Changes in infrastructure and the
funding of the arts are moments
when we, as dance practitioners,
stop and reflect on our values, who
we are, what we do and why. In
2011, I wrote an article for Animated
called More Conversations Please! in
which I reflected on the change of
discourse around the African Peoples
Dance/Black dance sector over 15
years (1). I stated that conversations
in the sector were moving beyond
debates questioning the term ‘black
dance’ into other areas. An artistic
discourse about the work of Black
dancers was emerging which I
attributed to the projects of the
Association of Dance of the African
Diaspora commonly known as ADAD
(which merged into the formation
of One Dance UK). One project was
the Re:generations conference, the
international conference of dance
of the Africa and the Diaspora. The
inaugural edition of the conference
was in 2010. The erstwhile director
of ADAD, Jeanette Bain-Burnett had
told me she wanted to encourage
the sector to think in terms of being
a community of practice. I reported
that the sector was operating in this
way was apparent at the conference.
The dance sector as a whole is again
at a moment of change, and reflection
– there has been a drop in funding
and changes in dance infrastructure.
Many conversations in professional
development are about sustainability
and resilience. Thankfully there is
some important research happening
which will help organisations and
independent artists find ways of
navigating the changing landscape.
There are at least two on-going
projects. Mercy Nabirye, Head of
Dance of the African Diaspora at
One Dance UK has been leading on
a mapping exercise of this sector
with the aim of gathering information
to pin-point its current practices
and needs. Mercy points out, due to
changes in the arts sector, support
organisations cannot take for granted
that they know the dance sector
needs. Since 2017 individual artists
and organisational heads have been
interviewed and focus groups have
been organised. Louise Katerega’s
project has focused specifically on
participatory (community) practice.
As part of her partnership work with
People Dancing, Voice and Presence,
she carried out a survey called Untold
Value enquiring about the activities,
professional relationships and
aspirations of community dance artists
identifying as women with an African
or Diaspora heritage. Both initiatives
(in different ways) are looking into
how dance artists are developing their
own practices in order to know where
they need support or to facilitate the
sharing of experiences in the field.
Findings of both will be shared at the
Re:generations conference this year.
As one of the many dance artists who
took part in both surveys, I continued
to think about the issues they raised
about sustainability.
From my observations, being part
of and engaging with communities
has been beneficial to the careers of
Black dancers at different points on
their journeys and to the dance sector
as a whole and I share in this article
how I see this play out. ‘Community’ is
a complex and layered term, meaning
different things in different places.
A factor that seems to be common
to most definitions of community is
that a community consists of people
are considered to be a collective, but
this could be on the basis of shared
background, heritage, experience,
or circumstances. I would like to add
the caveat that my descriptions of
community should not be taken as
being a sociological proven fact but as
a banner under which to discuss good
practices. With that in mind I wish to
discuss three ways of relating to the
idea of ‘community’ by dance artists
which I think have been beneficial
to them and those around them –
‘community dance’, communities that
dance, and communities of practice.
1. Community dance
‘Community dance’ has been
described as a dance practice in
which professional dancers engaged
with various communities to create
dance performances. Often the
process of dance making is given
higher value than the performance.
In the 1990s, due to policies, which
aligned the work of Black dance
artists with social inclusion agendas,
some dance artists resented their
work being related to the idea of
‘community’ in any way. Nevertheless,
community dance has at times served
as a platform that has supported the
artistic and cultural appeal of the
dance of the African diaspora to be
recognised in Britain and participants
have recognised its value. When
interviewing Louise Katerega about
the outcomes of her survey she told
me that for several of the respondents
there is a synergy between the work
they create for touring and artistic
events and the work they create
with communities. For more than
one successful choreographer, their
community following provided the
financial foundation and audience
numbers (live and on-line) to allow
the shift from jobbing performers
to independent careers creating
their own professional work. It
also indicated to them the kind
of stakeholder relationships they
should develop and demonstrated
to programmers (all-too-oftensurprised
at the size and diversity
of the new audiences they brought
to their venues) these artists’ deep
understanding of and credibility
within communities of colour
wherever they went.
2. Communities that dance
Many dance artists who work within
dance of the Africa and the Diaspora
are part of what I describe here as
‘communities that dance’. This is a
broad and inadequate description
for people invested in particular
dance forms as part of their everyday
lifestyle. Here dance features as part
of religious, familial, recreational or
social events and it’s not necessarily
practiced as a profession. When
dancing is embedded in everyday
life it comes with philosophies and
cultural practices which are a source
of creativity and strength for those
involved and when people from
these communities go into dance as
profession they can bring a unique
perspective to the professional dance
industry. Hakeem Onibudo of Impact
Dance, who also has a background
in fitness, seeks to develop a sense
of community between people who
attend his classes and performances.
One of his initiatives is to organise
dance holidays, which bring
participants from professional dance,
recreational dance and the fitness
industry together. When it comes
to performance, I think of the dance
artists of the 1990s who popularised
hip-hop as a staged dance form –
Benji Ried, Jonzi D, Robert Hylton,
Kwesi Johnson, Hakeem Onibudo.
Though most of them went on to
formally train at dance schools and
conservatoires their outlook and
understanding of dance came from
varied cultural sources (beyond what
was offered through their formal
dance training), which gave them
the wherewithal to forge innovative
artistic paths for themselves and
others.
3. Communities of practice
The idea of ‘communities of practice’
is a concept that comes from lifelong
education. It was in use around the
work of the Black Dance Development
Trust in the 1980s or the Association
of Dance of the African Diaspora in the
mid-1990s, but in retrospect these are
what these organisations facilitated. A
community of practice is made up of
practitioners who “develop a shared
repertoire of resources: experiences,
stories, tools, and ways of addressing
recurring problems” (2). This is a
point I mentioned in the 2011 article.
Presently, we are witnessing a growing
number of artists who run initiatives
which promote this kind of community
sharing. Alesandra Seutin for
example has, for two years running,
organised a two-week workshop
programme for dance professionals
and practitioners at Ecole des Sables
in Senegal, the centre of the mother
of African contemporary dance,
artist Germaine Acogny. It brought
dancers from several nations around
the world who are invested in the
dance of Africa and the Diaspora
to learn, experiment, discuss and
experience the practices of a cohort
of internationally recognised teachers.
Professor Ramsay Burt supported
my trip to the 2018 edition where we
jointly facilitated and participated
in discussion sessions that were
organised by Alesandra as part of
the programme. Participants were
active in reflecting and articulating
their dance practices and addressing
political and artistic issues as part of
the dancing and cultural experience.
Community and Versatility
Artists who engage with community
in these ways can move in and out
of different cultural spheres and
approach the practice of dance from
multiple perspectives. For these artists
the relationship between community
and dance is varied and does not
constitute a single rigid configuration.
A sense of what their work can mean
to different communities gives artists
the ability to produce various kinds of
projects – artistic, socially engaged,
community-focused, educational or
experimental. To illustrate this point
I will discuss briefly the work of Vicki
Igbokwe and Freddie Opoku-Addaie.
Vicki Igbokwe is the Founder and
Creative Director of Uchenna Dance.
The Head Wrap Diaries which she
directed, choreographed and cowrote,
is an innovative production
which draws on her skills as a
choreographer and empowerment
specialist. The Head Wrap Diaries, if
you have not seen it, is a funny and
uplifting dance theatre show about
three women and their ongoing
relationship with hair. It mixes dance,
theatre and storytelling with a good
dose of humour. The performance
venue is transformed into a hair salon,
with wig stands and chairs set around
a performing space. Vicki vividly
brought to the stage the sociality that
is often produced in places where
women do their hair in African and
Caribbean communities in particular.
She invited the general public into the
experience by setting up a ‘Head Wrap
Bar’, along with the performances.
‘The Head Wrap Bar,’ which was
usually in the theatre foyer (post
show), was a place where members of
the audience could do such things as
meet the company, share experiences,
learn and share different ways of tying
head wraps, and look at an exhibition
of specially commissioned art (pre
show). On occasion, Vicki has had
to work hard to bring some venues
around to seeing the relevance of ‘The
Head Wrap Bar’. The appearance of
new audiences and the intermingling
of different groups of people around
this feature have quickly changed their
minds.
The choreography of Freddie
Opoku-Addaie “juxtaposes instinctive
movement, ritualistic folk practices,
structured choreography, with rules
and parameters of gaming” (3) is a
case in question. As a dance-maker he
is highly conceptual in his approach
as those who have experienced his
solo production Show of Hands would
agree. It could be briefly described
as the performance of minimalist
movement on a stage populated by
various sized wooden sculptures of
hands. However, watching Freddie
lead a community movement
workshop with his sculptures on the
grounds of the Horniman museum
(as part of the ADAD Bloom festival)
which included little children,
parents and elders revealed to me
the accessibility of his work when
presented from another angle. Says
Freddie, he obsessed with how the
‘inanimate animates the animate’,
the relationship we have with our
surroundings and sound/rhythmic
structures. This came from his
experiences of living in Ghana when
he was young.
I hope this article demonstrates
how some Black British practitioners
are nurturing dance practices,
interrogating both social and artistic
imperatives and drawing issues of
heritage, leisure, cultural leadership,
and professional practice together.
This seems to be a good recipe for
balance, health and growth in these
times. As previously mentioned, many
dance artists do not think of their
dance in relation to community in
these terms exactly. I use these ways
of looking at community as means
of discussing their versatility and to
celebrate a perspective on dance,
which should be recognised and
embraced.
Info
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References
(1) Animated Spring 2011
(2) Smith, M. K. (2003, 2009) ‘Communities
of Practice’, the encyclopaedia of
informal education, www.infed.org/biblio/communities_of_practice.htm
(3) Freddieopoku-addaie.com