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!

Tuesday, October 6, 2015

"Models of Collaboration: Dance, Art, and Music" - Talk given at Grinnell College on 10/06/15

Juliet Bellow, "Working Simultaneously: Robert and Sonia Delaunay and the Ballets Russes"
Julia Randel, "Pas de deux of music and dance: Balanchine's Stravinsky ballets"

A point that both women touched on was the idea that in collaboration there is an inherent hierarchy between collaborators. These made me pause as normally, when talking about collaboration, it's with the intention of multiple people bringing their ideas to the table and creating something amazing from it. When I think about it, this has always been the case in every group project I've ever worked on; someone has to take the lead or nothing ever seems to get decided or finished. But I've never applied the term "hierarchy" to a collaborative situation, especially when it's a project in the arts. I'm having mixed feelings about being in a position of power for my MAP. On the one hand, I do get to make the final call on what to keep and what to change so it's can be exactly how I want, but I'm also afraid that someone else will have an idea that I would love but they aren't saying anything because I'm 'supposed' to be telling them what to do. I like to think I've set up a relationship with those I'm working with to establish an open exchange of ideas but it always takes time to become comfortable enough with people to be bluntly honest about ideas. So, I guess I'll check back on this question in a few months when we've had the chance to work together a little more.

Julia Randel gave the audience a handout with certain quotes from Stravinsky and Balanchine. There were two in particular that stuck out to me. The first makes me feel better about the fact that I'm choreographing right now with no clue as to what the music is going to sound like. The second, I love because I want the music to convey what is being said for non-French speakers.
"Choreography, as I concieve it, must realize its own form, one independent of the music though measured to the musical unit. Its construction will be based on whatever correspondence the choreographer may invent, but it must not seek to duplicate the line and beat of the music."
                                             -Stravinsky
"Well, that's what the music said."
                                            -Balanchine 

Posted by at

No comments:

Post a Comment

Subscribe to: Post Comments (Atom)