that are not salves.

is

is

addition to

also a generic

is

performed

at

structured in call and re-

meaning

extra text in ref-

term

all

for

folk-Catholic

366

Glossarj

•

Samba (Cuba tage with

Sanba

3,

—A Brazilian dance from Kongo-Angolan heri-

gestural naval

a

bumping; related

to

rumba

in

Cuba.

— Poet or composer of the people. Leads Carnival and Rara hands,

as well as the

Santeria (Cuba in

Brazil)

bands that accompany cooperative work (konbit).

— The Yoruba-based religion of Cuba; discussed often

7,)

terms of "syncretism" or the interpenetration of African and Catho-

lic beliefs;

today

is

discussed in terms of the range of African beliefs

beneath an "umbrella" of Catholic symbols during the period of

sla-

very and other oppressive times in Cuba.

—

Sarambo (Dominican Republic 10) A Dominican social dance of the Cibao region, and El Seybo, where it is called guarapo, in a fast 6/8 tempo. Based on the zapateo. Sarandunga (Dominican Republic 10) The music and dance of the Afro-Dominican religious brotherhood of St. John the Baptist in or

—

near Banf. According to oral history, originally from Port-au-Prince, Haiti,

and associated w ith r

a

Dominican extended

pattern to baile de palos, but the male role

Segon

is

Segundo (Cuba

3)

is

much more

— Second drum of the Vodou ensemble. Engages

versations with the

The music

family.

and instruments are unique variants of palos. The dance

similar in

virtuosic.

in musical

con-

mother drum.

—The second tumbador or mid-range, barrel-shaped

drum. Seis (Puerto Rico 12)

— One of Puerto Rico's most important

folk musical

genres, preserving the Spanish 10-line stanza poetic form, the decima.

Known

as im'isica jibara or ca?npesino,

songs are composed in

a strict

Seu (Curacao

19)

evolved

among

The dance

evolved from the

The fresix-

seises.

—Music and dance form from Curacao; original word

means "harvest"

in

Bantu.

Shouters or Spiritual Baptists (Trinidad and Tobago that blends

peasants.

music and rhyme scheme and are

quently improvised by trovadores.

couple Spanish

it

1

Old Testament Judaism with modern

7)

—A belief system

Christianity while

retaining fundamental aspects of African religious practices. Sica (Puerto Rico 14)

—A bomba

variants [see chapter for

rhythm complex with twelve known

names and

Siyak (French Caribbean 16)

details],

played in 2/4 time.

— Scraper made out of bamboo and used

most quadrille bands of the French Caribbean.

— An indigenous up-tempo Jamaican pop music. Soberao (Puerto Rico —The dance that formed bomba. Ska (Jamaica

7)

14)

circle

is

in

in

Glossary

Soca

—As

a party music, the older calypso has

been succeeded

367

•

in many-

by the hard-driving, wining-inducing soca (standing for soul-

locales

calypso), developed

from calypso, and,

like

it,

originating in Trinidad

and now widely popular on many English-speaking

Son (Cuba

3)

—The name of

islands.

Cuban dance/music complex

a

that surfaced

in the sixteenth century and has evolved to permeate folk, popular, and

symphonic music of Cuba, the Caribbean, Latin America,

Africa,

rope and perhaps other places in the twenty-first century;

a

Eu-

popular

blend of European and African concepts of dancing and music-making.

Son

clave

(Cuba

3)

—An organizing rhythmic pattern

for

son music and

dance. Spliff (Jamaica 7)

—Marijuana —The percussive but melodic metal orchestra of Trincigarette.

Steelband or Pan

idad, originally

made from

Subidor (Puerto Rico 14)

drummer who plays of the bomba dancer. lead

Sucu-sucu (Cuba

3)

drums.

oil

—The high drum used this

drum

in

bomba music;

also the

while interpreting the movements

—A type of son music/dance from the western region

of Cuba.

Sware bele (French Caribbean

1

6)

—From the French

soiree.

Martinican

bele dance parties that take place during the evening and part of the night.

Tambora (Dominican Republic minican merengue. zontally

by

a

10)

—The drum associated with the Do-

A medium-sized,

double-headed drum, held hori-

cord around the neck and beaten on one head by

a stick

and on the other by the hand.

Tambu

(Curacao)

—African-Curasao's

and the name of the event where

it

ritual-derived music and dance, takes place; also, the

name of

a

drum.

—An African Jamaican —Collective name drums. Tanbouwine — Drummer. Tibwa (French Caribbean — Pair of Tambu (Jamaica

6)

Tanbou

for

16)

ritual dance.

all

sticks that sets the

musical genres of Martinique. In the north, the tibwa side of the bele

drum;

in the rest of the island,

Ticano (French Caribbean

16)

—Other name

on

a

is

tempo

bamboo

for calenda

in all

played on the

branch.

danced only

in

northeastern Martinique.

Timba (Cuba

3)

—A contemporary, highly improvisational musical orga-

nization of Cuban, Caribbean, and Latin American music, based in son

— 368

—

Glossary

•

and contemporary jazz and funk sounds; evolving from "happenings" or spontaneous gatherings with free-form improvisation.

Tiple (Cuba

3)

— A Spanish instrument of the colonial period

Toast Jamaica 7) DJ's banter. Toeheel (Congolese 2, Jamaica)

in

Cuba.

— Popular dance to Jamaican dancehall

that looks like a slow samba.

Trankamentu (Curacao a partner)

men

by

19)

— Shoulder-pushing dance

(after cutting in

on

Tambu.

in

—A small Cuban-style, double-stringed Tumba (Curacao) — Carnival music and dance from Curacao. Tumba francesa (Cuba —The dance/music tradition of French HaiTres (Cuba

guitar.

3)

3)

who

tians of African descent

arrived in

Cuba

at the

end of the eigh-

teenth century; continues today in the eastern provinces.

Tumbadores (Cuba

3)

—The

barrel-shaped drums of Kongo-Angolan

heritage, also called congas.

Twoubadou oped by

— From the French troubadour. A secular music

itinerant Haitian workers returning

style devel-

from Cuba and the Do-

minican Republic. Impacted the evolution of konpa.

Vaksin (Haiti

— One of

9)

a set

of

bamboo

trumpets. Deliberately disso-

nant, they intone in hocket fashion while players strike the sides of the

instruments with

sticks.

Velacion (Dominican Republic 10) tival

—The all-night Dominican

held at the homestead of an individual

act in

music

payment of a vow (salves, versos);

who

saint's fes-

offers this devotional

and

altar

dance;

may

Vodou peristyle. Each

veve

for divine healing. Includes rosaries

may

include

drumming and drum

also include social dance.

Versos

Veve

see salves.

—A cosmogram traced on the floor of

both represents and invokes

Virgen de

la

Altagracia (Dominican Republic 10)

most venerated

Her

a

a spirit.

deity of

—The

extra-official,

Dominican Catholicism and

folk Catholicism.

date of celebration, January' 21, draws vow-based pilgrims to

Higiiey from throughout the country, even from Haiti.

pilgrimage

Vodou

but

is

(Haiti 9)

Haiti,

it

has

August

secondary-

14.

— In the Fongbe language of Benin,

come

The

it

means

to signify Afro-Haitian spirituality

"spirit." In

and the

rituals

it

entails.

Vodii (Dominican Republic 10)

Vodou, with

its

own

—The

Dominican version of Haitian

characteristics as well as regional variants. Like

Glossary

Vodou,

and divination, characterized

a religious society for healing

it is

Afro-New World

by spirit possession by African-derived and

Vodu includes both

369

•

deities.

private consultations as well as public celebrations,

drum Vodu and leader or medium as

the latter including music (palos or salves) and dance (embraced

dance or

similar).

Dominican

practitioners avoid the term

prefer to refer to altars of los misterios, and to their

Servidor or Servidora de misterios.

—

Voye/reponn

Literally,

"send and respond." Better translated as

and response." Refers to antiphony, that

is,

a

"call

chorus responding to the

lead of a solo singer.

Wapa (Curacao) —A name Wining (Cuba

common

for the

way women sang and danced

in seu.

—A hip gyrating dance of the Anglophone Caribbean;

3)

to Carnival dance

movements and comparsa dancing

in

Cuba.

—A piece of ribbed metal pipe used musical —"Working up"; thrusting of the hips Wukkin' up (Virgin Islands Wiri (Curacao

instru-

as a

19)

ment.

1

though the dancer Yanvalou (Haiti the

Vodou

9)

is

5)

a

as

practicing sexual moves.

—One of the dances

pantheon. Famous for

in

its

honor of the Rada

division of

undulating spine, evocative of

Danbala, the serpent god. Fongbe for "praise."

Yoruba (Cuba

3)

—An African

ethnic group, sometimes including the

neighboring Lucumi; an African language;

a

music/dance tradition

Cuba; also an alternate name for the Oricha, Santeria, or Lucumi

in

reli-

gion.

—

Yuba (Puerto Rico 14) A bomba rhythm complex, played in 6/8 time. Yuca (Dominican Republic 10) A Dominican social dance of the Cibao

—

region, possibly related to the merengue.

It

consists of the paseo

and

a

short conventional dance section followed by an elaborate jaleo section, characterized

by many turns, made more complex

if

danced by

two interacting couples.

—

Yuka (Cuba 3) A Kongo-Angolan dance ent of Cuban rumba. Zapateado (Cuba

3)

that survives in Cuba; anteced-

—The rhythmic foot and heel patterns

in the

dancing

tradition of Spanish flamenco; the zapateo dancing part of

punto

guajiro complex.

Zapateo (Cuba

3)

— Flat-foot, heel-stomping dance

style

from Spain; part

of identifying characteristic of rural dance in Cuba, the zapateado

dancing part of punto guajiro complex.

370

•

Glossary

Zepol, Zepaules (Haiti 9) ders,*'

because of

ally follows

its

— Named

after the

Yanvalou, bringing

Zouk (French Caribbean

16)

it

Freneh

les epaules,

movement. A Rada dance

characteristic

to a heated conclusion.

— Social dance of the French Caribbean. L'p

to the late 1970s, used in reference to private nighttime

only; since the mid-1980s, also applies to a

draws heavily on Carnival rhythms. love, is

hips.

danced by

The

faster

a

"shoul-

that usu-

couple

in close

new

dance parties

musical genre that

The slow-tempo

zouk, called zouk

embrace and emphasizes undulant

zouk beton or "hard zouk"

is

for individual

jump-up.

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ABOUT THE CONTRIBUTORS

Molly Ahye, author of Golden

Heritage: The Dance in Trinidad

(1978) and Cradle of Caribbean Dance: Beryl Theatre (1983),

knows

an ethnologist, the

McBumie and

Trinidad's dance and spiritual

of

artistic director

a

life

and Tobago

the Little Carib

inside and out as

dance troupe, and

as

Chief

Iyalorisha-Opa Orisha (Shango) of Trinidad and Tobago. She holds

Ph.D. from

Trinidadian-born Patricia Tamara Alleyne-Dettmers thropologist years,

a

New York University.

who

a linguistic an-

is

has studied Trinidadian Carnival for

and continues to research Carnival

spective of the native masquerader and

in

Great

more than ten from the per-

Britain,

from the outside

as a professional

anthropologist. She was commissioned by the Arts Council of England to

develop the is

first

national Carnival database for British Carnivalists and

an honorary research fellow in the Department of Anthropology at

University College, London, a foundation

member

of the Carnival in

Committee (Goldsmith's College), and a visitDepartment of Sociology, at the University of Hamburg,

Arts Education Steering

ing professor,

Germany. Halbert Barton

is

versity-Brooklyn.

assistant professor of anthropology at

He

in the humanities in

was awarded

a

Long Island Uni-

Rockefeller postdoctoral fellowship

1998 for his community development research with

young Puerto Rican bomba performers. He is cofounder and development director of CICRE (Centro de Investigacion Cultural Raices Eternas), a nonprofit community arts organization based in Carolina, Puerto Rico, which sponsors the group's "Bombazo de Puerto Rico" tour.

He

also

is

an accomplished

throughout Puerto Rico,

bomba

dancer, having performed extensively

New York,

and the Pacific Northwest over the

past several years as a lead dancer, percussionist, and artistic director.

387

388

About the Contributors

•

Ciabri Christa,

horn and raised

in

Curacao, arrived

in

New

York from

Puerto Rico, via the Netherlands and Cuba. She choreographed and

danced

few years

tor a

in

Cuba, where she was one

Danzabierta de Cuba. In the United States she has been Bill

founders

of the

of

dancer with

a

Zane Dance Company. She holds a degree from the Dance Development in Amsterdam and taught at and

T. Jones/Arnie

School for

New

received an M.F.A. from the University of Washington.

genheim Fellow, she

directs her

A

1999 Gug-

own company, whose work

has been

seen throughout the United States, the Caribbean, Latin America, and the Netherlands.

VeVe

A. Clark

and cultures sity

is

associate professor of African and Caribbean literatures

in the African

American Studies Department

at the

Univer-

of California, Berkeley. She has published widely on numerous sub-

jects,

including Haitian theater, Katherine Dunham's dance works, Carib-

bean

literature,

and

critical

feminisms.

Independent scholar, teacher, choreographer, and dancer, Alma Conception

is

a

and was its

graduate in literary studies from the University of Puerto Rico a

member

of Gilda Navarra's Taller de Histriones throughout

existence. Currently the assistant director of People and Stories, a

grassroots literature

the Humanities, she

program sponsored by the is

also the founder

New Jersey

Council for

and director of Taller de Danza,

volunteer organization dedicated to introducing children

a

Trenton's

in

Hispanic community to movement through the creation of story-dances.

She teaches at

at

Fordham University and

Ballet Hispanico in

New York and

Princeton University and Rutgers University and the Princeton Ballet

School

in

New Jersey.

Nathaniel Hamilton Crowell,

anthropology rica

Jr., is a

at Yale University.

and West Central Africa

America, has studied

a

He

candidate for

a

Ph.D.

in cultural

has traveled extensively in

West Af-

as well as in the Caribbean and South

range of African and Afro-American music and

dance with master musicians and dancers for more than sixteen years, and has performed African and Afro-American music and dance semiprofessionally for just as long.

He

Congolese dance troupe

in

with

its

sister

currently dances with Malaki

New York City,

company, Fua Dia Congo

Ma Kongo,

a

and prior to that apprenticed

in California.

About the Contributors

Dominique

389

•

her doctorate in musicology from the

Cyrille received

Universite Paris IV, Sorbonne. As a specialist in the music of Martinique,

her native island, she

is

the author of several articles, has been invited for

lectures in the Caribbean, France,

and the United

States,

and

is

presently

an adjunct assistant professor in the Department of Black Studies

man

at

Leh-

College, City University of New York.

Yvonne Daniel teaches dance and anthropology at Smith College. She holds a Ph.D. in anthropology from University of California, Berkeley, an M.A. in dance, and a B.A. in music. She is a Ford Fellow and has been studying

Cuban dance forms

1985. Daniel rary

is

since she

began her

field

work

in

Cuba

in

the author of Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contempo-

Cuba and has produced three videos on Caribbean dance

culture.

Martha Ellen Davis, anthropologist and ethnomusicologist, has been doing field research in the Dominican Republic, her primary field site, since 1972. She has served as a professor at the country's public university, the

Universidad Autonoma de Santo Domingo, a curator of sociocultural an-

thropology

at the

Museo

Hombre Dominicano, and a researcher at Musica. Her book La otra ciencia: el vodii

del

the Archivo Nacional de

dominicano como religion y medicina populares received the tional nonfiction award.

She

is

currently

on the

Dominican na-

faculty at the University

of Florida.

Henry Frank is a Haitian anthropologist who has lectured and consulted widely on Vodou and other Haitian subjects and was for nine years assistant director of Caribbean studies in the education department of the

American

Museum

community eral in

in

of Natural History.

Much

New York in a variety of roles,

1990 and

is

involved in the Haitian

he was Haitian consul gen-

currently executive director of the Haitian Centers

Council.

Brenda Dixon Gottschild versity, is

is

professor emeritus of dance at

where she teaches performance

and

history, theory,

Temple Unicriticism.

She

the Philadelphia critic for Dance Magazine, author of the final chapter of

Black Dance from i6ig

to

Today (revised edition), coauthor of the third edi-

tion of The History of Dance in Art

and Education, and author of Digging

Africanist Presence in American Pefformance: Dance latest

book

is

Politics in the

and Other

Waltzing in the Dark: African American

Swing Era.

I

Contexts.

audeville

the

Her

and Race

About the Contributors

390

Suki John

is

a

choreographer, teacher, and dance writer

in

New

York and

Havana. She and her husband, Horacio Cocchi, founded the group

ANDANDO Cuba and

as

an intercultural and humanitarian exchange between

the United States.

Melinda Mousouris articles

on the

Attitude,

arts

is

a

freelance journalist based in

and Cuba have appeared

New York City. Her

American Theatre Magazine,

in

Dance Magazine, Dance Teacher Now, the

New

York Times, and the

Village Voice.

Rex Nettleford

is

vice chancellor of the University of the

where he has taught

of continuing studies and

as professor

for the University's Cultural Studies Initiative

West is

Indies,

responsible

Programme. He

is

also the

founder, artistic director, and principal choreographer of the National

Dance Theatre Company of Jamaica (NDTC). Cynthia Oliver

working in

is

an award winning choreographer/performing

artist

New York and abroad. She is a doctoral candidate at New York

University's

Department of Performance

Studies,

where her scholarship

has centered around performance in the Caribbean, specifically the

United States Virgin dance

Islands.

at the University

Thomas Osha Pinnock artist/writer.

He

She

is

currently an assistant professor of

of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

is

an award winning choreographer/performance

has been involved in Caribbean dance-theater for over

thirty years.

Ramon ater

Rivera-Servera

and Dance

is

a

doctoral student in the

at the University

Foundation predoctoral fellowship.

Modern Languages and

Department of The-

of Texas at Austin, where he holds

Cultures

He

at the

a

Ford

has taught at the Department of

University of Rochester, N.Y., the

Department of Speech and Theater at John Jay College, and the Department of Women's Studies at Hunter College. His research focuses on U.S. Latina/o and Caribbean performance.

Susanna Sloat

is

a writer, editor,

and

arts consultant in

New York City.

1

As

an associate editor of Attitude— The Dancers' Magazine, she has written extensively

on modern, postmodern, and many kinds of world dance.

About the Contributors

Robert Farris

Thompson

is

•

391

Colonel John Trumbull Professor of the His-

tory of Art at Yale University.

He

is

the author of

many books

including

African Art in Motion, The Four Moments ofthe Sun: Kongo Art in Two Worlds,

and Flash of the Spirit, and numerous, much anthologized articles on topics ranging from the influence of African art on U.S. sports and drama to the black impact on John Cage's prepared piano and Martha Graham's stance.

He lectures widely and in

1995 received the Leadership Award of the Arts Council of the United States African Studies Association for distin-

guished contributions to scholarship in the

American

field

of African and African-

art.

Dr. Lois Wilcken, ethnomusicologist, has researched the music and dance

of the

spirits in

hoods. She

is

Port-au-Prince and

executive director of

New

York

City's Haitian

La Troupe Makandal,

a

neighbor-

company

that

mystically demystifies Haitian folk music and dance. Dr. Wilcken has

written The

Drums ofVodou

City (1998); her

Arts of Haiti.

(1

992) and co-edited Island Sounds

forthcoming book is

Crossroads, a Teachers

in the

Guide

to

Global

the Folk

1

NDEX

Abakua, 33, 49, 61; masked dancers 36-37; movements of, 36;

influence

and rumba

in,

in,

36-37; origins

on Columbia,

of,

Alonso, Alberto, 59 Alonso, Alicia, 27; experimental dance

group

49;

clave, 49; secret societies in,

6

of,

Alonso, Fernando, 27

Alonso, Manuel A., 299

36-37

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, 92,

Adams, Dotty, 343

Edward

Affranchis, 54, 113

305, 321-22;

Africanist aesthetic concepts, 3-10;

The Magic ofKatherine Dunham, 3 19; The Prodigal Son, 324-28; Briana Reed,

aesthetic of the cool,

munal

nuity between 8; cultural

7;

collective/com-

human and

spirit

5;

em-

ephebism,

7;

high-affect juxtaposition, 6; improvisa-

foci, 9;

thew Rushing, 325-28; Clifton Taylor,

world,

fusions/inclusions, 10;

bracing the conflict,

tion, 9-10;

325-27; Renee Robinson, 325-26; Mat-

communication/conti-

trust, 10;

marathoning, 8-9; multiple

polycentrism/polyrhythm,

5-6

325; Richard Witter, 327

Anacaona (dance group), 123 Anacaona (Taino

1

34

Anansyism (Trinidad), 279 Anderson, Michelle: describes temple

Chakaba

stilt

dancers, 268; Fara

kurang, 266; Gagalo

Gue Gblin

stilt

Kan-

dancers, 265;

stilt

Antigua, 273 Arara, 33, 36, 40, 54; in Baile de los

Apalencados, 329

265, 268

Arawaks: represented in Trinidadian Carni-

Aguilar, Pedro, 343

val band,

Aguinaldo, 168, 173

Arei'tos: in

Ailey, Alvin, 113, 333.

See also Alvin Ailey

30, 134; in Haiti (Ayiti),

(Borinquen), 134; in Santo

American Dance Theater

Argentina, 129, 295, 338

in Virgin Islands, 213;

Akan

mambo, 343-44 Andrew (Moose), 263-64

rattle in

Alexander, Otis: dance club

dance training on

St.

Almestica family, 187

of,

Domingo

(Quisqueya), 30, 134-35

Omofolabe Soyinka, 280

Akan-Amina:

Alexander,

275-76, 285

Cuba,

113; in Jamaica, 30; in Puerto Rico

116

head

in

Jacmel, 118

dancers, 268-69;

Egungun masquerade,

Ajayi,

princess),

Anansi, 279-80

African masquerade traditions, 264-69;

Ai'da,

Franklin, 325-27;

Arrocha, Eduardo, 64, 67

Aruba, 292; calypso

217-18; on

Croix, 215-16

in,

295

Aschenbrenner, Joyce: on Katherine Dun-

ham, 307 Ashanti:

bomba

traced to dance of, 186

Augustin, Frisner, 119, 121

393

2

1

VH

Index

Wiles, Arthur, \i

Baxter, Ivy, 84, K7,

1

Dance Group,

brothers, 185, 1H7-88

\v.il.i

tional

Baba Roue: 51,

Jamaican masuillba, 250-

oil

and Jamaican Na-

Dance Company,

Beguine. See Biguine

Baez, Joseflna: Dominicanish, 152-61; use

Bejart,

of kuchipudi dance

153-61. 5ee also

by,

Dominicanish

1

palos, 133, 135-40; in

38; nature as baile

New York

tie

F.I

Maurice, 93

respeto,

sware beles, 231; possible

Seybo, 1

^6-38;

City nightclubs, 150; in

ogy

of,

240-41. See also Bele

lino;

Bele

occasions for quadrille, 224

1

San Juan, 176, 179

in,

236;

of, to

11 of:

and kadjia fight dance,

Bettleheim, Judith, 266; on Junkanoo, 2

Dominican Republic, 142

tress, 1;

revivals

209-10, 217; sacred form, 208 10; in

1

13; in

The

and Legend of Marie he Veau, 323; to be derived from Chica,

Cuban

1

117-18

Biguine (beguine), 221-22, 226, 242-44; ingredient in L'Ag'Ya, 309-10, 312, 316;

Banda, 324, 327-29; expo-

New York,

7 3-74

Biberman, Abner: and The Golden Mis-

Virgin Islands, 200, 208-1

Bantu. See

235-36; resemblance

Bermuda, 273

in

of, in

232-34

240

in

nents

in,

influences

other dances, 236

3

Bambouche, 143 Bamboula, bambula

1

of,

Kongo

Benin, Republic

Bamba, 24 Bambosche, 9

of,

231;

Bendongue, Fred: As Seen With One Eye,

13

Ballet Hispanico, 322

Banda,

lisid

Belize, 273

Balanchine, George, 178, 262 Bal des afrranchis, 54,

lisid,

music

(Martinique): in Fort de France, 242; as

Bele

Bele (Trinidad), 86, 236, 249 Bele lino, 12, 231-32; steps

138-139

Kongo etymol-

241; underlying meanings of,

Peravia, 139-40; in southwest, 139; in

Balakadri (Guadeloupe), bal boutchc

— —

on

Belafbnte, Harry, 342

Villa Mella,

Ballets de

7 2

17;

French Caribbean, 224,

236-38, 241 and

lisid

343-44; rite in

36

Kongo

Kongo

pose, 194, 343;

Vodou, 111; Kongo symbolism,

Chipping (Trinidad), 273

277; and lewoz of Guadeloupe, 237; pel-

Chivo, 143

vic thrust in

dance influenced

Christa, Gabri, 291-302, 321

35, 49, 238;

and slave trade, 18-19;

Christian, Bradley: and Heritage Dancers,

St.

Croix,

2

1

3.

15-18,

by,

m

See also Cuban African

dance traditions (Kongo); Kongo dance

214-15 Ciboney, 29

(Haiti); Palo;

CICRE, 194

Congo dance

Clave, 13; in danzon, 52; relation

of,

contradanza cubana rhythm, 51;

rumba, 47, 48, 49;

to

Yowa

(Haiti).

See Kongo dance

(Haiti)

Conjunto National de Danza Con-

in

temporanea,

in salsa, 173; in

son, 42

87;

Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Company,

company

27, 57, classes,

62-72, 73-77, 84, 75-77; Cubadanza

workshops, 75; founding loses Guerra, 57-58, 70;

306 Cofradias (Santo

Domingo and Dominican

teacher

of, 57,

61-62;

and master

Manolo Vasquez,

75, 77; other

Republic): founded by ladinos, 131; to-

choreographers under Guerra, 66;

day, 131, 135

nature work, Sulkari, 74; tours

Colombia,

Columbia

13, 61, 70; vallenato,

(dance). See

See also Guerra, Ramiro (and creation

144

under rumba

of tecnica cubana)

Columbus, Christopher,

29,

Commandeur

French Carib-

(caller): in

sig-

of, 66.

131,222, 285

Connor, Edric, 251, 256 Contant, Andree,

1

18

bean, 226-28; in lewoz of Guadeloupe,

Contradanza, 32, 51-52, 61, 143, 167

2

Contredanse, 30-33, 51, 86, 141, 167; de-

37

Compagnie Montalvo-Hervieu, 322 Comparsa, 34—35, 86. See also Conga Compas,

1

1,

rivatives of, in

French Caribbean, 224-27, 229,

24

bols and beliefs, to, 252-53 29, 34-35.

Cortijo, Rafael, 171

See also Comparsa

Congo, Congo/Angola, Caribbean culture,

1

10, 54, 61, 86;

2 39; in

Haiti, 88

Confluence of Christian and African sym-

Conga,

Dominican Republic,

142; evolution of, into quadrille, 225; in

(

and

1-13, 17-20; and

lotillion,

33

Coumbite/konbit (cooperative work tem), 115; dances, 86,

1

1

2

sys-

Index

Courlander, Harold:

in

The Drum and

the

Cuban

Creolite (French Caribbean): and qua242; and zouk, 243

Dunham's

in

Puerto Rico, 167-70, 172-

73, 175; in Virgin Islands, 201,

Santen'a 13, 24, 129, 173,

295

Cumfa (Guyana), 90 Cunningham, Merce: technique

208

of, in

tecnica cubana, 74, 76

(Virgin Islands), 201

Crowley, Daniel: on

329; Yoruba, 33, 37-41, 54, 61. See also

Cumbia,

224-25, 229, 242; in Gabri Christa's in

40-

40-41, 54, 61,

30, 34-36,

Abakua; Arara; Lucumi; Orichas; Palo;

L'Ag'Ya, 310; in French Caribbean, 222,

work, 302;

Kongo,

41, 54;

Do-

85-87; in Cuba, 41-43, 46-47; in

minican Republic, 135;

African dance traditions: Abakua,

33, 36-37, 41, 54, 71; Arara, 33, 36,

Creolization: in Caribbean and Jamaica,

Crop Over

329-30. See also Conjunto Nacional de

Danza Contemporanea

Hoe, 109

drille,

397

•

Moko Jumbie,

266-

Curacao, 48, 291-302; Carnival, 295; history

69, 271, 274

Cuba, 12-15, 23—55, 56-72, 73-78, 82, 8487, 131, 143, 150, 167-69, 171-72, 242,

of,

292-93; influence

of,

186, 299; language of, 293;

on bomba,

Maroons

flee-

music and dance forms,

ing, 299; local

295, 329-30, 336-38, 340; Batista re-

291, 294-95, 296; and slave trade, 292-

gime, 58, 61-62; casas de cultura, 27-28;

93;

as center

nections

of,

with Curacao, 296-97; Na-

ENA),

tional School of Art (La

74, 77;

National Theater, 61-62, 67, 73; Revo-

32-

lution, 50, 57, 61, 67, 73; slavery in, 33.

of:

Dahomey,

1

10

Damie. See Ladja

Dance Dramas: on Dancehall,

1

St.

Croix, 207

1-12, 86, 95, 218, 291

Dance Theatre of Harlem: Banda,

37-3 8

—dance

and tambu, 291-302

of Caribbean music, 171; con-

African dance elements

in,

41,

43; African Haitian influences on, 33, 41, 54, 71;

government support and

training structures for, 26-28, 74;

European dance elements

in, 32,

iams, 329

Dance

training: for

43;

bomba

in

Puerto Rico,

n Cuba, 26-28, 64, 73-77; in Jamaica and wider Caribbean, 82, 87188-89,

indigenous, 29-30; French Haitian in-

324,

327-29; Dougla, 324; and Donald Will-

x

96;

i

89; in St. Croix,

215-17

Dance yards (West Kingston, Jamaica), 96—

fluences on, 30-32, 41, 54; Spanish

African influences on, 31; Spanish in-

98, 100-102; appearing cool in, 101-2;

fluences on, 30-32, 41, 52, 54; under-

drop legs competitions

representation

of, in

video collections,

system operators

24-26, 54

—dance/music complexes

of:

Ceremonies

Danois, Jackie, 343

53-54

Dans

Camaguey, 75;

27; Ballet Nacional, 27,

Cutumba,

28;

Contemporanea,

in,

100; yard

sound de-

Daniel, Yvonne, 4-5, 23—55; Public

54; punto guajiro or campesino, 41, 5354; rumba, 41, 47-51, 54; son, 41-46,

of: Ballet

97; inspiring

velops, 100-101

cancion

cubana, 41, 46, 53-54; danzon, 41, 51-

—national dance companies

in,

Pinnock's dance works, 103-4; sound

de

73-

Danza 27, 57, 62-72, 73-77,

in Haiti, 4,

lalinkle (Martinique),

can elements formations

in, 2 }8;

in,

Yodun

7-8

237-39; Afri-

dances, steps, and

238-39

Danza: Cuba (concert dance,

28, social

dance, 51); Dominican Republic, social

84, 87; Folklorico de Oriente, 27-28;

dance, 128, 143-44; Puerto Rico, social

Folklorico Nacional, 27, 62, 74, 296,

dance, 143, 167, 190

7

398

Index

and shared culture with Haiti, 133; and

Danza Libre, 74 Danzon, 23, 128-29, *43>

3

22

>

33^. 339;

influence of waltz on, 51; instrumentation in, 51-52; hip

movement

in, 52;

32-33; Trujillo's promotion of in,

in:

128-29, 131, 141

African heritage acknowl-

Cuba,

in

folklorico" on, 148; national folkdance 31, 53; in

Puerto Rico,

troupe, 148; supported by Trujillo and

Bosch, 148; and

168

Dehn, Mura, 340-41

De Lugo, Ron:

organizes carnival on

St.

Thomas, 205-6

New

York City, 149-50

Donay, Millie, 343 Drake, St. Clair: on Katherine Dunham, 308 Drewal, Margaret Thompson: describes

Mille, Agnes, 60

Deren, Maya, 318; Divine Horsemen: The Living Gods of Haiti, 4-5,

of,

1

orishas,

Drop

122

7, 10,

Destine, Jean Leon, 84, 87, 113, 116,

choreography

revivalists' role,

129-30, 149-51; influence of "ballet

Danzonete, 51-52

iy;

278-80

legs challenge

dance (Jamaica), 97;

drop legs masters, 101

Drum

324

challenge dances: bele lino, 230-34;

bomba, 183-96; calenda

Dinkimini, 90

DJ

1

merengue

edged, 147; current folk

51-52

Danzoncha, 51-52

De

131-33; sources of African heri-

tage of,

— folklore

origins of, 51; paseo in, 52; variants,

Decima:

slavery,

toasting, 103; precursor of rap music,

ticano, 239;

Columbia, 50

Dufrasne-Gonzalez, Jose Emanuel: on

103

Djuba/Martinique (dance

in Haiti), 111 —

12, 121

Doc James

Talent Club

(St. Croix), 2

bomba and Curacao, 299 Dunham, Katherine, 41, 85,

102, 113, 116,

178, 305-19, 324, 342, 344; biographies

1

Domi'nguez, Leonardo Ivan: and Conjunto

305; Caribbean field work, 309;

of,

Folklorico of the AJianza Dominicana,

plications of role of, 306-9;

150

tal

Dominicanish (Josefina Baez), 152-61; use of African American

music

in,

movement and

movement

in,

153, 161; use of

gaga video

in,

hamsapaksha hand ges-

ture in, 157-58; use of kuchipudi dance in,

153-61; and

identity,

New

York Dominican

152-61; use of performance

homes, 154; use of polyrhythms use of verbal language

Dominican Republic,

in,

157-61 1

dance band musicians

Dominican

27—

and Trujillo

regimes' promotion of hispanidad, 29;

in

in, 160;

11, 23, 30, 84,

51, 152-61, 324; Balaguer

in,

1

28—

141-42;

of,

306-8; research films by,

as

Quisqueya and Santo Domingo, 130-32;

309, 318-19; and

of,

separation of ethnography from artistic representation, 308-9; technique of, 318; training of, 305

—works 25

1

,

3

of: 1

1 ;

Journey

to

L 'Ag'Ya,

Accompong (book),

309-1 9, Rites de

Passage, 309, 317; Shango, 309. See also

L Ag'Ya Dunham company

— members: Vanoye Aikens, 310; Talley Beatty, 318; Wilbert Bradley, 310; Syvilla Fort, 309;

318; Harold

Morris,

identity as reflected in

Dominicanish, 152-61; occupation by

and independence from Haiti, 132;

work

318-19; school

160-61; use of city inhab-

itants in, 160-61; use of

Group's demonstration program,

308-9, 318; on LAg'Ya, 314; reactions to

158-60; use of Caribbean

com-

Experimen-

3

Tommy Gomez,

310,

Gordon, 309; Lenwood

1

—productions: Bal Negre, 307, 309; Caribbean Rh.wsodv, }10; Tropical Revue.

306-7,309,317-19

399

Index

Edwards, Julia:

as

exponent of Limbo, 250-

54 Ejagham, 36, 54 Elder, J. D.: on Congo influence, 260

Funerary dances: dans

The

in,

242-

Kitchen,

of

lalinkle

Martinique, 237-39,

Alton, 100-101; and

zouk

44. See also Guadeloupe; Martinique

Arnold, 118

Ellis,

special dances of, taught

to slaves in 17th c, 225;

Efik, 36,

Elie,

42, 244; songs of, as carriers of collective

memory, 230;

51,254,256

Limbo of Trinidad,

247-61; rezo and banco of Dominican Republic, 138-39

100

Emery, Lynne Fauley, 209, 251 Gaga:

Emmanuelli, Jorge, 187-89, 196

Cuba,

in

54; in

Dominicanish, 153;

Dominican Republic,

Emmanuelli, Jose, 187-89, 196

in

English country dance, 32, 141-42

151;

Ensley, Ernest, 343

140-41. See also Rara

in,

140;

133, 140-41,

women's dance

in,

Gallardo, Marili: and Kalahi Danza, 150

Etu, 86, 90

Ewe,

mayores

Garcia, Ana, 176, 178

228

36, 54,

Garrido de Boggs, Edna, 148 Fagan, Garth: dance company 35;

The Lion

King, 85;

of, 85,

333-

Moth Dreams,

Feets of Rhythm, 123

Flamenco, 31, 342-43; and bomba, 184,

Henry

Louis, 157 1

18

Gestos Transitorios, 74 Gillis, Verna: and SoundScape's Voodoo Theater, 114, 119-20

186; similarity of, to salsa, 173

Glasser, Ruth, 172

Fokine, Mikhail, 59 10, 36, 54, 86,

Gates,

Germain, Andre,

333-345 Telling a Story, 334-35

Fon,

Garvey, Marcus, 96, 98

1

10, 228, 279,

Goldberg, Alan, 118, 120

299

Forces of Nature Dance Theatre Company:

Gonzalez, Ernesto, 179-81

The Life and Legend ofMarie Le Veau, 323-24; Dyane Harvey, 323-24; Abdel

Gonzalez, Lydia Milagros: on

Salaam, 323-24; Dina Wright, 323

Goombay: drums

Foxtrot, 141

tival,

Francis, Carlton: as exponent of

Limbo,

French Caribbean, 15-17, 87, 221-44; rican-derived dances flage of African

230-41; camou-

in,

customs

228-29; Creolite,

in,

222, 224,

in,

identity,

242-44; creolization

^'

and dance,

222, 224-25,

228-29, 242; headdresses

315; histori-

of,

and geographical background

of,

222-

ritual ele-

bomba, 170

in

(Virgin Islands), 201; fes-

274

Gottschild, Brenda Dixon, 3-10, 24, 41

Graham, Martha,

251, 256, 258

cal

ments

nique

of,

56, 59-60, 84, 333; tech-

64, 74, 76-77, 88, 102

Green, Doris: on Chakaba and

Gue

Gblin,

268-69; on Egungun, 265; on Masai dance, 282

Grenot, Lesme, 78

Guadeloupe, 322; geographical description of,

222; lewoz in, 236-37; quadrille

in,

23; implied sacred functions of certain

226; slavery in, interrupted under

dances

French Republic, 223. See also French

224, 232-34, 237, 240-41;

in,

influence

of,

on bomba,

186;

duction of new genres, 243; dances, 235; quadrille revival of traditional

in,

and intro-

map

of,

241-

42; slavery in, 222-26, 228, 230; social class

Caribbean

Guaguanco. See under Rumba

of

224-29, 242;

dance forms

first

and dance forms, 224-25, 230, 241-

Guajira, 13, 173. See also

Guaracha,

13, 129, 168,

Guarapo: relationship 142

Punto guajiro

172-73

of, to

bade de palos,

;

400

Index

Guerra, Ramiro, 56-72, 84-85; and Ballei

ture, 24, 33; exemplifies Africanisl aes-

Russc, 60; ami Franceses Boas, 60;

thetic concepts, 4-10; folklore artists

C'oonlenadas Dan/arias (l)ook) reissued,

of,

72;

and creation

of tccnica cubana, 57,

63-64, 73; early desire

Cubanness

59-61; folkloric research

by, 61,

on Graham technique,

Magloire regime,

70-71;

works,

64; and

Memoria fragmentada (TV),

59; publishes lishes

Dance

work

64-65, 67-

ire,

66; site-specific

70;

and Stanislavski, 61; studies with

of,

Haiti

of,

61-72; Chacona, 64-65;

Chante

et

Danse,

on

in,

slaves,

2

1

1

16

1

2;

on

on ethnic origins of

3

Hart, Armando, 58, 70 Haute-taille (Martinique), 227

Hazzard-Donald, Katrina: on codes unseen or negated by mainstream,

1

74

Hernandez, Rafael, 172

Higher Heights:

Habana, 61; Impromptu Gaiante, 66-67;

Hinkson, Mary, 333 Hip-hop, 29, 173-74, 184, 195-96, 218,

Mambi,

62;

62;

in-

187; revolution

El Decalogo del Apocalipsis, 67-70, 72;

La Rebambaramba,

1

Do-

slaves' music, 201;

slave mimicry, 2

Graham, and Limon, 60

Verchinina,

—dance works

132; as part of Santo

Hall, Neville:

Prize, 72;

reputation rehabilitated, 58, 70; on sat-

-

modern dance

and Vodou, 109-13

La Teatralizacion del Folklore,

71; receives National

16; in

and republic established, 131-32, 187;

and

dance journal, 58; pub-

1

spired by revolution

Elena Noriega, 57, 63-64; and Peking opera, 66; and Pro-Arte Musical Society,

14-23, 324; immi-

mingo, 130-35; Puerto Rican slaves

I. as

71;

1

323-29; occupies Santo

13,

1

Domingo,

Mascaras, 61; loses directorship, 57— 5H, 70;

in,

life of,

founds Danza Contempor£nea, 57, 6i62;

U.S.A., 118-19; folk-

i

movement

grants from, in Cuba, 30-33, 41, ^4,

of, to translate

into dance, 61; early

immigrate

loric

in Rastafari,

98-100

Medea y los Negreros, 65, 71; Orfeo Antillano, 65-66, 71; The Pilgrim of

Hiran, Manuel, 74

Anaquille, 62; Suite Yoruba, 62-63, 7*5

Hispanidad (Dominican Republic), 128-

Toque, 61;

322,339-40

Trinitarias, 71; Triptico Ori-

29; antithesis of, 149

Hispaniola, 30, 130-33; indigenous

ental, 71

Guy, Jackie, 92

Curacaons shipped

Guyana, 84

Quisqueya, 130

Gwoka. See Lewoz

Hodson,

Millicent:

to,

292; as

on Katherine Dunham,

308 1

Holandes rhythmic complex:

labanera

—dance, 314; — ritmo de,

in

51; also

known

as

ritmo de

Holder, Geoffrey, 85,

I2 9-35- 153. l6 7. 2 34*

Domingue,

2

3

6 ~37'

2

79-

132; contributes to Jamai-

Dumarsais Estime regime,

Duvalier dictatorship,

1

299

1

16;

18; exhibits

early signs of distinct Caribbean cul-

1

16-17,

122

Hosay I

Carter and Reagan administrations on, 18;

of,

13, 254, 342;

Honorat, Michel Lamartiniere,

becomes Saint-

can dance, 90; differing effects of

1

1

Prodigal Prince, 324-28

12,23,35,84-88, 109-13, 114-23,

295, 299-300, 309;

bomba,

Bands, 324, 327-29; Dougla, 324; 77ie

tango, 51; in Puerto Rico, 168 Haiti,

in

189-90, 195; Curacaon origin

Puerto Rico, 167

Festival, 85

[umphrey, Doris, 84

Hurok, I

Sol, 306,

lustle, 184,

317-18

322

Hyppolitc, Hector: as depicted

Prodigal Prince, 325-28

in

The

3

1

7

1

401

Inde

Ibo dance (Haiti),

Kongo

2-1

1 1

and Classic Dance,

Institute of Folklore

116

Puerto Rican Culture, 187

Institute of

rite (Haiti), 111;

resemblance

Koregrafi (choreography),

Kumina,

Jacmel, 118

Laban, Rudolf von, 56, 60

merengue, 128

218, 250-51, 260, 273-74, 324, 332-35;

music industry dence

of, 82,

2 99>

class status in,

97-98;

100-101; indepen-

in,

101-2; tradition of dance

and vocabulary building

in, 81;

3°9>

96-97; growth of

in,

in dance,

87-92. 5ee also National Dance Theatre

Company Jarvis,

queraders, 200-201

with bomba, 184

St.

75;

in

Bahamas, 91, 273—

New Year's

Christmas and

Joseph, Firmin,

celebra-

Moko Jumbies in,

1

drums on

Lacroix, Luc, 121

Ladja (Martinique), 35, 239-40; Dunham's

Holy Saturday

film footage of, 309;

competition, 240; in L'Ag'Ya, 309-14,

La Fortune, Bravo, 322 See Ladja

319; Caribbean dances in, 309, 310; cosin,

310, 312-25,

319; form of narrative analyzed, 310—11;

meaning of l'ag'ya

273

273-75;

c.

Martinique, 235-36

317; Creole character of, 310; films of,

Croix, 206-7, ' n Trinidad Car-

Jonkonnu/Junkanoo:

tions,

describes dances,

tumes of John Pratt

Andrew, 341-43

on

P.:

238, 239; describes 17th

L'Ag'Ya (Katherine Dunham), 309-17,

Jazz: Latin, 45, 193; spirit of, connected

nival, 263,

calenda, 136

Labat, Father R.

L'ag'ya.

Jasperse, John, 322

Jigs:

35, 54, 86, 90, 102

317; and supernatural powers, 240

of Jamaica

Antonio: on bamboula, 209; on mas-

Jerrick,

1

Labat, Father Jean Baptiste, 127; describes

Jamaica, 12, 23, 30, 35, 81-94, 95 _1 °6>

ghetto conditions

1

Kriegsman, Alan, 94 Kuduru, 1

Iremes, 36-37

Jaleo: in

273-75

motifs

of,

in,

317;

movement

311-12, 314; music by Robert

Sanders, 310; program notes, 310; scene 1,

311-13; scene

31 1-14; scene

2,

St.

Croix, 199, in

Lakadri (Martinique), 226-27 Lastro, Geraldo, 66

Trinidad, 263

Juba (djouba), 144

Latin Empire, 165, 175

Juego de mam, 35

Latin

jazz, 45,

193

La Troupe Folklorique Nationale, La Troupe Makandal,

Kaiso, 90

Kalinda (Trinidad), 35, 136, 295, 298; jamettes involved

Kaseko (Suriname),

in,

259; at wakes, 259

24; derivation of

word, 54 1 1

.

See also Quizomba

Kongo, Kongo/Angola. See Congo,

Congo/Angola (Haiti),

and gwanbele in

rives

from

22; stages

Haiti,

Vodou

1

1

16-17

115, 118, 119-23; ar-

19; stages Rara,

121-

dances, 119—21

Lawrence, Monica, 92 Leaf, Earl, 318

(Angola),

Kongo dance

3,

311-17

19

Jouvert Qour Ouvert): in

Kizomba

of, to

lewoz of Guadeloupe, 237

Ibo Dancers of Haiti, 113,324

lisid

honor of Kongo

Legba Singers, 115-16 Lekis, Lisa, 318; 21 1-12;

12,35,91, 111-13; of Martinique, 236; deities,

1 1

on

historical quadrille,

on meaning of French Carib-

bean headdresses, 315 Lewis,

Gordon K: on

complexities ot

Mr-

gin Islands relationship with L^.S.A., 202

402

Index

•

Lewisohn, Florence: on the bamboula, 20H lewoz (gwoka)

Guadeloupe, 230, 242;

i>t

African descent

of,

236-37; implied

237; influence of qua-

cred functions

of,

drille on, 237;

resemblance

tian

sa-

of, to

I

[ai-

Kongo Vodou rhythms, 237 in,

Marley, Bob, 95, 102

Maroons:

of,

256; chart of

setting for wakes, 255; Christian con-

nections with, 252-53; exponents

of,

251, 254, 256; going under at waist level,

in

Santo Domingo,

native

name

with, 252-54, 260-

249-50, 254, 257-59;

movement described, 90, 256; and Skull of Death Mokojumbie, 282-83; theoof origin

Limon.Jose,

of,

Lindy hop, 101, 336, 338

Lizardo, Fradique, 84, 148-50; and na-

funerary dans lalinkle

headdresses

Masqueraders:

316; de-

of,

237-39; given

315; quadrilles of, 226-

of,

in

See also French Car-

Bahamas, 274;

Ni-Woman

African dance traditions (Yoruba)

340

on Guerra's Suite Yoruba, 62

of Destiny, 90;

115, 117

bamboula on

St.

Thomas, 209

Maziouk (mazouk, Creole mazurka), 23242-44; changed

young, 243;

among

in decline, 222;

demonstration

10

Mahler, Elfriede, 57, 66; and Danza Libra,

Islands,

Matthias, Clara Isabella Simmonds: revives

24, 227,

Grillo), 45, 172, 174,

in

m Virgin

described, 90

Mater Dolorosa,

18

Lovers rock, 95 Lucumi, 33, 37. See also Orichas; Santeria;

of,

the

Dunham

309; emblematic of

Martinique, 221; ingredient in L'Ag'Ya,

309-13, 315-16

Mazurka, 128, 167, 226, 294, 309; and Do-

Majumba, 309-10 Makuta,

15, 35

Mambo,

13, 23, 90, 129, 169; in Africa, 45;

minican mangulina, 142-43

difference between

Cuban and

interna-

tional, 44; in

Havana, 336-38; Kongo

meanings

336-40, 343-44;

Mexico

of,

(Jamaica), 90, 250-51, 260; in

movement

338-39;

laiti,

200-201, 204-6

Lopez, Orestes, 336-37

in,

I

30-36; calenda ticano and

Dunham's L'Ag'Ya, 309-19;

Barnett's

74;

Suriname,

to English to maintain slavery, 223;

Masumba

tional folkdance troupe, 148

1

31; in

239-40; dancehalls

Long, Richard, 85

iYIahi,

1

Trinidad, 259, 262-87;

Machito (Frank

299; in

Martinus, Frank, 293 stilt

dancers, 265

1

laiti,

ibbean

Liverpool, Hollis, 264; on Gagalo

Cuban

2

28; wealth of, 222.

250-57

56, 60, 181-82, 333

Louinis, Louines,

1

Djuba dance of

for

111; bele of, ladja of,

ries

y>; in

Martinique, 12, 18, 23, 35, 82, 309; alter-

picted in

of,

2

260, 293, 299; in Trinidad, 258

Kongo connections memories

322;

to Venezuela, 299; in

French Caribbean,

251, 256; in Jamaica, 250-51, 256, 260;

61;

As Seen With One Eye,

in

from Curacao

Jamaica, 90, 96, 250-51, 260, 299, 314;

Limbo, 90, 247-61; areas of popularity 257-59; breath control

Mangulina, 142 44

in

Lima,

Mambo Madness (film), 339; in City, 339-40; in New York City,

McBurnie, Beryl,

85, 216, 324;

and

Little

Carib Theatre, 84, 87 Mclntyre, Dianne, 102

McKayle, Donald, 32

1

Medina, Narciso, 78; and Gestos Transitorios, 74;

and Metamorfosis, 74-75

of couple leads to improvisation

Mendez, Alberto: on Ramiro Guerra, 56 Mento, 95

45, 337; turns

Merengue, 23-24,

340-44; origin of word, 336; separation

in,

on botecito, 337

44;

of, 44Winthrop Sargeant

86, 90, 141-47, 150-51,

173, 183, 190, 215, 294-95, 336; creole

Index

nature

of,

128-29; development of or-

chestrated variety 146; and

127-29, 141, 143,

in,

Dominican national

127-29, 151; jaleo

in,

identity,

128, 146-47; key

Nago: name dance for

Yoruba, 110;

in Haiti for

Ogun/Ogou

Nanigo. See Abakua; Iremes Narcisse, Andre, 117

146; off-beat phrasing in, 146; paseo in,

National Dance Theatre

Company of Ja-

maica, 82-94, 10 3> 332—33; choreogra-

128, 146; structure of, 146-47 tfpico (perico ripiao), 127-28,

difference from orchestrated

meringue, 147; instrumentation

phers

of,

founding

143-47, 150-51; current fashions in, 145;

deities, 110, 113,

120-21

musicians in orchestrated merengue,

Merengue

for,

92; core vocabulary of, 90-92;

school established, 82;

of, 82;

tours widely, 82; variety of repertory of,

87,89 Navarra, Gilda, 176-82; co-founder of Bal-

144-45

Meringue

(Haiti),

12,23

de San Juan, 176, 179; influenced by

lets

Pilar Lopez, 179; and mixture of idioms,

Mexico, 61, 63-64, 66, 131; Ballet Folklorico de Mexico, 216;

mambo

in,

339-40 Micler, Manolo: Baile de los Apalencados,

176, 179, 181; in 178;

New York in

Middle Passage,

19, 86, 230,

179; and Spanish dance, 178-79; and

and Teatro del Nino,

278

—works

Miller, Joan, 321

of:

1

78

Abelardo y Eloisa, 176;

Asfntota, 176; Atfbon, Ogu, Erzuli, 176,

Minshall, Peter, 262

La Cucarachita Martina,

Minuet, 32-33

182;

MockYen, Alma, 92

historia del soldado, 179-81;

Moiseyev, Igor, 324

Moko Jumbies,

271; clowns, 262, 271; early Trinidadian

dances

of,

266-69; movements and

263, 272-73, 278-83;

clature of, 266;

reappearance

on other

of, in

thing band, 262-64,

islands,

2 73'

Nettleford, Rex, 81-94, 102-3, 113, 166, 251, 332-33; redefines dance modes, 84

—works

of:

Blood

Canticles, 93; Bujurama,

332; Celebrations, 83; Drumscore, 332;

273-75;

Gerrehbenta, 91; Kumina, 332;

Some-

275—87;

stilts

262, 269-71; traditional costume of,

266-68, 271

Tintinabulum, 332-33

Neumann, David, 322

New York City:

Caribbean contribution to

vernacular dance

bean dance works

Monk, Meredith, 70

population

Montserrat, 216

dance and music

More, Beny, 339

tian

13

42; mulato composers of danza in

Puerto Rico, 167; mulato, in Cuba, 52; slave, in Virgin Islands, 201 di

spirits,

in,

in,

320-35; Caribbean

166, 320;

zumbi (Curacao), music of the 294

Myal, 102; ingredient

in

L'Ag'Ya, 309, 314

dance companies

mambo in,

in,

Dominican

149-50; Dominican

in,

York identity explored 1

Musicians: in Dominican Republic, 141-

Muzik

165-66, 172-73,

in,

175, 195-96, 322, 336, 339-44; Carib-

Mona, Eugene, 221

(Haiti),

La

nomen-

Port of Spain Carni-

269; in St. Croix, 199; and

Mousondi

178;

Ocho

Mujeres, 176; Tientos, 179

262-87; blue devils, 262,

Moko Jumbies,

of,

1940s,

pantomimic training with LeCoq,

Taller de Histriones, 176, 179, 181-82;

329

val,

403

•

in,

in,

152-61; Hai112, 118-23;

336, 339-44; origins of salsa

165, 172-73; Puerto Ricans in, 165-

66, 171-72, 195-9 6 3*li -

339-44

Nine-nights ceremonies, 95, 137-38, 247 Noriega, Elena, 57, 63-64, 66, 74 Novena (rezo) and banco (Villa Mella, D.R.), 138

1

4U4

Index

•

Emmanuel C,

Nunez, Lidice, 78

Paul,

Nyabinghi Groun'arion, 98—100; drums

lVmuuc.ll, Norwood, 3^4

of,

122

Pep6n Osorio,

Pepariin: Histories, 530;

98

Nzambi Mpungu, Bakongo supreme

being,

}

jo;

Merian Soto,

3

3 < >— 3

Perez, leresita, ^43

-53

Perez Prado, Damaso, 100, ^37-38 (

Peru

Chico, 45

)T'arrill,

ripiao.

i)

See Merengue

rfpi
54> 82,

l

Rap, 28, 103, 291

3°>

134, 143, 165-75, 176-82, 183-96, 236,

330-31; creolization

166-70, 172-73,

in,

54; distinguished

122; as

link with

165-66, 175, 195-96; hidden

in,

bomba, 168-70; and

in

influ-

ence of communications industries, 17172, 174; links with Caribbean,

Hispanic

gaga,

from Carnival bands;

Dominican gaga,

175; diaspora in U.S.A., 171-72, 175;

form

Cuban

Rara, 115, 121-22, 326; and

forging of identities through dance and

ritual

133, 140-41;

Vodou, 121, 140

Rasta, Rastafari, 92-93, 95-96, 98-100, 103, 218;

and censure of hip movement,

102

Rave dancing, 28

world, and U.S.A., 166-68, 170, 171-73,

Rebita, 18

175; links with Curasao, 299; 19th

Reggae, 24, 86, 90, 92, 95-96, 103, 173,

dance/music forms

c.

167-68; slaves

in,

in,

develop bomba, 168, 170, 187

Pukkumina,

405

Ragtime, 181

Pripri, 136, 141

Puente, Tito, 344

music

•

86, 90.

207, 211, 332; "rent-a-tile" dance to, 102; transition to, 102

See also Pocomania

Punto guajiro o campesino, 41, 53-54

Rejane (Martinique), 227

Requa, Barbara, 87, 92 Richards, Arlene, 92

Quadrille, 32-33, 86, 92, 141-42; and Bal

des Affranchis in Haiti, 113; in Jamaica, 88; in Virgin Islands, 200, 206-8, 1

—

5 (see also St.

in

210-

Croix in subentry below)

French Caribbean, 222, 224-29, 230,

231, 242-44; Creole identity leads to revival of, 242;

and creolization, 224-25,

229; in Guadeloupe, 226; influence

on

lewoz of Guadeloupe, 237; instrumentation in, 228; in Martinique, 226-28; and

slavery

—

and

social class,

223-26

masters role

groups 13;

in, 2 14;

in,

2 10;

on

214-

210; leaders and

and mimicry, 208,

movement in,

2

1

2-

plantations,

211-12; and playfulness, 214; resurgence of,

214; at

Quelbe

St.

Gerard's Hall, 210, 213-14

(fungi, scratch): in Virgin Islands,

200; instrumentation and bands, 207

seis,

172-73; notes African elements in

Rivera, Ismael, 171,

in Angola, 17-18.

1

74

Rivera, Sandra, 321

Rivero, Eduardo, 63, 66, 87; and Siilkari, 74;

and Teatro de

la

Danza

Robbins, Jerome, 60

Rocksteady, 92, 95, 101-2

Rodgers, Rod, 102 Rodriguez, Arsenio, 337 Rodriguez, Nereyda, 150

Rodriguez, Tito, 339 Roldan, Amadeo, 62 Roots: in Jamaica, 98-100

Rene V, 292, 295-99, 301

Rose, Bert, 87, 92

Roumain, Jacques, Patricia:

Rumba, 12-16,

See also

Kizomba

1

1

on Katherine Dunham, 307 23, 29, 47-51, 54, 62, 86,

90, 95, 129, 160—61, 169, 173, 295, 330,

338, 342; African languages

Rada, 36, 54, 86,

del Caribe,

74. 8 7

Rowe,

168

Quizomba:

on Anansi/Elegba, 279

Ring shout, 300

Rosalia,

Quintero-Rivera, Angel, 166-67; defines salsa,

275, 283, 285;

Ring games, 86

Roberts, John Storm, 248

in St. Croix, 210-15, 217; at balls, 15; floor

Richards, Francina Princesa, 263-64, 271,

1

10-12, 121, 234, 237; of

Dahomean and Yoruba also Vodou

origins,

1

10.

See

in,

48-49;

batarumba, 50; clave, 47-48; Columbia, 14,

49-50; confused with son, 51; con-

nections

of,

with Curacao, 296-97; foot

—

406

Index

•

Rumba

Sec also Lucumi; Orichas; Cuban Afri-

continued

patterns

in, 14,

48-49; guaguanco, 12-

16, 18, 49, 183, 242, 296; in,

improvisation

47; instrumentation in, 47-48; lyrics,

48, 50; rumberos, 48-49; used in pro-

moting Afro-Latin

identity,

50-51;

Santo Domingo: colony contredanse

of,

130-32,

and

142; occupation by

in,

independence from Haiti, i32;Taino areitos,

134-35

Sarabanda, 64

yambii, 14, 49, 296

Ruprecht, AJvina, 92-93; on Blood Canticles,

can dance traditions (Yoruba)

Sarambo, 136; relationship

of, to baile

de

palos, 142

93

Ryman, Cheryl,

87; listed core vocabulary

for

Jamaican and Caribbean dance, 90-

92;

on Egungun,

265, 268;

on moko-

Sarandunga, 139-40, 151 Savate: film footage of, 309

Schmiderer, Stephanie, 120

School of American Ballet

jumbie, 266

(New

York),

176, 178

Saba, 292 St.

Schottische, 86; in

Barthelemy, 222

Saint-Domingue,

30, 111;

contredanse

in,

Domingo, 132

St.

Thomas, 205-6

Scratchband (Virgin Islands), 206. See also

Quelbe

222

Saint-Juste, Serge, 113 St. Kitts,

Schulterbrandt, Eldra: organizes Carnival

on

142; differentiated from Santo

St. Eustatius,

Seis,

167-68, 173; aguinaldos (Christmas

songs), 168; improvised decima, 168

273

Saint-Lot, Emile, 113

Selassie, Haile, 98,

Saint-Lot, Paulette, 113, 119

Seu, 294

St.

Maarten, 292

St.

Martin, 222

Saint-Mery,

St.

Dominican Republic

(schotis), 143

Shango:

in Haiti,

90, 216, 260,

Moreau

de, 111, 136, 236; de-

1

283

10; in Trinidad, 54, 86,

280

Shawn, Ted, 59

scribes calenda, 15-16; describes chica,

Shouters (Spiritual Baptists), 260

16-17

Sica rhythmic

Vincent, 273

Salaam, Abdel, 323-24 Salsa, 12-15; 18-19, 2 4>

195-96, 207, 211, 215, 294, 330, 336; bridges social differences

among Puerto

Ricans, 174; complexity of music and of,

173;

Cuban

variants of, 45-46;

Quintero-Rivera on, 172-73; rhythms in,

13-15; romantic version

plified lyrics,

of,

with sim-

bomba, 189—90,

15, 29, 35, 49, 90, 129, 173,

Soca, 12, 54, 86, 207; in 1999 Carnival,

262

Something, 275-87; bandleader of (Francina Princesa Richards), 263-64, 271,

275; description of band (Watusi Carnival Cultural

Caravan), 275-87; meanings

evoked, 262-63,

name

of,

2 73>

275—87; pun on

275; and Trinidadian history,

275-87

174

Son

Salve: non-liturgical, 138

Samba,

in

Ska, 92, 101

_ 44 4^> 12 9> 146-

47, 160-61, 166, 171-74, 183, 190, 193,

dance

complex

'95

338

Samuel, Wilhelm: on Carnival, 206-7

((Aiba),

1

3,

23,

42-46, 50, 54, 86, 129,

143, 150, 172-74, 242; and

Bucna

Vista

Social Club, 46; clave, 42; instrumenta-

Sands, Rosita: onjunkanoo, 273-75

tion in, 42-44, 46; mixture of African

Sankeys: in Trinidad, 245

and European dance elements

Santeria, 37-41, 63, 65, 73, 76-77, 90, 295.

other countries, 42-43; possible origin

in,

43; in

2

3

407

Inde

of, in

Hispaniola, 143; regional variants

Mambo;

Tejeda, Dagoberto, 149

330-31; and Adal Maldonado, 330;

Thomas, Eddy, 92 Thompson, Clive, 92 Thompson, Montgomery, 216—17

Pelea de Gallos, 330-31; Revienta!, 330;

Thompson, Robert

43. See also Casino;

of,

Salsa

Soto, Merian, 330-31; and Terry Hollis,

Sacude, 330; and Stephanie Tooman,

3

330-31

41, 268, 272;

Farris,

277-78, 280,

36-44; in African Art in Motion, 4,

on Kongo cosmogony

7,

in

Soukous, 11,18

Flash of the Spirit, 252-54, 260-61; on

Steel band, 259

Kongo kundu, 256

Sterling, Awilda,

Ti

193-94

Ayrti,

123

Stines, L'Antoinette, 92

Tibaton (Battonie),

Stravinsky, Igor, 59, 179, 181

Timba, 28

Subidor: in bomba, 185-86, 189-95

Toe

Suriname, 260, 293, 295, 299

Tonel Lakay,

heel,

1

1

1

1

23

Tosh, Peter, 95 Taino: in Cuba, 29-30; on Hispaniola

Tresse Riban, 113, 133

bomba, 185

(Quisqueya), 113, 115, 130-32, 134-35,

Trickster image: in

147

Trinidad and Tobago, 12, 23, 35, 48, 54,

Taller de Histriones, 176, 179, 181-82

84-87, 90, 205, 216, 236, 242, 247-61,

Tamborito, 173

295, 298-99, 309, 324; African ethnic

Tambu

origins in, 264; Carnival in, 262-87;

—

in

Curacao, 48, 291-302; and banderas,

258-59, 285; connections

in,

with southern U.S.A., 248; Indian in-

brought to Venezuela, 299; dances, 297-

dentured laborers

98; developed during slavery, 293, 295;

fluence

as

form of resistance, 291-92, 301;

struments, 291, 296; of,

in-

Kongo etymology

of,

in,

in,

285-86;

Kongo

of,

in-

248, 260; mixed population

249, 258-59, 285; as originator of

Carnival, 203; significance of navel

in,

256; Spanish and French influence in,

295; Papiamentu's importance in,

291-92; proscription and regulation

of,

292, 295-96, 301-2; rhythms of, 296-

249, 252, 254;

submerged African

in funerary rites,

belief

247-61

98; ritual fights in, 298; ritual roots of,

Troupe Macaya,

292, 295, 297-98, 300-302; singing style

Tudor, Antony, 178; Pillar of Fire, 178-79

of,

291, 296, 298; traveling, 299-300;

women's

—

Chinese

300-301; brought to Puerto Rico, 299;

301-2

role in,

Tumba Tumba

Tanztheater, 74, 322

Tumbao, 168

Tap dance, Teatro de

90

Danza

del Caribe,

77;

75-76; combinations

in, 74,

Cunningham and Graham

76-

influence

on, 74, 76-77; Guerra and creation of, 57, 63-64, 73; musical for,

accompaniment

76-77; Yoruba influence on, 74,

76-77

dominicana, 142 francesa, 33, 54, 71, 142

74

Tecnica cubana, 73—78; center barre exercises in,

295; evolved

Twist, 101, 343

184, 322

la

16

Tumba, 294-95; in Curacao, from tambu, 294

Tango, 90, 129, 181, 221, 295, 338, 343

in Jamaica,

1

Vallenato, 144, 173

Van den Berg,

Atti,

216

Vasquez, Anibal, 340-42 Vasquez, Manolo, 75, 77 Vega-Drouet, Hector: defines ceremonial elements of bomba, 168; traces to Ashanti court,

1

86

bomba

1

408

1

Index

•

Vdacioius (Dominican Republic),

Wilson,

131,

Venezuela, 61, 131, 258, 294;

roons

in,

299; indigenous

Ma-

luracaon

(

luracaons sent

(

292; settlers from, in Trinidad, 277

to,

identities in, 202-3;

on

St.

bomba,

1

Vodou,

1;

?;

1

of,

quadrille

3;

quelbe music

of,

communica-

on identity

in, 2

in,

215; oriin,

207-

and

in tolkloric 12; in

performance,

1

rite,

111; loas, 110-13;

14-23; Ibo

1

m modern

dance

works, 113, 323-29; poto-mitan, 110, 120; sequence of Port-au-Prince dance, at

American

Museum

Natural History, 324; temples

of

of,

loas (lwas):

Huedo, 1

17,

324;

work

of, in

I

116-17

Iaiti,

300 Wilson, Tony, 92 W'ining, 12, 23, 54; in Curacao's rumba,

(Suriname), 295

323-24; Erzulie, 325-27; Guede/

deities, 110,

1

20-2 1

of manf sessions,

1

(Haiti),

1

;

10;

Vodu, Dominican Republic,

"Voodoo" show

Yambu. See under Rumba Yanvalou, 1

1 1

1

and Baron Zaka,

1

1

and Legend of Marie Le

eau,

French Caribbean, 224, 228; 10; in

Life

r

\

323-24

Yoruba: in Cuba, 37-38, 61, 86, 169;

in

in Haiti,

Jamaica, 102; in Trinidad, 260,

264, 277-80; in Virgin Islands, 213. See

masquerade

traditions;

Cuban

African dance

traditions (Yoruba)

Young-Hinds, Adjoa,

2

17

Yowa, 52-53; chart, 253 Yuba rhythmic complex

in

bomba, 189-90,

195

Yuka,

15,

Zapateo,

120-21

18,

Mistress,

The

18-19, 35' 49> 54

36; popular-

50-5 1

The Golden

1-13; in

17-18; in Lamharena, 323; in

Santerfa; Shango;

111; Aida

Damballah/Danbala, 111,

Samedi, 327; Shango,

ity

18, 333;

also African

Agwe,

Cede, 6-7, 112, 121, 323, 327; Guede Zarenyen, iio;Legba, 1 15, 279; Ogun/

Ogou

?

1

109-

10; videos of, 4, 7

Vodou

14

Wilson, Reggie, 299-300, 321; on tambu,

Wind

Jamaican dance, 90; Kongo

rite,

show

2

109-13; in Dominican Re-

public, 133, 140; Flag Corps, 121, 234;

121;

Williams, Curtis,

Croix, 200, 204

Africanist aesthetic concepts, 4-10; of,

Welsh-Asante, Kariamu, 4

295; in Curacao's tambu, 300; in St.

207, 215

54, 86, 90, 93, 132, 237;

dances

describes dance formations,

W'illiams-Varborougli, Lavinia, B7, 113,

influence of, on

186; influence of

gins of slaves

dance

Croix, 215-17; history

201-2, 204-5, 212_1

tions industries

[.:

I

Wigman, Mary, 84

212-14; conflict between U.S. and

training

8; 2

208-

in,

199-201, 203-7; and

10; carnivals in,

der Something

Weeks, J.

Weidman, Charles, K4

Virgin Islands, 199-218; bamboula

Caribbean

207

A-on.i,

229, 238

Verchinina, Nin.i, 60

class,

I

Watusi Carnival Cultural Caravan. See un-

135-36, 141

used

17; in

Cuba,

in, 53; in

30, 53; chancletas

Dominican Republic, 142

Zarenyen dance, 110, 113

W ailer,

Bunny, 95 Walcott, Derek, 93

Zepaules, 6

\\ alker, Sheila,

Zouk (French Caribbean),

Waltz

Zollar,

4

(valsc), 51, toi, 128,

141-42, 144,

167, 181, 226, 237; Creole, 221-22,

243-

Jawole Willajo, 321 24, 86,

and age differences, 242-43; 1

1;

in

242-44; Angola,

and beguine, 242; and Crcolite,

44; Curacao, 294; in Haitian contreilanse,

243; as new genre, 24:; subcategories,

88; at Virgin Islands balls,

242

2

15

Susanna Sloat consultant in

is

a writer, editor, and arts

New York City. She has

writ-

ten extensively on modern, postmodern,

and many forms of ethnic dance associate editor of Attitude

as

an

— The Dancers'

Magazine.

Front: Top,

Gwoup Matjoukan (Matjoukan Group)

Martinique, Bidjin Bele,

first quadrille,

from

of

over-

head. Bottom, Belia, salute to the drum, in

Martinique. Photographs: Dominique Cyrille. Used

by permission of Dominique

Cyrille,

Bronx, N.Y.

Back: Top, Merengue tipico or perico ripiao danced in

Santa Maria, province of San Cristobal,

during the Cuaresma Chiquita,

drum Davis.

is

at a fiesta

May 2000. The

the tambora. Photograph: Martha Ellen

Used by permission of Martha

Ellen Davis,

Gainesville, Florida.

Thomas Osha Pinnock, choreographer and Make a Joyful Noise, 1980. Photo by Otto Used by permission of Thomas Osha Pinnock.

Bottom,

dancer, in

Berk.

Spine, Josefina

Baez in Dominicanish. Used by

mission of Josefina Baez.

University Press of Florida 15

Northwest 15th Street

per-

"A wonderful and unique comparative examination of both the diversity and commonality

of Caribbean dance forms. see Caribbean dance in complexity."

— Sheila

S.

all

.

.

.

Allows one

to

of its exuberant

Walker, director of

the Center for African and African-American Studies, University of Texas

"A tour-de-force anthology in a Creole mode.

Shaped by committed and this

volume

articulate voices,

reveals the complexities

power of Caribbean dance aesthetic, historical,

and

in

its

and

multiple

cultural currents."

—Joan D. Frosch, University of Florida

UNIVERSITY PRESS OF FLORIDA ISBN O-813O-2549-4

780813"025490"