Caribbean and Atlantic Diaspora Dance: Igniting Citizenship

Conclusion. Igniting Diaspora Citizenship

conclusion Igniting Diaspora Citizenship As previous chapters have indicated, there is an enormous amount of information within Caribbean and Atlantic Diaspora dance—beyond the physical articulation and expression of the body. These dances share with many other dance practices the splendor of the human body moving in space and time and creating aesthetic awe, but Diaspora dance also contains the major concerns of Diaspora dancers. This volume’s review of dance genres across six Caribbean and Atlantic linguistic areas has ultimately revealed core corporeal, cultural, and sociological meanings of African Diaspora dance—namely, transcendence, resilience, and citizenship. Please note, however , that the focus has been on historical, national, popular, Carnival, sacred, and combat genres and not simply concert genres; in other words, dance “practices”in addition to“performances”have strong properties and piercing issues that communicate to dancers while dancing and to witnessing and participating others. Not only artistic, concert, or theatrical performances have this capacity, but so-called folkloric, traditional, and vernacular dances have these propensities also.The very aesthetic center of dance itself, as well as of Diaspora dance, has been the concern of this volume. Transcendent Performance Diaspora dance is uniquely contagious and well recognized for its transcendent tendencies. Its several genres have spread first across Caribbean locales and then, by means of migration, transnational connections, and communication technologies, to Caribbean niches in New York, Montreal, London, Paris, Dakar, Cali, Caracas, Rio de Janeiro, Montevideo, and other locales. Its contagion is initiated within the dancing body through the pure pleasure of Afro-Caribbean–based rhythms or through marketing of specific dances, televised performances, and the likes of YouTube entries, which bring particular dance genres and styles to distant sites as well. Still, translocal and transnational Diaspora dances become “world dance” performance when they travel beyond their niche communities to more distant cultures in Lagos, Kinshasa,Tokyo, Helsinki, Melbourne, etc.What else are Diaspora dances but contagious phenomena! As Diaspora dance travels in translocal and transnational performances, transcendent experiences are shared. Among the varied genres that have been examined throughout this book, transcendence has been the repeated objective, effect, and meaning at the movement level of analysis. So many of the dances encourage performers to become totally at one with the movement such that the corporeal becomes the ecstatic, so that the ancestral world joins the present and transformational states of being preside, or so that dancers reach heightened levels of excitation where aesthetic response overflows. As Caribbean and other Diaspora dancers reach for the extraordinary , the overwhelming sensation of awe attains and their bodies (and those of some would-be “viewers”) experience transcendence—even for a few moments. Performers and observers feel glimpses of the human/spirit connection and are inevitably affected; they are consequently transported to a realm of extreme fascination, engagement, and rapture. In that realm, everyday workers and community members transcend their routine roles to become “performers”; then dancing performers transcend to become creative artists, committed dance scene participants, or believing worshipers ; interested observers become enthralled participants; the dance becomes music as the music becomes dance; and a dance community comes into being. Repeated transcendent experiences over time give the dancing community form and solidarity, and dancing itself encourages a virtual journey that makes the ephemeral moments of the dance usual, normal, the ideal. Resilience The resilience that has surfaced with transcendence throughout this volume is the underpinning cultural meaning of Diaspora dance. Despite the ease with which Diaspora dances transcend geographical borders, local Caribbean and Atlantic dances remain—a great many, for centuries. Local dances are practiced, revived when necessary, enjoyed in their own right, or employed as fertile contribution to intra-Caribbean and inter-Diaspora creations. While Caribbean dances, especially, are fundamentally “global,” (because of both diverse foundational elements and worldwide popularity), 190 conclusion they still retain island distinctions (for example, diverse quadrilles) and advertise many local dance genres and styles (Carnival, combat, sacred, and social dances, to name a few).They are also admired and practiced over time as intra-island, Pan-Caribbean, and Afro-Latin popular dances (merengue, salsa, reggae, konpa, dancehall, zouk, timba). Thus, the widespread repetition of one particular dance, such as merengue or dancehall, has not yielded mono-dance culture, nor is there much erasure of local dances. Diaspora dance genres have longevity, and their undercurrent determinant derives from their resilience—in other words, the ability to bounce back from change, resume shape, and energetically...