Caribbean and Atlantic Diaspora Dance: Igniting Citizenship

Chapter 5. Caribbean Popular Dance: Transformations

chapter five Caribbean Popular Dance Transformations Caribbean Creativity Popular dance in the Caribbean is distinguished by Creole innovation and intra-Caribbean music mixtures. The previous chapter tracked the development of a few Creole innovations from the mid-nineteenth and early twentieth centuries, the result of two or more distinctly different parent sources (danzón and bomba, for example). This chapter dwells on intraCaribbean dances and their dance music mixtures, the result of distinctly similar parent sources or second-generation Caribbean Creole. For example, Haitian rasin is a combination of Haitian religious and folkloric music with social and commercial genres like Haitian mereng/konpa and Cuban casino/ salsa. Other intra-Caribbean mixtures include: the blend of Cuban son and Jamaican reggae to make regetón; the mix of Cuban rumba, salsa, and Oricha dances that becomes batarumba or batarumbasón; and earlier (in chapter 1) I noted that the mix of Haitian kadans and Trinidadian calypso became cadence-lypso ; that Trinidadian calypso and U.S. soul music meshing in the 1970s made soca; and that Jamaican reggae and Brazilian samba combinations made sambareggae. In the 1980s, the “grand combination” of Martinique and Guadeloupe yielded zouk, which has elements of French Caribbean gwoka, mazouk, and biguine, Cuban/Puerto Rican salsa, and Haitian/Dominican merengue. Intra-Caribbean mixtures have spread across the islands as popular dance.1 At first, Caribbean dance mixtures were simply fad dance crazes, but when their unique combinations spread to Caribbean niches elsewhere (or vice versa), they joined the many popular dances that recall the histories and circumstances of related island peoples. Serving the important function that social visiting, sailors, and brothels performed in spreading Caribbean Chart 12. Caribbean Popular Dances Cuba casino, rumba, regetón, hip-hop, timba Puerto Rico salsa, bomba, hip-hop, merengue Dominican Republic merengue, bachata, salsa, hip-hop Haiti mereng, konpa, rasin, salsa, hip-hop Martinique zouk, salsa, raga, konpa, cadanse, mereng, hiphop Guadeloupe zouk, gwoka/lewoz, salsa, konpa, cadanse, hiphop Trinidad and Tobago calypso, soca, reggae, salsa, hip-hop Jamaica reggae, dancehall, salsa, merengue Dominica cadanse-lypso, salsa, merengue Curaçao tumba, salsa, merengue Circum-Caribbean Brazil sambareggae, samba do pe, salsa, merengue, hip-hop rhythms among nineteenth-century ports,2 twentieth- and twenty-first-century performances, recordings, television, and internet displays have spread Pan-Caribbean dance musics to New York, Paris, London, Dakar, Caracas, Cali, Miami, and Montreal, the major dance capitals of the world. Zouk and timba are prime examples. Zouk is a 1980s intricate musical mixture for either couple-embrace dancing or individual dance rapture.3 Its basic dance patterns, two-step (RL) and three-step (RLR hold, alternate), resonated comfortably with both Caribbean and non-Caribbean dancers, who were able to innovate bodily above the foot patterns. Through combined rhythms and Creole lyrics, zouk updated lewoz, mazouk, and biguine, promoted Caribbean dance music throughout the world, and in the process projected nostalgia for a Caribbean home among the many Caribbean immigrants across the globe. Zouk’s main connections to its performers were sociopolitical, first with its lyrics that communicated directly in a Creole understood by Caribbeans, Africans, Canadians, and Europeans. Then, zouk’s rise in popularity across the globe gave a rise in status for Martinicans, Guadeloupeans, and other Creole-speaking islanders. Martinicans and Guadeloupeans especially enjoyed an identity apart from dependent department connections to France.4 Timba, an evolved form of son dancing from historic plazas to contemporary nightclubs, was the rage in Cuba during the 1990s—a provocative style performed by working-class dancers and sophisticated yet street-smart musicians.5 Cuban musical geniuses led a persistent“black”youth culture to perform specific identities, to stand up in politically conscious ways, relishing in self displays that were unheard of decades before. The main leader, José Luís Cortés, and his band, NG La Banda, were censored repeatedly for blasting conventional boundaries publicly. 94 chapter 5 While the government emphasized frugality, the nation, and socialism, timba projected consumerism, individualism, and the brashness of youth.6 Despite the costs of dressing up, paying entrance fees, and being hassled by police in Cuban/international music spaces, young dancers of all colors defied official mandates to reject the“West,”commercialism, and rules concerning fraternization with tourists. Instead, they danced provocatively in tourist establishments and bawdily in open community spaces to captivating music and brazen lyrics; they brashly mimicked the knowingly impolite words and gestured crude honesty from lower...