Lacy Smith

Dancer | Choreographer

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The African Origins of an American Art Form - Response Blog

On page 39, Takiyah Nur Amin states “The diverse cultural groups [referring to the multiple African cultures enslaved on plantations]...blended, creating a rich collection of African-derived movements that were later adopted, borrowed, and/or appropriated by dominant cultural groups.” This is saying that there was appropriation happening amongst the African cultures to better fit their ideals and beliefs. So why is is okay for another African culture to appropriate African movement but seemingly frowned upon for the European culture to appropriate African movement to fit European ideals? In the case of minstrel shows, especially those done in black face that were performed to satirize African movement, European culture appropriated the movement to make fun of African beliefs and rituals. However, I would venture to say that white people of that time were too proud to admit their admiration of African dance but since they found it entertaining, satirizing it was their way of exploring it for themselves while still establishing their dominance. This leads me to conclude that appropriation can have a positive or negative context it just depends on how you appropriate.

On a different note, this reading opened my eyes to how much Swing! uses the innate characteristics of African influence on jazz dance. Though there is inevitably some appropriation from the directors, the movement content is within close proximity of historical swing dancing. We were instructed to watch videos of various types of swing dancing to familiarize ourselves with the style. The performance company is constantly being told to be more grounded and to find the nuances of the music. There are also instances that couples are featured in a way to show them off or in competition with another couple. Until reading this I did not truly recognize how much these choreographic choices rang true to traditional swing dancing but also African dance.

-Do you think European culture satirized aspects of African dance in minstrel shows in order to establish their dominance or to cover their fascination with it? Why do you think that?

-How do you think jazz dance would look if it had only been appropriated amongst various African cultures?

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Jazz Dance as a Continuum - Response Blog

“When the roots and trunk remain unacknowledged, the continuum is disrupted.” These words from Patricia Cohen stood out to me the most within this reading. Through learning about the history of various styles of dance such as musical theatre, modern, tap, and jazz in my classes during my collegiate career, I have started to realize how truly watered down our perceptions of dance genres are. But even though I have learned about the roots of such styles on paper, the only class we took the time to explore what the roots were in our bodies was the first semester of musical theatre dance. Does the fact that my mind knows the history but my body doesn’t make my dancing in each genre lack continuum?

The image of the tree resonated quite well with me. Having a visual of West African Culture as the roots and trunk with vernacular and theatrical jazz as the branches seems to be an accurate representation. I was also pleased to read about how Cohen uses the image of the tree within her collegiate jazz classes and has her students identify which part of the tree they are working from on a given day. I feel like a similar activity within my classes would be beneficial in helping me connect the intellectual knowledge to my kinesthetic knowledge. Also, by her asking “Where’s the jazz?” and requiring them to answer with the characteristics they identified as being jazz dance can help differentiate what is true to the traditional jazz dance and what has been embellished by popular ideals.

-Do you think the lack of education of the roots of jazz outside of the collegiate settings is at the fault of the teachers being uneducated or of the students disinterest?

-Theoretically, if jazz dance started its evolution in today’s society, do you think white European culture would still “clean up” the loose limbs and sensuality or embrace the roots in their pure form?