Brazilian Bodies and Their Choreographies of Identification: Swing Nation by Cristina F. Rosa (review)

Cristina F. Rosa's book offers an in-depth exploration of the concept of ginga. The author broadly describes the term as a movement system, specifically explored as a swaying of the hips and a shuffling of feet that is "anchored in Africanist aesthetic principles" (3). Rosa proposes that ginga "involves the articulation of sinuous and offbeat—or syncopated—dialogues between bodily parts" (2). The book is a treatise on ginga aesthetics and how they operate as "flexible choreographies of identification" (125) within Brazilian culture; as such, the book is an invaluable text documenting the force of the body as polycentric and polyrhythmic (28), and the dialogical diversity of Brazilian cultural production.

The introduction claims the study's commitment to explore the multiple functions, roles and effects of ginga. Organized in three distinct but interconnected parts on understanding, analyzing, and staging ginga, Rosa's book offers a rigorous study of ginga as an embodied articulation in samba, capoeira and stage dance. The book is divided into seven chapters in addition to an introduction and conclusion, tracing the origin and development of a particular aesthetics grounded in a set of rules and manifestations. The text leads the reader through a journey composed of samba circles, Capoeira Angola traditions, Carmen Miranda stories, and analyses of two case-studies from Grupo Corpo's extensive choreographic repertoire (Nazareth and Breu). One of the main arguments of the book is the proposition that movement embodies identity, and that as a practice of everyday life, ginga is a subject of study that reveals a national identification. Inspired by Susan L. Foster's notion of "bodily writing," or that bodies articulate ideas through movement (2), Rosa proposes an interdisciplinary study of a genuinely Brazilian embodied historical and national palette. Nevertheless, explorations of national identification and brasilidade are problematized within a larger Black Atlantic context.

One of the main qualities of this book is its methodological variety. Rosa writes in a self-aware, ethnographic voice, addressing the reader directly, authoring many of the ample illustrations and photographs that accompany the study. She applies a dance theory framework with ethnography, historiography and a cultural studies lens that demonstrates a preoccupation both for ordinary and extraordinary (or staged) gestures. Nevertheless, I am compelled to say that the most important contribution of this book belongs to the field of history. Rosa offers a thoroughly researched history of samba and capoeira, extending to the history of one of the most successful dance companies in Brazil, Grupo Corpo. That being said, the author also methodically describes and examines movement and technique, offering a rich study of popular dance and capoeira, as well as highly choreographed stage dance.

In this historiography, the most salient element is a clearly defined Foucauldian analysis of history as inscribed in the bodies through Afro-Brazilian dance and martial arts. Rosa's study demonstrates a preoccupation with issues pertaining to race and gender, particularly regarding the strong presence and influence of African-diasporic cultural practices. Rosa presents the legacy of slavery as imbued with pride and shame, demonstrating how these values are articulated through music and movement, and are transformed into pride and grace. Within a post-colonial theoretical contextualization, combined with a variety of Africanist perspectives, Rosa addresses the history of slavery and convincingly links the depths of ginga to the configurations of Brazil as a genuine "swing nation" of resistance. Rooted in the survival of African traditions that were adapted and transformed by time, historical tragedy, and diverse cultural ramifications, the author advances a transcultural proposition she calls "recuperation-cum-invention." The term refers to how disenfranchised individuals and communities cultivated "non-hegemonic ways of thinking and acting… to both recuperate their sense of self-esteem and dignity and invent renewed identities that connect blackness to concepts such as grace and pride" (223).

Ultimately, the book represents an excellent study of tensions between choreography and improvisation. The title proposes "choreographies of identification," and yet...