THE PROJECT

I became interested in this topic while studying abroad in Nantes, France, a city which was France's largest slave port during the 18th century. My program offered a history course called France and the Atlantic World in which we explored le commerce triangulaire or the Atlantic Slave Trade. In French it's called le commerce triangulaire because of the triangle created between Europe, Africa, and the Caribbean and/or North America depending on the century. Upon my return to Grinnell, I enrolled in a French literature course entitled Francophone Caribbean World in which we analyzed literature written by Haitian, Guadeloupian, and Martiniquais authors. In another seminar taken the same semester, Anthropology of Disaster, I analyzed Le Monde, a French newspaper, to determine France's level of accountability in the role that the colonization of Haiti (Saint-Domingue) played in creating the high-level of vulnerability that the country exists in in the present day (See "pages" on the right hand side for a copy of the paper).

All my encounters put together led me to want to make something in response to what had happened and its continued effects on today's world. I discovered a love of dance when I came to college and wanted to use performance as a way to react to the subject and share the knowledge I had learned with a larger audience.

As an anthropologist, however; I am very apprehensive about inserting myself where I don't belong. It should be noted that I am not French nor Haitian nor Guadeloupian nor Martiniquais nor African. A key inquiry of this choreographic exploration is how to talk about a subject or a history that is not your own. I do not want to speak for a group of people, acceptance or judgment is not my place. But I do think that subjects such as these need to be brought to light because they continue to affect the world today and I believe knowledge and understanding are the only way to move forward. It's a fine line that I'm trying to find. I haven't found the answer yet and maybe I never will but I'll fill you in on the progress through this blog!

Thursday, September 24, 2015

Magic Moments™*

  1. Rehearsal this Wednesday was exactly what I needed after last Saturday. Currently, I've reserved my Wednesdays for the solo I'm working on with Kaya but I just wanted to touch bases with everybody who still expressed interest in participating after I sent out an email asking for explicit commitment. It was the first time we've all been in the same room together. A quick discussion on Fig Newtons made me inordinately happy and left  me feeling completely assured that this is going to work. Sometimes you just know a group is going to work together when they're debating the bug content of snack foods. 
  2. Then we were able to set about a minute of choreography in like half an hour. It was nice to see the improvisation tasks, discussions we had, and the text all come together pretty seamlessly. Progress!
  3. Having a discussion with one of my readers about the section I asked her to read. It was great to engage in a conversation about tone, symbolism and the cohesiveness of the script. It's always nice when someone else expresses interest in a subject you've put a lot of time into thinking about and brings new insights. 
  4. Discussing the benefits of collaborating with a potential sound designer / seeing her get excited at the possibilities for this project. 
  5. The Registrar telling me that I can get credit for continuing my MAP in the Spring. 
* Shout out to Heidi Howard in Atlanta 
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