- I said the name and danced it.
- I told the audience that my project was about French colonialism and slavery and this solo was about religion.
- I translated several reoccurring words and the moves that accompanied them. (God, iron chains, centuries, beasts)
- I danced it to an English translation read live.
It was a small enough group that we were able to have a discussion afterwards. I basically asked what stood out, what did they understand, how did the different levels of 'pre-knowledge' effect their perceptions of the dance.
I quickly realized that I hadn't told them that I was looking at the subject from the perspective of the colonized rather than the colonizers when they all expressed their surprise upon hearing the English version.
They brought up a lot of the stuff I've been struggling with. For example, that my movement clearly fit better to the french text (because that was how it was choreographed) but that they understood more when they heard it in English. It was suggested that I somehow do it both ways, which I've thought of, but that's an issue of time and understanding by my dancers. While I know the text well enough that I could still time my moves to the equivalent English cue-words, not all my dancers speak French so it'd be like re-teaching them the dance again and, unfortunately, I just don't have the time to do that.
Celeste and I discussed maybe repeating this exercise in some capacity in my show so that the audience would at least be thinking critically about what I'm trying to say (looking for those re-occurring moves, understanding the perspective, etc). It's such an interesting question that I'm excited to keep exploring it. I really wish I could do two versions of my show. Maybe someday, but it has at least given me a lot to think about.
