Why do we tend to find it necessary to refine Black movement?
Before I delve into this, I think it might be wise to ask why do we tend to find it necessary to refine Black, period?
But first, let me give you a little background on me.
Self Identity, Now on Sale!
I grew up a half-black child with a black mother and black sister in East Los Angeles, California. On every block there was a Korean-owned “beauty supply” shop that stocked whatever you needed to bring you one step closer to the European standard of beauty. Hair weaves, straighteners, relaxers, wigs –you name it.
Well, almost everything except Afro wigs. But you can find those in the novelty/joke shop if you really needed one. When a black woman dawns a long straight wig, why isn’t it quite as funny as when someone of Caucasian lineage crowns herself with an Afro?
When rapper Lil’ Kim sported that blond wig, I did get a chuckle. Though I don’t know if anyone else got the joke. Seemed equally silly to me. Both are gross exaggerations on a physical reality, a necessary ingredient of humor.
“Wow, your brother has that GOOD hair”, my younger sister’s friends would say when comparing my hair to her kinkier crown. Good hair? What’s that?
Sammy Sosa, bleaching his skin. What’s that about? I guess money doesn’t particularly help with loving yourself.
There’s something about Black that bothers and begs for refinement. Sometimes it’s obvious, as is the case with hair products or African religion. But other times, these notions of race, refinement and cultural reduction, are so incredibly stealth, you’d be hard pressed to catch it.
Just Add Water
Well over a decade ago, my first studio experience with Latin dance was in LA, as I stood ready and willing to be taught by a young LA Salsa dancer who promised to make me ‘shine’. He explained to me the differences between Salsa styles and assured me that the Los Angeles style was a refinement upon both NY and Cuban Style because of the added tricks and acrobatic flair.
Looking back on this, I am laughing my ass off because reality soon hit.
Not long after I had my chance to train Afro-Cuban. Thinking back on my experiences with my ever-so-wise Salsa instructor, I thought it would be an easy thing…oh shit.
Feeling stiff, awkward, and anything but refined after that, I decided to rethink my game plan. I guess my instructor mixed up his R words, perhaps what he meant to say was ‘reduced’? Movements that were taught to me in a simple and straight forward way, morphed into polyrhythmic variations that totally rocked my world!
But this dude was totally sure of himself when he used the word ‘refinement’. And come to think about it, he might as well have said “a hell of a lot less Afro-Latin”.
Now that would have been more accurate!
From Cuba to the Palladium, The End of the Sincopa
Watch this footage of 1950′s Mambo in Harlem. Notice something? I am sure you noticed plenty.
The syncopation, or unexpected rhythmic variation, is a hallmark of these dancers. They use these surprise accents to add richness and complexity of movement.
The movements carry hints of the Guaguanco, of Columbia, and the dances of both Cuba and the Congo.
These boys are jammin. This was some damn Mambo. Though it evolved from its Cuban counterpart with the obvious influence of African American dances of the era, it maintains its edge, its blackness.
Notice the swaying forward and backwards of the torso. You can literally HEAR the music without hearing a single note. They are using interpretation to bring the unseen, into the seen.
Their styling is personal and they offer no apologies for the way they move.
Compare with Columbia in modern day Cuba.
Fast-forward to today.
An alternating course/sinuous groove has been replaced with steady and unchanging smoothness, complex syncopation with rhythmic regularity, and dynamic interpretation with blatant imitation.
If refinement is a purification of something debase, in this case, black movement, let me remain filthy.
Goodbye Interpretation, Hello Imitation!
What we know as black movement tends to be interpretive. With few exceptions, movements are consequential, residing within and collapsing into reality when and only when the music calls for it.
Check out this clip of some Rumberos, and notice lifeblood of the footwork is completely dependent on the drummer.
Music is used as an accelerant, a type of fuel to ignite and power our body’s movement.
Nowadays, one can easily observe Salseros ignore critical portions of the song, with the introduction of Mambo bell, Timbales, and the interpretive strokes of the conguero falling upon deaf ears -literally. And it seems like each person is pushing themselves to dance like the next.
Result?
The innate movement style that you developed as a child, gets completely buried under a pile of someone else’s notions of what dance is. Ouch.
Is this part of the refinement package?
Again, take me back in time to old-school Cuban Rumba or Palladium Mambo. I am in love with the challenge, the energy and the raw blackness of the movements.
Any Movement can Reflect You
In saying all of this I simply wanted to point out that what is considered by some to be a ‘refinement’ can be turned on its head and called ‘simplification’ or a ‘reduction’. And this was a very short and incomplete post that I technically should write a book on.
So be careful with ideas about the refinement of black movement and remember that ALL movement contains within it, the potential for expression.
Whether or not this is realized is totally up to you in the end.
