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UCLA UCLA Electronic Theses and Dissertations Title Dancing at the Crossroads with Raiz di Polon: Contemporary Dance, Seas of Sodadi and Corporeal Creolization Permalink https://escholarship.org/uc/item/73p11321 Author Stranovsky, Sara Publication Date 2013 Peer reviewed|Thesis/dissertation eScholarship.org Powered by the California Digital Library University of California UNIVERSITY OF CALIFORNIA Los Angeles Dancing at the Crossroads with Raiz di Polon: Contemporary Dance, Seas of Sodadi and Corporeal Creolization. A dissertation submitted in partial satisfaction of the requirements for the degree Doctor of Philosophy in Culture & Performance by Šara Stranovsky 2013 ABSTRACT OF THE DISSERTATION Dancing at the Crossroads with Raiz di Polon: Contemporary Dance, Seas of Sodadi and Corporeal Creolization. by Šara Stranovsky Doctor of Philosophy in Culture and Performance University of California, Los Angeles, 2013 Professor, Allen F. Roberts, Chair Cape Verde is located at the geographical and cultural crossroads between West Africa, Europe, and the Americas. The archipelago’s location physically isolates the islands, while a lack of financial opportunities encourages Cape Verdeans to emigrate to study or work. Cape Verde is a point of union for many nations around the world and many Cape Verdeans identify with being both European and African. The islands are divided culturally and linguistically while united as part of the Cape Verdean Kriolu mosaic. Opposition between isolation and union has developed divisions regarding which languages and traditions will be privileged as markers of national identity. These tensions create the context for the archipelago’s first contemporary dance company, Raiz di Polon. I show how director Mano Preto has innovated a style that blurs boundaries using techniques rooted in the archipelago's folk practices and informed by intercultural collaboration. Through conducting participatory ethnographic research, accessing archives, collaborating on performances and documentating the company’s work, I clarify both the strengths and the constraints of migratory flows, globalization, and the financial need for a ii global audience. Four strategies are employed to analyze Raiz di Polon: a grounding of key historical events that built a culture of adaptation and resistance; a discussion of Kriolu as a mode of ontological expression to which to compare movement; a dissection of the performance “Cidade Velha” that reimagines the nation through narratives and the development of a “kriolized” movement lexicon; and an examination of RDP as a local, regional, and global dance training center. Five case studies highlight how Raiz di Polon’s impact can be evaluated through festival and musical concert contexts. This project makes the case that RDP succeeds in reclaiming muted postcolonial histories, uniting internal archipelagic divides, and promoting sustainability through the creation of a corporeal Kriolu lexicon. I show that RDP is emblematic to Cape Verdeans who seek to officialize Kriolu against contestations regarding the archipelago’s identity as an African Nation. This dissertation shows the impact of dance, art, creolity and globalization on the autonomy of small nations and highlights dance as an important subject of diaspora and globalization studies. iii The dissertation of Sara Stranovsky is approved. Janet O’Shea Anthony Seeger David Shorter Allen Roberts, Committee Chair University of California, Los Angeles 2013 iv DEDICATION For My late mother, Sandy Stranovsky, whose tireless dedication to teaching me music, dance, and art has forever propelled my thirst for learning, and whose dream was to see me complete this work. For My father and brother, whose support was fundamental to the completion of this work. For Cape Verdean performers, artists, and friends whose stories inform this work For My mentors from childhood through graduate school who set examples of passionate work. v TABLE OF CONTENTS LIST OF FIGURES ………………………………………………viii LIST OF ABBREVIATIONS ………………………………x LIST OF CHARACTERS ………………………………xi GLOSSARY OF KEY WORDS ……………….……………...xiv AKNOWLEDGEMENTS ………………………………xvii VITA ………………………………xxi INTRODUCTION Morabeza Welcome: Setting the Stage ………………1 Chapter descriptions ………………10 Šara/Xara/Sarah in Cape Verde ………………13 Methods ………………16 Literature Review ………………25 CHAPTER ONE: CIRCULATING HISTORIES Contrasting Winds: Land to Sea to Stage ………………45 The Births of Cape Verdean identities ………………51 Contrasting Regional Identities ………………60 Language: unofficial vs. official culture ………………67 Migrations and Nodes of Networks ………………71 Audience of Strangers? ………………76 Seas of Sodadi ………………88 CHAPTER TWO: RAIZ DI POLON IN CAPE VERDE Introduction ………………95 Roots of RDP Syle ………………98 Mimicry or Invention ………………106 Contemporary Dance: Liberation from the Style Norm…….118 CHAPTER THREE: RAIZ DI POLON ON STAGE IN CIDADE VELHA Introduction ………………134 Cidade Velha close analysis ………………142 The Need for History ………………145 Narrative Framework Reclaims History ………………149 In-Transit Architecture as emblems of autonomy ………162 Medley and Suite: Uniting Archipelagic Creolity ………172 Adaptations and Emotional Infusion ………182 vi Hybrid Visual Objects ………………185 Free-Form Resemblance ………………194 Amplified Pathways ………………198 Chapter Conclusion ………………202 CHAPTER FOUR: RAIZ DI POLON AS COMMUNITY Introduction: Putting words and bodies together. ……………….206 Praia: Cosmopolitan Spaces and Contending winds …….….212 Place and Space: Community Institution …………….…220 Deepening the Crossroads: Exchanging and Sponging……...231 Building a Lexicon: Corporeal Kriolu …………….....249 Borrowing for Missing Words …………….…258 Borrowing for Prestige …………….…260 Borrowing for Fuller expressive Vocabularies ……..265 Borrowing Accents and Phonetics ……….……....268 Borrowing for Comic Effect …………….....275 Chapter Conclusions …………….....279 CHAPTER FIVE: RDP ON CROSSING STAGES Introduction ……………………………….283 Matrix of Identity/Matrix of Othering ……………….284 Festival Mindelact: RDP as African Theater ……………….293 Talentu Strella: RDP as superstar musical accompaniment…305 Café Palkus: RDP as intellectual elite ……………….307 Kommuni: RDP as intercultural experiment ……………….316 Chapter Conclusions ……………….323 CONCLUSIONS: RDP AS THE NATIONAL BALLET OF CAPE VERDE Findings and Implications ……………….327 Writing as Place-Making ……………….329 Broader Implications ……………….330 Predictions ……………….336 The Polon by the Sea is the Flower ……………….338 WORKS CITED/BIBLIOGRAPHY .………………338 vii LIST OF FIGURES Figure 1. Street Raízes. xii Figure 2. Simentera. 3 Figure 3. Grasp the Nation. 44 Figure 4. Water dance. 45 Figure 5. Map of Cape Verde Archipelago. 46 Figure 6. Banana Ride. 56 Figure 7. Crioula. 58 Figure 8. Contrasts. 60 Figure 9. Batuko and Pano di Terra 62 Figure 10. Tabanka procession. 64 Figure 11. Amilcar Cabral images. 66 Figure 12. Diaspora Map 75 Figure 13. Raiz di Polon for China. 86 Figure 14. Sodadi. 88 Figure 15. Montage of Maramar performance. 91 Figure 16: Longing Distance. 94 Figure 17. Dancing in Cape Verde. 95 Figure 18. Arms that Sway. 98 Figure 19. Afrika Rainbow 100 Figure 20. Polon Tree and Roots. 101 Figure 21. A Little of Everything 109 Figure 22. Sambista. 112 Figure 23. Carnival Street. 115 Figure 24. Head Thrash. 119 Figure 25. Chart of Musical and Dance Expressions. 122 Figure 26. Disbanded groups based upon hearsay. 125 Figure 27. Principle Dance Groups in Santiago, 2008-2013 128 Figure 28. Photo Montage of Santiago Dance groups. 130 Figure 29. Making of Cidade Velha. 134 Figure 30. First Five Minutes. 137 Figure 31. Cidade Velha Visual Summary. 140 Figure 32. Pillar Dance. 143 Figure 33: Monastery Forum. 147 Figure 34. Rosy Timas Immersed. 153 Figure 35. Closing. 155 Figure 36. In transit Architectures within Cidade Velha. 166 Figure 37. Medley of Dances. 177 Figure 38. Coladeira. 186 Figure 39. Morna in “Cidade Velha.” 190 Figure 40. Batuko dances. 191 viii Figure 41. Batuko Scene in “CidadeVelha.” 194 Figure 42. Free Form Resemblance. 196 Figure 43. Colá Dance. 199 Figure 44. Island Hopping. 206 Figure 45. Katchupa Rica. 208 Figure 46. Embodied Katchupa. 210 Figure 47. Waiting. 214 Figure 48. Winds. 215 Figure 49. Plateau from Below. 222 Figure 50. Plateau to Below. 222 Figure 51. School Montage. 225 Figure 52. Ballerinas. 227 Figure 53. Nucleus. 228 Figure 54. Get to Know You. 233 Figure 55. Bety Fernandes. 236 Figure 56. Solo by Maman Sani. 240 Figure 57. Contemporary dance for me is… 241 Figure 58. Trying on Ballet. 246 Figure 59. Making of. 249 Figure 60. Past Present Future. 258 Figure 61. Traditional Funana. 267 Figure 62. Contemporary Funana. 268 Figure 63.Video stills from Project Espera, 273 Figure 64. More video stills from Project Espera, 274 Figure 65. Forti! 277 Figure 66. Tabanka. 278 Figure 67. Connected. 280 Figure 68. Map of Performances according to Richard Schechner. 282 Figure 69. Tangled. “Kommuni.” 283 Figure 70. Inauguration of Mindelact. 295 Figure 71. Mindelact RDP. 304 Figure 72. Talentu Strella Stadium. 305 Figure 73. 2012 Talentu Strella Finals with Raiz di Polon. 312 Figure 74. Café Palkus Audience. 314 Figure 75. Kommuni. 322 Figure 76. Traditional Modern International Regional Local 326 Figure 77. National Steps. 327 Figure 78. New Beginnings. 336 Figure 79. Smiling Flowers. 340 ix ABBREVIATIONS: ALUPEC Alfabeto Unificado para a Escrita do Caboverdiano (Unified Alphabet for Cape Verdean Writing) CCB Brazilian Cultural Center CPLP Comunidade dos Países de Lingua Portuguesa (Community of Portuguese-Speaking Countries) CCP Centro Cultural