The Dance That Will Not Die Refracting Imperial Whiteness Through the Dying Swan Julian B

Home , Anna Pavlova, Ariel (Once Upon a Time), Dancing King, Michel Fokine, Superstars of Dance, The Dying Swan

The Dance That Will Not Die Refracting Imperial Whiteness through The Dying Swan Julian B. Carter

Figure 1. Leading pole-dancer Elena Gibson performing as The Dying Swan at the UK Professional Pole Dancing Championships. Telford, Shropshire, UK, 1 December 2013. (Screengrab by TDR; www.youtube .com/watch?v=FuHYZ1Sb2zE)

When I was quite small I felt fiercely attracted to a perfume bottle I saw on a friend’s big sis- ter’s vanity. The little milk-glass swan was capped by a tiny golden crown. Every time I went over I found an excuse to go into the room to fiddle with it, twisting the crown around and around, enjoying the dynamics of its alignment with the top of the swan’s delicate head. One day when I picked it up I saw that the gold was flaking off to reveal a dull greyish-pink plastic, ugly as a Band-Aid. It had never occurred to me that the gold wasn’t real. I’ve continued to follow the trace of swans away from the regal elegance of the ancien régime into moments in contemporary mass cultural performance when the paint peels away. Once you start looking for them, swans show up everywhere. They glide through endless

Julian B. Carter is Associate Professor of Critical Studies at the California College of the Arts in Oakland and San Francisco. His publications on race and erotics include The Heart of Whiteness: Normal Sexuality and Race in America, 1890–1940 (Duke University Press, 2007) and essays in TSQ, GLQ, and the Journal of the History of Sexuality; his performance analyses appear in the Transgender Studies Reader Volume 2 (Routledge, 2013) and in Queer Dance: Makings and Meanings (Oxford University Press, 2017). He also draws, dances, and makes social sculptures as Principle Instigator of the performance group PolySensorium. [email protected]

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110 Julian B. Carter ?v=JZumgHLSW10) Over thepast11decadeslargercontextforperformancesofTheDyingSwan haschangedso hard toseeandeasydismiss. This transparencyhasbeencompoundedbythepassageoftime. power istarnishedbytheoverexposurethatmassproduction;it’ssocommonbecome tion ofmaterialdelicacyorfragility. Also liketheperfumebottle, itsthematicreferencetoroyal perfume bottle, itcirculatesasapopularsignifierofeliteculture, especiallyinitsaestheticiza- who don’tknowitsnameoranythingaboutclassicalballet, anddon’tcare. Likethemilk-glass her ankle(seePavlova1925;Plisetskaya1959;Zakharova2015). wings; andultimatelycomestorestbowedoverherlegwitharmsextendedcross to thegroundononeknee;archesbackwardforsomefinalflutteringstrokesofweakening her “wings” powerfullyasthoughsheisstrugglingtoleavetheground. Eventuallyshesinks These delicatemovementsgivewaytolarger, morestrenuousgestures. The dancermaybeat glide, likelightreflectingoffwavelets, whileripplingherarmsfromshouldertofingertips. dancer executesdozensofcontinuous, tinyscootingstepsonpointethatcreateatrembling classical dance(BlenheimFilms2012). Everyballetdancerknowsitsbasicoutline. Firstthe The DyingSwan isthesinglemostperformedpieceofchoreographyinhistory Western widely reproduceddancesinthe Western world. Onedocumentarygoessofarastoclaimthat short soloforthegreatballerina Anna Pavlova, TheDyingSwan hasbecomeoneofthemost of thedancecalledTheDyingSwan. Originallychoreographedin1905byMichelFokineasa in short, aparadoxicallycommonsignifierofthepreciousandrare. they aresculptedineveryimaginablemediumfrombronzetobuttercreamfrosting. Swansare, wedding invitations;theyarefeaturedinshortstories, poetry, andblack-velvetpaintings; advertising spreadsandfashionshoots;theydecoratecondolencecards, soapdispensers, and 9 August 2011. (Screengrab by hip hop Figure 2. Lil Buck/Charles Riley in the final pose from his famous 1. Poses fromTheDyingSwan areinstantlyrecognizabletomillionsofpeople, includingmany This blendofhighandlowcultureisespeciallyprominentincontemporaryperformances close reading as a cultural text. relative to the ubiquity of the dance itself. To my knowledge no scholar has treated juxtaposition of hip hop and ballet (see for example Sommer 2011). This is a strikingly small body of literature “brand” (Fisher 2012). Bloggers and journalists have also commented on Charles Riley/Lil Buck’s productive a milestone in ballet modernism (Garafola [1989] 2010; Homans 2010) and as the cornerstone of Pavlova’s I am indebted to the exceptions, the dance historians who have documented Dying Swan. Vail International Dance Festival, TDR; www.youtube.com/watch

1990). They inviteustofillin imagination towork(seeColpitt containers createspaceforthe nize assignificant. pathos weareexpectedtorecog- tours gesturingvaguelytowarda empty outline, itsfamiliarcon- circulates aslittlemorethanan drastically thatthedanceoften tial. drawn toexploreitspoten- ers anddance-makershavebeen Dying Swan, whilemanydanc- almost nothingtosayaboutThe formance scholarshavefound may explainwhycriticsandper The Dying The Swan’s as importance This apparentemptiness 1 Simpleformsandempty The Dying The Swan to sustained - The Dance That Will Not Die 111 - - (masquerade) contest. Port-of- contest. (masquerade) mas and while this kind of and while — Spain, Trinidad, 2 February 2015. (Photo by Maria Nunes) Maria by (Photo 2015. February 2 Trinidad, Spain, Figure 3. Jhar-whan Thomas performing “Raj Nijinsky in Drag as Pavlova,” Pavlova,” as Drag in Nijinsky performingThomas Jhar-whan 3. “Raj Figure entry Carnival the in Minshall’s Peter designer These 2

For videos of these performances see VailValleyFoundation (2011 [for Lil Buck]); labayen dance (2011 [for [for (2011 dance labayen Lil Buck]); [for (2011 VailValleyFoundation performancesthese of videos see For Nevasayneva]); Ghiselin/Ida Paul [for (2016 Carlo Monte de Trockadero Ballets Les Silva]); da Lopes Daiane [for (2009 superstarsdance and Jhar-whan Thomas]); [for (2016 lafoncette Gibson]); Elena [for (2013 UKPPC Nyamza]). Mamela The sheer proliferation of - Prisms are ordi as a performance prism. That is why I’ve come to consider The Dying Swan 2. deploy a range of techniques, deploy a range of techniques, and engage diverse audiences, emphasize disparate themes. Their variety is such that I find it helpful to think of them not as variants on one dance but as distinct dances manifesting varied and complex relations to a single generously imprecise form (see Midgelow 2007). contemporary swan-dances suggests that the simple form of The continues to speak Dying Swan It also poses some inter find relevant. and their audiences, to many dance-makers in terms they, attends to its How do we think through this flock of dances in a way that pretative challenges. message in our contemporary cultural moment? How diversity while listening for its aggregate

nary objects with magical qualities. You can pick one up and turn it in your hand. Each fac- can pick one up and turn it in your hand. You nary objects with magical qualities. The facet has its own integrity et’s flat face stares back at you as light flashes from its surface. as a whole isn’t well described by a list of its component birds. as a whole isn’t well described by a list of its component birds. idue that clings to the artifact itself? I can find an exception to every generalization I’ve made idue that clings to the artifact itself? I can Swans exist as an assemblage of strikingly distinct birds, The mass of Dying about these dances. and synchronic responses to others of its kind. each with its own qualities and its own diachronic and the communicative effect of the flock No single swan embodies the entire flock in miniature, do we honor the reality that different choreographers enter the studio with different structural do we honor the reality that different choreographers symbolic res without discounting the affective and relations to this dance as a historical artifact, invitation is most often theorized in relation to spectatorship (see Rancière 2009), The Dying 2009), (see Rancière in relation to spectatorship is most often theorized invitation agency can stimulate the creative that minimalism proliferation suggests ’s enormous Swan has served as template, composition In the past decade Fokine’s as well as viewers. of makers - a range of contempo working in for dozens of choreographers or inspiration source material, hop swans by Charles Examples include hip contexts. idioms and performance rary movement drag version by Paul and John Lennon da Silva (2011); a poignant Riley/Lil Buck (2011) dance using garbage bags as stage 1996); a melancholy modern (c. Ghiselin/Ida Nevasayneva (2009); a pole dance in pointe performed by Daiane Lopes da Silva dressing by Enrico Labayan (2013); a shoes by Elena Gibson choreo- controversial stilt-walk and graphed by Peter Minshall Thomas performed by Jha-whan an avant- (see Paul 2016); and and tradi- garde blend of ballet dance by African tional South Mamela Nyamza (2009). the gaps, to supplement what we’re given with our own reflections we’re given with our to supplement what the gaps, Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

112 Julian B. Carter composition in1905. the longerhistoryofballetandfromspecificaestheticconceptualinfluencesonFokine’s the outsideofdancer’sbody;itisexpressedviamovementitself, andderivesbothfrom criticality. And theculturalwhitenessthatTheDyingSwan refractsisnotonlywrappedaround traditions substance worktoembedtheswansthatdeploytheminrecognizablyEuropeanelitecultural shaped skirtmadeoflayerstulle, feathers, oracombinationofboth). Boththesoundand composer CamilleSaint-Saëns)andmanyalsofeaturethewhiteclassicaltutu(theshortdisc- Swan usethesamescore(themelancholyfour-minute “Le Cygne,” writtenin1886byFrench components ofthedanceincludemusicandcostuming:almostallmanifestationsTheDying through on thesurfaceofeachfacet. Likelightenteringasuncatcher, theculturalwhitenessrefracted through allthemanymanifestationsofformevenwhileitisnotnecessarilynoticeable crystalline structure. view eachdanceasaself-containedcommunicationwhileretainingawarenessofthelarger visible. SotodescribeTheDyingSwan asaperformanceprismistosuggestthatonecan bend whitelightuntilitsapparentunityisfracturedandcomponentwavelengthsbecome and consequentlyanopticalcapacitydistinctfromanythingitsindividualfacetscando:it Simultaneously, theprismasawholehasitsownmaterialunityandgeometricconsistency, ered withoutreferencetothoseofadditionalfacetsaround, before, beside, andbehindit. or completeness;itsoutline, dimensions, andreflectivesheencanbeidentifiedconsid- political and economic resource and measured its usefulness on a hierarchical scale. The body of They carriedwiththemacultural worldviewandbiopoliticalorientationthattreatedalllife asa 1977; Franko1998). Such werethebodiesthatbuiltglobalempiresof18thcentury. rulers transformedpeasantsinto soldiers, armedindividualsintoprofessionalarmies(Foucault returns ture, evenitsrelianceon asquared-off, balancedstanceasthehometowhichallmovement impatience withthelimitationsofhumanflesh, itsaspirations towardperfecteconomyofges- cination withbodilyuniformityandrank, itsfondnessformassed coordinatedpatterns, its physicality ofthemovementidiom. Classicalballet’scharacteristically verticalposture, itsfas- alive notonlyincostuming, narratives, venues, andorganizational culturebutalsointhebasic ratus ofmodernEuropeanempires(Homans2010:xvi–xvii;van Wyk 2012). This associationis all evolvedoverthepastfourcenturies, balletretainsstrong associations withtheculturalappa- the rank-and-filedancerswhosefortunesdependontheirwhims). political environmentoftheiremergence(e.g., artisticdirectors’ totallackofaccountabilityto of anabsolutistrulerwhiletheinternalhierarchymostballet companiesresonateswiththe control memorializethecultivatedhabitusofaristocratsmaneuvering underthewatchfuleye Garden, theBolshoi, andtheMariinsky). Ballet’stechnicalemphasisonclarity, lightness, and palaces (thosethatsurvivedtheSecond World War includethePalaisGarnier, LaScala, Covent Beauty, GiselleRomeoandJuliet, LaBayadere), whileitsperformanceshavelongbeenstagedin For instance,Sleeping itsmostfamousstoriesaresetinroyalorducalcourts(Swan Lake , The this tradition, whichisreplicatedinmanyaspectsofclassicalballetcultureandperformance. Franko 2000). Everyfour-year-old whoputsonatiaratoplayballerinaprincessistappinginto ally England, shapesitsculturalmeaningalongsidetechnicalfoundation(seeCowart2008; the 17thcentury, anditssubsequentadoptionbyroyaltheatresinRussia, Italy, andeventu- Ballet’s codificationanddevelopmentintheabsolutistcourtofSunKingatend Competition Dances Courtliness, Civilization, and The prismmetaphorfurthersuggeststhatDyingSwan refractsawhitenessthatruns Thus whiletheparticularsoftechniqueandnormsfortraining andperformancehave — The DyingSwan iscomposedofmultiplewavelengths. The historicallywhitecultural — these areallconsistentwiththe physicaldisciplinesthroughwhichEnlightenment a factthat, aswe’llsee, contemporarydancemakersdeploywithvaryingdegreesof

The Dance That Will Not Die 113

4 - a grand —

3 , the tidy vertical jump accented by a beat of the ankles. He was also the king who authorized authorized who king the also was He ankles. the of beat a verticalthe tidy by , accented jump royale

entry bookkeeping. influential most its of (one here in interested I’m version Age Gilded the than older is narrative civilizationist The 19th late the in culture popular informed that version The Urn”). Grecian on a “Ode 1819 articulationsKeats’s is historyhuman explained centuries 20th early the and in culminated reliably that stages sequential in unfolding as societies. American and European industrial of achievements For instance: Louis XIV was not only the dancing king whose physical proficiency is memorialized in the step step the in memorialized is proficiency physical whose king dancing the only not was XIV Louis instance: For the called facts Both 1998). (Roach colonies royal its and France in articulatingCodes enslavement of terms the Black the post- a from descendants: their to and enslaved and colonized were who those to meaning ballet’s to contribute double- or monotheism, importcultural imperial an is ballet pentameter, iambic as alien as perspective, colonial At the end of the 19th century the history of imperial conquest was frequently and euphe- conquest was frequently the history of imperial of the 19th century At the end her era’s dominant his- Duncan’s performance of Hellenism animated Through such devices This was the sociopolitical context in which Duncan rejected her fellow modern artists’ fas- This was the sociopolitical context in which 4. 3. mistically reframed as the story of Western civilization’s spread, a colonialist narrative that a colonialist spread, civilization’s Western of as the story mistically reframed up-and- Anna Pavlova were Michel Fokine and In 1905 . Swan The Dying helped to inform modern dancer American when the famous Imperial Ballet artists at the Russian coming young arti- Duncan’s work deliberately countered the Petersburg on tour. St. Isadora Duncan visited and just as deliberately ballet, characteristic of 19th-century European fice and technicality American modern art and that was becoming fashionable in both eschewed the primitivism In their place she drew on turn of the 20th century (Daly [1995] 2010:7). popular culture at the and uncorseted in a simple tunic, Duncan danced barefoot and imagery. ancient Greek themes and her work consistently vase, she looked like a maenad on an ancient her hair flowing so that and spiritual discipline (Seidel ideal of physical freedom guided by moral represented a classical 2016:173–74). taught literally millions of Civilizationist history civilization. torical discourse of democratic of imperial conquest and instead think of them- modern whites to deemphasize the violence from Rome expanding freedom originating in Greece, selves as inheritors of a great tradition of of Exploration. Age Americas during the Africa and the and traveling to Europe, Western into For US Americans raised on this story, the closing of the Western frontier in 1893 and the Western the closing of the Americans raised on this story, For US troubling questions about the future of civilization rapid urbanization of the population raised dove- Such questions expansion had been achieved. of westward “manifest destiny” once the and social changes demographic, economic, political, tailed with those posed by the intertwined of The legal emancipation and partial enfranchisement of the second half of the 19th century. Southern and Asia and waves of immigration from previously enslaved people combined with with people whose values and cultural forms clashed Eastern Europe to infuse the body politic Both rac- claimed the nation as their racial property. whites who “old stock” with those of the structures of political exclusion and social hier ist and nativist sentiments of the day justified that had not evolved in synch with the modern archy on the grounds that people from cultures stages of the development of civilization and democracies were arrested at earlier Western At the end of the 19th century many self-governance. were therefore permanently incapable of as the most recent manifestation of centu- influential whites imagined modern civilization progress toward freedom and justice for all and technological political, ries of social, the brink of ruin because it offered too much free- achievement which they feared teetered on 2007). dom to the wrong sorts of people (Carter and turned instead to archaic Hellenic references to cultural forms “primitive” cination with freedom as a materialization of the soul’s nobility express a historically white ideal of the body’s

classical ballet, in short, resembles the militaristic body with which it coevolved, and ballet trav- and ballet coevolved, body with which it the militaristic resembles in short, classical ballet, conquest. by invasion and in tracks laid down Europe around the world eled from Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

114 Julian B. Carter Collectively, thesedancesrefract imperialdomination. teristic aestheticsandnecropolitics, andthewaysthese havechangedandpersistedovertime. local distributionofvulnerability, itsspecificrelationswith eliteEuropeancivilization’scharac- ness asanoccupyingforce, andtothegenderedexpression ofthatforce. Eachdancereflects its dances registerdifferentanglesofpowerandprivilege, differentgeometricalrelationstowhite- civilization asthesearemanifestedandrememberedinourpresentmoment. The different ticularity oflivedexperiencesof, perspectiveson, andrelationstoeliteformsofwhiteEuropean results fromeverycontinentbut Antarctica. and South Africa aswellCanadaandtheUnitedStates:aquickvideosearchreturns282,000 of theculturalvocabularyinmanyoutpostsempire. SwansdieinBrazil, Australia, Trinidad, with andcommentonthelegaciesofcivilizingmission. TheDyingSwan hasbecomepart lions ofpeople(seeMcLean2008). Contemporarydancersembodyingtheswanthusintersect have contributedtothesynechdochicaluseofswandancessignifyballetingeneralformil- as ballet’sambassador, expressedthroughTheDyingSwan ’s simple, memorableform, mayalso missionary self-sacrifice(2012:58;seealsoDyer1997:127). Herpersonalcharismaticinfluence “swan brand,” exportedandpromotedavisionofwhitecivilizationaspurity, innocence, and let (seeGard2006:87, 98;Casey2013). JenniferFisherhassuggestedthatPavlova, throughher artistic possibilitywithherandinspireddancersaroundtheworldtodevotethemselvesbal- ing career, whichspannedtheglobebetween1907and1930;shebroughtapowerful visionof been amigratorydance. Severaldancehistorianshavedetailed Anna Pavlova’sremarkabletour materialization ofprivilegedformswhiteness. ItisalsorelevantthatTheDyingSwan haslong You don’tneedspecialhistoricalknowledgetorecognizeTheDyingSwan asballet, orballetasa ist containerandthewayswansrepeatdoubleballet’spersistentassociationwithroyalty. Swan refractstheseinhistoricallyspecificways, enhancedbythetransparencyofminimal- investments intoview. serves themsothatlookingthroughtheprismofitsperformancecanbringwhiteracial dance becausethelargerconceptualandmaterialcontexthaschanged, yettheformitselfpre- expansion. The particularsofthesepoliticsarenolongerclearlyreflectedonthesurface its characteristicunquestionedconflationoffreedom, democracy, andcontinuousunimpeded elements derivingfromtheculturalpoliticsofwhitecivilizationismcirca1905, completewith technique (Garafola2009:39–42;seealsoCasey2012:10). Thus Fokine’sballetrepeatsmaterial ity, emotionaldirectness, andopen, fluidarmsaredirectreflectionsofDuncan’saestheticand Dance historianLynn Garafolahasdocumentedthat The DyingSwan’s compositionalsimplic- sands ofyears, fromancient Athens tothePacificshoreofUnitedStates(Francis1994). ing thewhitebody’svitalityasnextstageoffreedom’scontinuousexpansionacrossthou- Grecian tunic, andthecontinuousflowofhermovementconstitutedanargumentforunleash- (Seidel 2016:173–74;Francis1994:38–39). Herbarelegsandarms, herunboundtorsoinits legacies andlocalexperiencesof colonialvulnerabilityandaspirationwithparticularclarity. receive theirclaims. The swansthatdieoncompetitionstagesthusmanifestbothhistorical show usbothwhatdance-makers thinkwillflytothetop, andhowjudgesaudiences to indexelitecultureanditsactive circulationinthelowbrowcontextofreality TV. Contests popularity ofdancecontestsalso highlightstheintimacybetweenTheDyingSwan’s capacity of judgmentbywhichsomelives andsomewaysoflifearevaluedoverothers. The enormous tural conquestasmassentertainment. At aminimum theydramatizethelarge-scaleprocesses test forgloryandgoldthatfueledimperialexpansion. Perhaps suchdancesrepackagecul mimic andrepeattheclashofarmies, competitionperformances canmemorializethecon tures supportcontestantsintheirsituationalassertionofthe right toreign. Justasteamsports venience asashortsolointhepublicdomain, itsassociations withelitewhitepowerstruc In allthesedifferentplacesTheDyingSwan servesasaperformanceprismrefractingthepar In short, culturallegaciesofimperialwhitenesstravelthroughballetingeneral;TheDying This mayexplainwhyTheDyingSwan isoftenperformedincompetitions. Beyonditscon ------The Dance That Will Not Die 115 - - - by then a senior practitio- — in a guest appearance at the UK performed The Dying Swan — But not just any ballet will do. Like the milk-glass perfume bottle, milk-glass perfume bottle, Like the But not just any ballet will do. 5

at a 2013 pole-dance competition held in the UK. Gibson’s dance the UK. at a 2013 pole-dance competition held in The Dying Swan

This is not a stupid claim. Mixing ballet and pole dance could imaginably generate some interesting aesthetic fric- aesthetic interesting some generate imaginably could dance pole and ballet Mixing claim. stupid a not is This vocabularyclassical the abrade that feet and legs her with shapes make to could and Gibson requires physics tion: immo- the to counterpoint geometric interesting potentially a provides disc flexible tutu’s her while developed, be between dissonance cultural current the foregrounding that in potential has also concept The pole. the of line bile polar- class of erotics the on reflection useful stimulate might dancing pole and ballet of resonances sexual the it technique. Instead, hybrid of its potential creative the engage fully doesn’t composition Gibson’s But ization. status, dancing’s pole bolster to intended seems that way a in culture Anglo-European elite of signifiers assembles “art.” as classified self-expression of forms to given respect the with be received should it that claim a making , Dying Swans I turn to these particular but before on three such performances, I concentrate the competitive context in Describing that drive this article. These are not the concerns Gibson’s use of balletic imagery and movement seems calculated to elevate both the per Gibson’s use of balletic imagery and movement 5. a further note on interpretative method is in order. The conditions under which contemporary under which The conditions method is in order. on interpretative a further note con- scholars dancers, Like about them. under which I write are also those swans die onstage encouraged to react and we too are distributed resources diminishing and unequally tend with in part through our right to the spotlight Scholars perform our competition. with aspirational glory of our sub- Some of the subject matter. critically significant of culturally and canny choice shine and are encouraged to so we tend to look for that potential to us, jects’ success can accrue a number of forces converge In short, doesn’t promise to reflect well on us. move past work that to respond to dance with evalu- line with the broader cultural tendency to bring academics into our attention? our attention: Is it any good? Does it deserve ation at the front of as an analytic attitude. takes place is different from deploying evaluation which a performance the communications dances, in the rhetorical functioning of Dying Swan I am more interested I’m not 2010). effect (LaVigne on which they rely for persuasive they make and the strategies aesthetic or conceptual standards; performances meet any particular set of asking whether these whose perspectives shape them, strategies teach me what standards I am letting their persuasive and which they occlude. celebrate, histories of suffering and persistence they which they record, in ways that that flows through The Dying Swan All of these dances bend the elite whiteness Therefore I treat all the dances I study perception. highlight the particularity of each angle of I recognize that even as to bear similar critical weight, as equivalent cultural texts and ask them degrees of awareness of and sophistication about they are conceived and executed with varying they perform. the political legacies of racialized vulnerability former and the performance to a higher cultural status than they might otherwise achieve: former and the performance to a higher cultural status than they might otherwise while proposing that pole her choice of competition materials supports her claim to a title, dance can become fine art.

forming the performance of fragility can align white women reflects the peculiar cultural logics by which perfor and highlights the significance of disavowal in such with dominant power structures, tells me that a serious car accident forced the white Canadian dancer to Wikipedia mances. - In the process of recondition established. retire from ballet just as her career was getting in World Champion the first Miss Pole Dance ing Gibson discovered pole dance and became a character from Her winning routine was performed in the persona of the Black Swan, 2005. Aronofsky’s 2010 movie Black as recirculated through Darren Lake the classical ballet Swan on the grounds that removing her tutu was ; but Gibson’s title was subsequently rescinded Swan Gibson Several years later 2016). a form of stripping (Wikipedia This time she kept her tutu on. 2013). Professional Pole Championships (UKPPC Facet I: This Swan Is Not a Stripper Is Not a Stripper This Swan I: Facet an amateur video of champion Elena Gibson per Let’s begin by turning the prism to catch ner and highly respected teacher Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

116 Julian B. Carter should receiveherasaladyand anartistevenwhilesheisspreadingherlegsforacrowd. déclassé eroticconnotations. Toe shoes, tutu, andclassicalmusicallowGibsontoinsistthatwe formance. Balletfunctionsasafigleaf, simultaneously emphasizingandconcealingpoledance’s score howGibson’sdeploymentofballetdisavowsthesexual connotations ofpole-danceper Freudian readingfocusingoncastrationanxiety. Instead, I’mborrowingfromFreudtounder genital area, smoothedbyherleotardintoafeatureless whitefield. I’mnotsuggestingaliteral avowal showsupinthisdanceistherepeateddisplayofGibson’s thoroughlydesexualized investment inthephallusontosomeotherbodypartorobject. Fittinglyoneofthewaysdis- which somepeoplerespondbyrefusingtorecognizedifference and/orbydisplacingtheirerotic in theirownpenisesisthreatenedbytheexistenceofnonphallic sexualcapacity, athreatto the revelationofgenitaldifference:Itakehisinsighttobethat somemen’seroticinvestment described disavowalinrelationtofetishism, whichheconstrued asonemasculineresponseto ently, forpreservingafantasythathelpsholdreality atbay. Freud([1927]1976)originally one knowsandtorepudiatethatknowledge. Freud describedasdisavowal, asplittingwherebyitispossiblesimultaneouslytoregisterwhat against tutu-peeling). IndeedGibson’sdanceperforms, onasociallevel, thepsychicrelation moters rejectit(aswecanseeintheMissPoleDance World Championship’sfeverishvigilance force ofthispersistentassociationcanbemeasuredbythewithwhichpoledance’spro- lar imaginationtooverteroticdisplayand, throughit, torelativelyeasysexualavailability. The is thatnoonecanmistakeyouforbeingatramp. Yet poledanceistightlylinkedinthepopu- pictured rotating around the pole. (Illustration by Julian B. Carter) Figure 4. Elena Gibson, a competition pole-dance champion, 6. Disavowal isapsychictechniqueforaccommodatinganunbearablereality, or, putdiffer tional importance of restrained of elite femininity,tional importance sexuality to the performance and points toward the complex disavowalThis particular too, of course, which underscores operates in straight-up ballet performance the tradi- for theperformanceofladyhood of themandatoryqualifications element hereisexclusivity. One erty ofpowerfulmen. The key being theexclusivesexualprop- the socialstatusthatcamefrom tion oferoticagencyinfavor typically entailedtheevacua- containment, whichforwomen by theperformanceofsexual fied ity hasbeendefinedbyitsrari- for centurieselitewhitefeminin- mance collideswiththefactthat ceed smoothly. Gibson’sperfor This transactiondoesnotpro- made accessibletothemasses. ilar visionofelitefemininity dancing swantradesonasim- your localdrugstore;thepole- of royalromanceisavailableat crown promisesthatthedream bottle withitslittlegolden of whiteculture. The perfume tion of “high” and “low” forms mative genderattheintersec- Gibson’s swanmaterializesnor inaccessibility —specifically, 6

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Dying Dying - ; www.youtube.com TDR; that is, in situations that is, — reflects an attachment to a feminin- a to attachment an reflects DyingSwan performance. UK Professional Pole Dancing Championships. Telford, Telford, Championships. Dancing Pole performance.Professional UK Figure 5. Elena Gibson sinking to the ground at the conclusion of her of conclusion the at ground the to sinking Gibson Elena 5. Figure by (Screengrab 2013. December 1 UK, Shropshire, Swan Swan /watch?v=FuHYZ1Sb2zE) - which is to say, Kipling’s paean to imperialism conflated dominant forms which is to say, —

sexual history of ballet (Garafola 2001). In other words, Gibson’s Gibson’s words, other historysexual In 2001). (Garafola ballet of refusal. its and performance availability the by erotic of simultaneously defined ity Yet balletic signifiers of elite culture, with its expectations for white women’s sexual inac- for white with its expectations signifiers of elite culture, balletic Yet form facilitate an additional the particulars of the Dying Swan Beyond costuming referents, Gibson’s performances take place in the context of competitions cessibility and constrained erotic agency, aren’t quite enough on their own to compensate for own to compensate quite enough on their aren’t agency, and constrained erotic cessibility - because her equally bal of her first title Gibson was stripped déclassé reputation: pole dance’s character from the references to the title mobilized visual which Swan routine, letic Black that It is not incidental sexually suggestive. was received as film of the same name, Aronofsky Black The to be white. are routinely imagined contexts, humans in white-dominant like swans, identify- The adjective summarizes her character, is the sole exception. Lake Swan in Swan pliable, her from the gentle, and sexually voracious to differentiate designing, ing her as active, White Swan is a perpetually inno- The 2008; Osterweis 2014:72–73). White Swan (see McLean switched from performing the So when Gibson Swan is a very bad girl. cent victim; the Black signifiers of vulnerability she mobilized racialized the Dying Swan, Black Swan to performing The whiteness to elite status. to asexuality that bolsters her aspiration to underscore the claim to disavow pole dance’s erotic connotations. of the Dying Swan works norms typically dictate the appear Ballet performance physical power. disavowal of Gibson’s ance of effortlessness, but the ance of effortlessness, I have in core of the disavowal mind is in the dance’s structure more than its technique. Gibson’s composition bor rows from Fokine to frame the pole dance proper with choreo- graphic elements that empha- Beginning size feminine delicacy. on pointe with the tiny scoot- Gibson , ing steps called bourrées trembles and flutters her way to At the end of the rou- the pole. one she sinks to the floor, tine, leg stretched out in front of her, and bows her head and body along it in the classic pose that represents the swan’s final sub- These bal- mission to mortality. letic gestures bookend her pole delicate fragility. literally bracketing the display of athletic strength with performances of dance, narrative with which she frames her work: recall that This bracketing is repeated in the personal thus surrounds Gibson in a serious car accident. she retired from ballet due to injuries sustained devices that emphasize her physical vulnerability. her pole dance with aesthetic and narrative intended to produce a hierarchy of pride and prestige, with winners separated from losers (see intended to produce a hierarchy of pride and prestige, The question then arises: How and when does a display of weakness constitute a Foster 2014). (1899) in school White Man’s Burden” “The read Those of us who competitive bid for power? civiliza- remember Rudyard Kipling’s description of the putatively thankless chore of bringing Exhorting whites to take up at Europe’s expense. for their own good and tion to the savages, “send forth specified that the colonizing nations must he their racial responsibility for empire, the best ye breed” Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

118 Julian B. Carter entire colonizedpopulations. to justifywhitemen’spowerintheformofrigidmilitarycontrol, andsometimesmassacre, of sumption ofwhitewomen’sphysicalfrailtyanddefenselessnessagainstrapeweremobilized dance resonatespowerfullywithhistoricalperformancesofgenderedviolenceinwhichthepre- ers ofphysicalvulnerabilityinabidtoelevatetheculturalstatushermovementidiom. Her In short, Gibson’sDyingSwan combinestheperformanceofasexualfemininitywithsignifi- Edge Play bership intherulingraceandclassbyembodyingallegiancetoagenteelculturalaesthetic. ness, notablythedefensiveaspirationofacousinfromcoloniesattemptingtoclaimmem- Butler 2015:12). Gibson’sdancethereforematerializesaparticularrelationtoimperialwhite- physical vulnerabilitycreatedbyandinseparablefromeconomicprecarity(seeMiéville2015:2; tlement. This movemayalsoreflectadisavowederoticinvestmentindisplacedformsofthe by thewhitelaboringclasseswhocarryoutmuchofworkcolonialexploitationandset- and displacementoftheeconomicvaluehistoricallygeneratedbycolonizedpeople, aswell displaced totheperformanceofvulnerabilityinamovethatreflectslargerculturaldisavowal disappear whenthedanceraddsvisualsignifiersofelitestatus. Instead, theyaredisavowedand hierarchy andinfemalepowerlessness. The sexualconnotationsofpoledancedonotsimply while marginalizingpeelers. Herdancealsopointstoalargereroticinvestmentbothinclass vance oftheracializedclasshierarchythatinvestsballerinaswithdisproportionateculturalvalue elite Europeanculturalcategories. HerDyingSwan performsthecontinuingauthorityandrele- to viewGibson’scompositionasmanifestingaparticularaspirationalrelationmembershipin tion thattheDyingSwanformrefractsimperialwhitenessintoitscomponentpartsallowsus the waysthatballetdancersgenerallydifferfrominfantrymen.)Soreturningtoproposi- ily holdothercredentialsformembershipinthecategoryof “best yebreed.” (Thisisoneof ism. The footsoldiersofEuropeanempiresmighthavebeenwhite, buttheydidnotnecessar taneously torepresentthebestelementsofyourrace, andtobeweakenedthepointofdeath. spirits oftheconquered. Thus theinternalmythologyofempireholdsthattoconquerissimul- invading whitearmyisimaginedastransferringitsphysicalandmoralvitalitytothebodies the largerjustificationofBritishcolonialruleinIndia(2010:125). Insuchrepresentationsthe flourished. Sara Ahmedtellsusthatsimilardisplacementscirculated80yearsearlieraspartof make itappearthatwhitecolonizerssufferedanddiedwhilethepeopleofcolortheyattacked effectively deployedtojustifyimperialviolenceattheendof19thcentury:suchaccounts poem underscorestheextenttowhichdisplacementofvulnerabilitywascommonlyand for theUSinvasionofPhilippinesonlyafewyearsbeforeFokine’scomposition, Kipling’s of whitenesswithnobleself-sacrifice. Written withtheexpresspurposeofgeneratingsupport

masculinity asitsthreateningopposite. performance offragilefeminineasexualityhaseverythingtodo withtheconstructionofblack while Gibson’sbidtoelevatetheculturalstatusofpoledance doesn’taddressracedirectly, her cal distortionisnolessunjustbecauseitcoexistswithrealmisogyny amongthecolonizers. So people beingsubjugatedtoasubgroupofthesubjugators. This race-basedpsychicandpoliti- inform theglobalmass-mediatedimagination. Turning theprismslightlyshowsusanedge culate throughthesameaestheticconventionsthattheydida centuryago, theycontinueto 7. This mythologycontainsanimportantelementofclassmisinformationalongsideitsrac- While Europeancolonialdisplacementsofvulnerabilityonto whitewomennolongercir Kschessinska (Homans 2010:291–92). as interestingly fragile in contrast to the robust strength of the reigning ballerina in St. Petersburg, Mathilde Indeed, Pavlova’s initial rise to stardom exemplifies one version of this reward structure; she was perceived 7 Suchjustificationsdisplacevulnerabilityandsufferingfrom the - - The Dance That Will Not Die 119

— is for a white woman to be touched — At the most basic level the Greenpeace video depicts black- At the most basic level the Greenpeace video 8 indeed, for the life of the planet indeed, —

historically inseparable from the transatlantic slave trade and the capital investment in white domination at the the at domination white in investment capital the and trade slave transatlantic the from inseparable historically 1972). Dunn 2013; Schweiz (Greenpeace life black of expense And then there’s the sheer mindfuck of the fact that the substance used to portrayto used substance the that fact the of mindfuck molasses is sheer video the the in oil the there’s then And I’m not suggesting that this is the video’s intended takeaway. Instead, its designers activated its designers Instead, intended takeaway. I’m not suggesting that this is the video’s a racially freighted visual system with the intention of draws on then, The Greenpeace video, The genius move here is the use of the dying swan form’s innate hybridity to forge a is the use of the dying swan form’s innate The genius move here ness spreading over and eventually obscuring a white figure on a golden field. It emphasizes the ness spreading over and eventually obscuring a white figure on a golden field. This Dying blackness to index violent threat. persistent use of whiteness to index vulnerability, it therefore reflects systemic racial hierarchy and racialized necropolitics even though Swan believes its intention is firmly directed elsewhere. 8. by blackness. by blackness. discourse that both opposed nature to culture and from a colonial “left over” a signifying chain culture (in the video conflates protecting nature with protecting was racist in intent; in contrast, the achievements of white European urban civilization). an art form that represents particular, A charitable person might even suggest that its aims Its core goal is not to promote racism. residents of island nations as well as sea birds. serve the poorest and most vulnerable human its that will reliably interpret its visual vocabulary, Nevertheless the video presumes an audience as indicating an urgent need to elite white femininity, mobilization of widely shared references This interpretation depends on view- and defenseless. threatened, to protect what is precious, of blackness connotes the danger that whiteness will ers’ ability to understand that the presence be contaminated. It thus refracts imperialism’s charac- white fragility. mobilizing viewers to take action to protect from the brown and black bodies of the colonized teristic displacement of danger and suffering women. and especially onto the bodies of elite white onto the white bodies of the colonizers, the cultural capital associated with feminine weak- Where Gibson’s pole dance underscores of white documents not only the historical importance Arctic Destruction” Art of “The ness, populations, feminine weakness to many colonial justifications for violence against subjugated and con- but also the simplicity with which color relations informed the imperial imagination tinue to circulate in visual culture. cross-species affective connection, specifically to get human viewers emotionally involved in specifically to get human connection, cross-species affective to stimulate viewers to attach This dying swan is intended by oil spills. mourning birds killed those precious fragile beings. and so to take action to protect to oil, more value to life than and urgent danger through designers chose to communicate pathos the video’s Regrettably, spreading dark stain (molas- whiteness by an ugly, the literal sullying of the dancer’s optical to escape the implication that the worst thing that can It is hard standing in for crude oil). ses, happen for humanity between facets, where a different dance repeats Gibson’s emphasis on the high cultural value of the high cultural value emphasis on dance repeats Gibson’s where a different between facets, activists In 2013 Greenpeace of race into view. the significance but also brings feminine delicacy draws on The Dying Gazprom that Russian energy company a protest against in Zurich staged later released this performance was drilling; a video of Arctic viewers against to mobilize Swan (Greenpeace Arctic Destruction” of Art “The the title website under on the Greenpeace by Art tutu embodies woman in a white background a white Against a golden Schweiz 2013). she brings her head and sways, As she bends and in a sea of white fog. performing swan arms a dark liquid that quickly of the fog and emerges besmirched with arms below the surface here to call attention to the global significance The image of the dying swan is used engulfs her. Art underscores the pre- its explicit enframement as capital-A of environmental degradation; and reminds viewers of of life, of both human and nonhuman forms ciousness and vulnerability for our shared mortality. undertaken without adequate regard the high stakes of actions Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

120 Julian B. Carter Carter) Figure 6. Mamela Nyamza’s swan suffers as it dies. (Illustration by Julian B. whose workhasoftenengagedcontemporarysexualandracialpolitics. HerDyingSwan won Mamela NyamzaisaSouth African choreographerwhotreatsdanceasaformofactivismand swan performancesengagethisaspectofthedance’scoloniallegaciesdirectlyandexplicitly. While “The Art of Arctic Destruction” disavowsitsownmobilizationofracistimagery, other Facet 2:DrummingtheSwan TDR; www.youtube.com/watch?v=AswRJtS9_eg) Filmed in Los Angeles; aired 5 January 2009. (Screengrab by own ends at the Figure 7. Mamela Nyamza for her adapting the ballet vocabulary 9. her. Nyamza’s swan affirms rather than disavows the collaborative aspects of performance presentation. each who bead shareor sequin or feather to its foundation to the visible hands of the drummers the stage with from the roundsmoment the of invisible performance: hands of the costume makers who stitch and supports This transfer also shifts the nature of the relationship between the dancer and the many people whose work sur- International Superstars of Dance competition. indigenous blackness. whiteness toassociationswith thetic referencesfromimperial simultaneously redistributesaes- dances environment withinwhichshe sical costumetothemusical crystals andfeathersoftheclas- to theauraldimension, fromthe embellishment fromthevisual this wayNyamzashiftstheatrical mers onthestagewithher. In score augmentedbylivedrum- a recordedversionoftheusual tutu overbarelegsandfeet, to plain whiteleotardandpractice Nyamza’s swanisperformedina of Dancereality TV show. 2009 semifinals oftheshort-lived global viewingaudienceinthe Award in2000andgaineda an FNB Vita DanceUmbrella nial appropriationofherblack external impositiononorcolo- European highculture, asan of ballet, andbyextensionwhite she createsavisualinvocation ering whitenessoverblackskin the Greenpeaceswan’s:bylay- of color here echoes and reverses racial whiteness. Nyamza’suse activates theculturallineageof let andthroughthatevocation short tulleskirtthatevokesbal- Its onlyornamentationisthe its trademarkvisualwhiteness. reduces herswancostumeto To beginwith, Nyamza International SuperstarsInternational — a sensorytransferthat 9

The Dance That Will Not Die 121 - - ,5 Dance of Superstars International ; www.youtube.com/watch?v=AswRJtS9_eg) TDR; is emphatically avian, although more more although avian, emphatically is Swan Dying Figure 8. Mamela Nyamza’s Nyamza’s Mamela 8. Figure angular than the classical ballet swan. ballet classical the than angular by (Screengrab 2009. January

Here again the swan motif carries with it persistent connotations of royal power and con- connotations of royal with it persistent the swan motif carries Here again In its emphatically avian on Though I’ve been unable to locate unambiguous documentation of Pavlova’s influence tal danger. tal danger. Nyamza’s chore- perspective. but deployed from a woke postcolonial sequential vulnerability, integral to the Fokine the performance of fragile white femininity ography avoids recycling Instead she draws on both video. Gibson’s pole dance and the Greenpeace ballet and echoed in the lingering colonialist movement vocabularies in a way that interrupts African and European its inver begins by declaring Nyamza’s Dying Swan with whiteness. association of vulnerability floor bowed forward in a pose similar the dancer kneeling on the sion of Fokine’s choreography, the usual opening sequence of She omits commonly concludes the dance. to the one that more full-body tremble with a series replacing that vertical swan arms entirely, bourrées and rippling weight until she can extend that gradually unfold her torso and lift her of spinal undulations in a gestural pathway recognizable as a balletic Rotating this leg to the side one leg behind her. drum pat it as though shaking water off a wing; the- she lifts and shakes , rond de jambe en dedans of highlighting Right from the beginning Nyamza shakes off ballet in favor ters like raindrops. For the next minute and 45 seconds she uses her head, of the swan. the animality, the birdness, and limbs to execute small torso, percussive gestures that register When a kind of strutting pride. it’s to cover she extends her legs, display her strength, ground, or make herself appear larger. Periodically she punctuates or supplements her flow with a return to the purposeful flutter of hands or feet that echoes and illustrates the quick patter of the drums. Nyamza’s swan echoes quality, Asadata Dafora’s 1932 work Currently in the . Astrige Awassa Alvin Ailey American Dance Awassa Theater’s repertory, is heralded in a 2014 Astrige press release as one of the first compositions to have presented African movement vocabu- concert dance Western lary on a stage (Ailey 2014). the probability of direct and deliberate connections Dafora or Dafora’s influence on Nyamza, sophisticate who traveled extensively in Dafora was an international between them is high. and it is difficult to imagine how he could War, World European artistic circles before the First Susan Manning tells have avoided knowing of Pavlova’s enormously successful performances. organized by Katherine “Negro Dance Evening,” York us that Dafora performed in a 1937 New had Yates recruited many of the dancers. Yates for which choreographer Clarence Dunham, “for dancers interested in a workshop in Harlem and cotaught studied ballet with Fokine, It is pertinent to the present discussion that the leftist (2004:95). techniques other than jazz” African body. That external whiteness clings closely to her skin while Nyamza moves in rela- Nyamza moves in to her skin while whiteness clings closely That external African body. music’s melancholic They deepen the patter of the drums. gentle but insistent tion to the the that underscore sonic ground and pulse classical score with a the recorded providing drama, encroaching mor the face of imperialism’s bodily vitality in African enactment of dance as an Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

122 Julian B. Carter to South Africa viaa West African choreographerworkinginNew York. in New York in1998(Sassen2015). Herdance, then, reflectstheswan’smigrationfromEurope repertory (DeFrantz2002:149–50;Robertson1979:D21). Nyamzastudiedatthe Ailey School revived inthe1970sbyCharlesMoore, oneofDafora’sstudents, whobroughtittothe Ailey Nyamza’s accesstoDafora’slegacyattheoppositeendof20thcentury. Awassa Astrige was including dancerswhocertainlywerefamiliarwithFokine’sDyingSwan. community interestedinexploringtheintersectionof African andEuropeanclassicalforms, vations in1932, itdoesestablishhisconnectiontoacriticallyalerttransatlanticblackdance social critique(93). Though thistellsuslittleaboutDafora’scompositionalinfluencesormoti- and blackpressreceivedthisconcertasanintentionalcombinationof Africanist movementwith International SuperstarsInternational ofDancecontestcan’taccommodate sucharadicalrevision ofFokine’s “a brilliantreinvention” and “a rawlookatthestutteringvulnerabilityoflife” (2012). Butthe experimental choreographyand globalartisticexchange, describesNyamza’sDyingSwan as as insensibletopain(Hoffman etal. 2016). general asinfinitelydisposable intheiranimalotherness, andblackwomen’sbodiesin particular and peoples. Dying, herswanrefractstheracistcolonial imaginationthattreatsblackbodiesin occasion toexposeandexploretherealconsequentialhistorical contestsbetweennations part oftheinheritedrealitydomination. That is, shetreatsinternationalcompetitionasan refuted; andwhilebothuseTheDyingSwan asacompetitionpiece, Nyamzaalsoframesitas culture asanaestheticcanontobeemulated, Nyamza relates toitasapoliticalclaimbe ters most, thesufferingthatshouldtugatourhearts. Where GibsonrelatestoEuropeanhigh order todisplacetheimplicitclaimthatwhitefeminineweakness isthevulnerabilitythatmat- swan formtoassimilatetheculturalcapitalofballet;instead, sheinvokestheswan’sfragilityin der, race, and classthanweseeinElenaGibson’spoledance. Nyamzaisnotsimplyusingthe the postcolonialpresent. tions, shedevelopsachoreographicclaimaboutthefragilityandsufferingofblackfemalelifein reroutes theswanthroughostrich, andballettechniquethrough African movementtradi- possession ofhispower. Nyamza’sdancerefractsdifferentracializedgenderpolitics. As she Astrige counterstheseracistfantasiessimplybyempoweringtheostrichtoexitregally, infull other, aswellimperialconstructionsof Africans asconqueredandenslavedpeople. Awassa as degraded, violent, andbestialontheonehandasemasculateddependent Dafora’s displayofphysicaldignityrefractedthen-dominantracialconstructionsblackmen particular culturalcontextsthatshapethemeaningofperformance. In1930sNew York, African-ness inwhite-dominantvenuesisadeliberatecreativeandpoliticalchoice, madein swan perishes, shakingonthefloor. ity tooverwhelmingviolence. Dafora’sostrichstalksoffstagewithhisheadheldhigh;Nyamza’s African masculinity;Nyamzausestheswantostagecontemporary African women’svulnerabil- stage thesubaltern’sexpectedsubmissiontodeath. Daforausedtheostrichtostagemajestic does notdie. Dafora’sbirdspeaksbacktoFokine’sswanfromapositionofpride, refusingto soft walksothatitsfluidmuscularitycomestothefore. AlsounlikeNyamza’sswan, theostrich Dafora employsthemprominentlyandtogreateffect, combiningthegesturewithaboldbut Nyamza barelyshowsustheclassicalswanarms, preferringinsteadamoreangular “wing,” resonates withDafora’s, therearealsosomesignificantdifferencesbetweenthem. Whereas ostrich dancestodrumsinadeliberateperformanceof African-ness. ButwhileNyamza’sdance pumps hischest, andpreensinadisplayofnaughtyelegance. LikeNyamza’sswan, Dafora’s formed byabare-chestedblackman, hipsencircledwithostrichplumes, whorippleshisarms, The Ailey troupefollowedtheconventionalstagingofAwassa Astrige , whichisusuallyper A similartransatlanticcommunityofblackdanceartistsmayhavesupportedMamela Joan Frosch, aneminent danceethnographerandfilmmakerwhospecializesin African This performancereflectsadrasticallydifferentrelationtothe intersectingrealitiesofgen- The contrastunderscorestheimportantfactthatperformanceofindigenousblack - The Dance That Will Not Die 123

, echoes echoes , Swan Dying leans forward to ask, rather leans forward to ask, — Figure 9. John Lennon da Silva, pictured here in the all-white all-white the in here pictured Silva, da Lennon John 9. Figure garb he sometimes wears for his hip hop hip his for wears sometimes he garb by (Illustration turn-outthe inspiration. as uses he ballet the of Carter) Julian B. an older white man with weighty art-world credentials and - —

- These words sug 2009). (superstarsdance ballerina type” more of the — Se Ela Dança Eu Danço

; they are different ballets, created by different choreographers decades apart created by different choreographers ; they are different ballets, Lake Swan

Da Silva is a brown-skinned The Argentinean judge Maria The Pogee’s definition of artistic merit privileges imperialism’s aesthetic legacy and devalues the racially subordinated body’s per Facet 3: True Artistry, Artistry, 3: True Facet or the Certificate of White Tears spective on vulnerability as well as its techniques of expressive Another turn communication. of the prism reveals another set of judges performing a related resistance to John Lennon da Silva’s 2011 presentation of a on Se Ela Dança Eu Dying Swan a Brazilian reality show Danço, Can Think You similar to So You Like other televised com- Dance. petitions, generates a narrative structure in to guide audience response, this instance with a highly edited conversation between judges and contestant that creates dramatic tension by situating da Silva as an artistic outsider. young man wearing baggy pants in which his skinny T-shirt and a He shows no chest seems lost. disdain as surprise when the expensively coiffed blonde celebrity judge raises her eyebrows in He explains that these are the clothes that?” “looking...like she asks if he’s planning to perform Another judge he always wears. of this show “big bad wolf,” or “el Lupus Mal,” a reputation as - evident fail beyond Nyamza’s to understand the performance inability gest her fundamental itself with presumably aligns of swan-ness performance “real” a white: or aspire to be, ure to be, signifiers of feminine deli- artistic practice and the affiliated normative elite Euro-American particularly one to level at any dance, verisimilitude is a counterintuitive charge lack of Yet cacy. Pogee “real” Or perhaps by bird. human pretending to be a moribund that features a vigorous - can ever be a conven as no Dying Swan but this makes no sense either, “conventional,” means tional It seems most likely that the and set to music by different composers. in different countries Nyamza’s full-body collision with is called into question by “reality” of judge’s understanding “could the judges As Frosch observes, and aesthetic expectations. gendered, conventional racial, but daring to appropriate a ballet not only dancing, around a black artist, not wrap their heads interpretation” (2012). archetype for her own classic work. The Argentinean judge, in particular, articulates her resistance in telling terms: telling terms: in her resistance articulates in particular, judge, Argentinean The classic work. Hollywood in late-20th-century in her 70s with a background is a white woman Maria Pogee used “I’m by explaining she grants Nyamza the low score She justifies theatrical jazz. go-go and Lake Swan to the real Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021 .youtube.com/watch?v=MceKWv9V-Yw) 124 Julian B. Carter on Figure 10. John Lennon Da Silva’s as well swan struts as ripples. Competing Se Ela Dança Eu Danço, 10 February 2011. (Screengrab by leaves theset;andcamerafollows himtohisdressingroomuntilheshutsthedoor. which heappearstostrugglefor self-mastery, until, stillwordlesslyweeping, hegetsupand and thecamerazoomsintoconfirm thathisfaceiswetwithtears. We watchafewsecondsin that thebigbadwolfisn’tweighing in. Shelooksmoreclosely: “Why, you’recrying,” shesays, tive interpretation. Instead, theycalldaSilvaa “true artist,” and applauduntiltheblondenotices held accountableforitsownmortality. pointe.” This contradictionpointstowardtheimpossiblebindconfronting abodythatisalways posed bybodieslikehisinspacesthatarenormallyreservedfor theabsentwhite “ballerina, on Silva’s dancerefractsboththerealvulnerabilityofhislifein favelas, andtheimaginedthreat video: itlinksthesignifiersofbrown-skinnedmasculinityto the threatofmortalviolence. Da ment windsupservingthesamecommunicativefunctionas molassesintheGreenpeace and presentationworktoalignhimwitharacializedurbanunderclass, suchthathisembodi- confirming evidenceofthethreattheyarepresumedtopose. DaSilva’smovementvocabulary even whiletheyarefrequentlyitsvictims score howpoorblackandbrownmenservetheculturalfunction ofsignifyingurbanviolence, duplicates theperformanceofmurderininnumerableactionmovies. The effectistounder tures drawnnotfromballettraditionbut African American streetdance, andhisfinalpose ity establishedbydaSilva’sinterviewwithhisjudges. DaSilvastageshisdeaththroughges- been shot. his knees, handsgraspingattheair theatre ofjudgmentrehearsessedimentedhistoriesraceandclasshierarchy. tainers) arefrequentlytreatedasinterlopersinthepalaceoffinearts. The TVsegment’slittle with elitewhitewomenandremindsusthatblackbrownmen(thoughappreciatedasenter to danceTheDyingSwan testifiestothescopeandreachofform’scontinuedassociations by aballerina, onpointe” (eudanconosbt2011). Their skepticismaboutdaSilva’squalifications condescendingly, whetherdaSilvaknowsthatthedancehesayshe’sgoingtodo “is performed The Brazilianjudgesmayor notseeanyofthisinthedance;theydon’toffersubstan- This conclusionmarriestheperformanceofphysicalvulnerabilitytosocialvulnerabil- — before crumplingbackwardlikeamarionette. Likehe’s — as thoughtheirdeathswereinsomeperversesense TDR; www

usrthd cruciform —on outstretched him torisehalfwaywithhisarms saults, thenfoldshislegsunder length outonthefloor, somer music crestsdaSilvapourshis brows registersurprise). As the judges’ faces(theblondeeye- the cameracutstooneof twitch andflicker. Everysooften locked poseswithfingersthat back, popshisneck, punctuates He snakeshistorsoforwardand ing hissneakeredfeetinandout. glides acrossthestagebyturn- hyperextended elbowswhilehe cal energythroughhisuncannily der arms, passingwavesofmusi- minutes daSilvarippleshisslen- ter ofhisdance. Forthenextfew foregrounded asthesubjectmat- ability isonstageandonscreen, begins, daSilva’ssocialvulner Thus, evenbeforethemusic - - - - The Dance That Will Not Die 125 SeEla ; www.youtube.com/watch?v=MceKWv9V-Yw) TDR;

This sequence is, of course, part of the contest performance, and is especially interesting and is especially interesting contest performance, part of the of course, This sequence is, white lives aren’t the story in a way that says hey, Da Silva’s translation alters the imperial brown body on the stage to the “murdered” the transfer of vulnerability from the Oddly, here for the way it reflects the displacement of vulnerability from racialized bodies to white here for the way it reflects the displacement “good enough” the judge’s tears certify da Silva as a TV show In the context of the emotions. The swan artist to capture the poignancy of our common mortality. “good enough” a swan, Weeping tells us that da Silva’s death constitutes a form invests a death with social significance. But whatever is Beyond that we don’t get to find out why the judge is crying. meaningful loss. of the cultural text his tears have the effect of divert- on the level going on for him personally, and critical potential of da Silva’s embodied enact- ing attention away from the aesthetic impact white judge’s reaction to that scene (see DiAngelo ment of his own murder and toward the 2011; Carter 2007; Halttunen 1995). agility and His performance enacts the notice too. only ones that matter; my death deserves bodies enact through explicitly political move- fearlessness that some other brown and black demanded of It thus reflects the extrahuman flexibility and grace ments toward racial justice. while their vulnerability and fear their power, men of color in relation to systems that deny movement idioms that express (among it refracts the transnational spread of contemporary - is embed But da Silva’s Dying Swan other things) resistance to white elite cultural dominance. which reflects a different racial TV contest, ded within the larger performance of the reality Se Ela Dança Eu Danço tells viewing audiences that what matters perspective on vulnerability. man weeps about a poor brown man’s performance of his own murder is that a powerful white and his tears simultaneously The judge remains the arbiter of Real Culture, (DiAngelo 2011). Da Silva’s certify da Silva’s artistry and appropriate the young performer’s social vulnerability. instead composition is thereby both rewarded and recuperated as a stimulus for sentiment of critique. The judge’s tears reassure TV land. white judge is an opportunity for a feel-good moment in baggy pants. us that true merit will be recognized even when it shows up with brown skin and is simply a we are invited to imagine that the underdog can triumph; that prejudice Watching, , 10 Feb 2011. (Screengrab by by (Screengrab 2011. Feb 10 , Danço Eu Dança Figure 11. John Lennon Da Silva’s swan dies like a man being shot in an action movie. Competing on Competing movie. action an in shot being man a like dies swan Silva’s Da Lennon John 11. Figure Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

126 Julian B. Carter The Dance That DoesNotDie about raceandclassinpostcolonialsocieties. the systemicdisavowalanddisplacementofvulnerabilitythatstructuresomuchconversation episode ofSeElaDançaEuDançothusreflectsthemagicalpowerwhitetearswhileitrefracts art’s functionistoreverseandcompensateforsystemicinjustice. The DyingSwan thatwinsthis product ofignoranceanddissolveswhenpresentedwithbetterinformation;further, that the culturallegacies ofmilitantwhiteness. Similarly, noneofus canwishourselvesoutofthepostcolonialcondition, brimming asitiswith death byvirtueofourmortalbeing; wecan’tgetoutofdyingexceptbybeingalreadydead. mortal bodytoenactthewill transformtheconditionsofourmortality? We’re enfoldedin the imperativeneedforcollective struggleagainstitslegacies. What doesitmeanto useone’s ditions, definedequally bytheinescapablefactsofagloballysharedhistoryconquest and no waytoisolatedeath’sdominationfromthelifethatstruggles againstit. ambiguous: onedancerembodiesboththeswan’svulnerability anddeath’svictory, andthereis ticular danceisespeciallysuitedtocompetitionbecauseitsimultaneously agonisticand ment, toharnessexpressivecapacityforprofit, andto pitpeopleagainstoneanother. Thispar contests condenseandreflectlargertendenciestorespond creativitywithevaluativejudg- understand themselvestobeinconversationwiththehistorical legaciesofimperialism. Dance of dominationpermeatemundanemassculturalforms, suchas TV dancecontests, thatdonot turing towardtheaffectivedimensionofpostcolonialracismand thewayracializedrelations holds somevulnerablebodieswithmuchgreatertendernessthan others. status. At thesametime, theirvaryingreceptionunderscoresthepersistentracialhierarchythat erences tofragilityandpowerarewidelyunderstoodasstrategiesforenhancingcompetitive tion ofballet’shistoricalassociationwithwhiteelitesdemonstratesthatdisplayscombiningref- vulnerability andvictoryintheongoingdanceofculturaldomination. Their sharedmobiliza- competition entries, theseperformancesareespeciallyeffectiveatdramatizingthedialecticof both pastandcurrentsystemsfordistributingrecognitiontheresourcesthatsustainlife. As the differentformsofvulnerabilityexperiencedbypeoplepositioneddifferentlyinrelationto technical training, popularculture, andpublicdisplay. Inevitably, therefore, theyindexsomeof mances materializethememoryofimperialpowerrelationspreservedandtransmittedthrough traces ofEuropeandominationappearandreappearincontemporarydance. Their perfor Swan makesvisibletheculturalpersistenceandreachofimperiallegacies. ence thattheycollectivelyrefract. Attended tointhisway, theperformanceprismofTheDying of differentdancescalledTheDyingSwan toseethemanyvariantsofpost/colonialexperi- ordinarily perceiveasneutralinregardtocolor, wehavetoholdourattentionopen toarange comparison andcontextforustounderstandgreenasapersistentelementofthesunlightwe its componentwavelengths. And justasaspotofvividemeralddancingonthewallneedssome that afacetedcrystalallowsustoseerainbowsontheceiling:itbreaksdominantwhitenessinto avowed exerciseofpowerbytheperformanceitsabsence. Displays ofdelicacy, weakness, andhelplessnessmayindexdomination, pointingtothedis- of itsabsence. Fragilityisaluxurythatoftendependsonbrutalforcetakingplaceelsewhere. misattributed: theseareindustry-standardtechniquesofpower’sself-justification, notevidence sites inwhichdominationisoutsourced, denied, minimized, naturalized, sentimentalized, or sion orcolonialoccupationinanydirectway. This isnotsurprising. There aremanycultural graphic, andwhenitsmortalstakesarevisible, theyaren’talwaysattributedtoimperialaggres- Imperial historyflowsthroughbodiesinmanydifferentways. Itsviolenceisn’tnecessarily Perhaps thisisoneofthewaysthatTheDyingSwan resonateswithcurrentpostcolonialcon- My pointisnotthatTheDyingSwan isaracistdance, orthatballetisbad. Rather, I’mges- In theirdifferentidiomsGibson, Nyamza, anddaSilvaembodyafewofthemanyways The performanceprismofDyingSwan makesracialdisavowalvisibleinthesameway - - The Dance That Will Not Die 127

- –70. . Ann Arbor: UMI Research Press. Ann . The Critical Perspective

.com/87/files/20143/AwassaAstrigeOstrichBalletInfoSheet040214.pdf. films.com/madam-and-the-dying-swan/. University Press. NC: Duke University Press. 1:8–29. Chronicle 35, New 207–28. Eliot, edited by Melanie Bales and Karen and Methodologies, Histories Terms: on Its Own Oxford University Press. York: of Chicago Press. University Press. Press. Wisconsin University of NC: University of North Carolina Press. Durham, 7 February 2017. http://pressroom.alvinailey.org/internal_redirect/cms.ipressroom.com.s3.amazonaws 7 February 2017. Struggling with history is as futile and necessary as struggling with death. We cannot live We struggling with death. and necessary as with history is as futile Struggling of The Dying Swan demonstrate that contemporary performances These performances without our resistance, even while we know that we will eventually succumb. In the politi- will eventually succumb. we know that we even while resistance, without our to reject complic- The desire “complicity.” of entanglement we might call this kind cal sphere by the political of reasons and is bolstered for any number is understandable ity with whiteness David Roediger ([1991] Ignatiev (1997) and articulated by Noel powerfully stance, and analytic loy- In this view, the drive for domination. cultural content besides whiteness has no that 2007), rev- to call the hear I abolition. its seek and whiteness oppose one that requires humanity to alty and political purity has proven itself and the call for cultural is messy stuff, But culture olution. white culture as domination is One of the problems with framing again. dangerous again and possible responses to cultural over the complexity and creativity of that this analysis glosses constitutes a precisely, know what, How do we shared and violent past. forms that reflect our be abolished? whiteness that should It informs cre- of the conquered. of imperial elites and the struggle index both the haughtiness most rarified and elite cultural the spectrum of artistic value from the ative production across to contest the legacies of con- and it is used both to reproduce and forms to the most trivial, or ban creative forms stop dancing, resistance to fascism demand that we Does quest it records. I want to go. the revolution isn’t heading anywhere so, that reflect the history of oppression? If That it’s the real condition in which we live. Complicity with imperial histories isn’t optional; There is a reason that the dance is about death, it. doesn’t mean that we must cooperate with to the hierarchy of cultural forms: both are enor and that that content is indissolubly linked mous, too big to resist, and yet it is imperative to push back anyway. and yet it is imperative too big to resist, mous, . Accessed 17 February 2018. http://blenheim 2018. Accessed 17 February . Madam and the Dying Swan “Synopsis.” 2012. Blenheim Films. MA: Harvard a Theory Cambridge, Performative . of Assembly Notes Toward 2015. Judith. Butler, Durham, 1880–1940. America, Whiteness: Normal Sexuality and Race in The Heart of 2007. Julian B. Carter, Dance Albertina Rasch.” Anna Pavlova and of “The Ballet Corporealities 2012. Gaiser. Carrie Casey, In Dance Autonomy.” Genealogies of Contingent “Pavlova and her Daughters: 2013. Gaiser. Carrie Casey, Minimal Art: 1990. Frances. Colpitt, Chicago: University of Spectacle. Louis XIV and the Politics of Pleasure: Triumph The 2008. Georgia J. Cowart, Wesleyan CT: Middletown, . America Duncan in Done Into Dance: Isadora (1995) 2010. Ann. Daly, Madison: American Dance . African in Drums: Excavations Dancing Many 2002. Thomas F. DeFrantz, 3:54 3, of Critical Pedagogy International Journal “White Fragility.” 2011. Robin. DiAngelo, 1624–1713 . Indies, West The Rise of the Planter Class in the English and Slaves: Sugar 1972. Richard S. Dunn, London: Routledge. . on Race and Culture White: Essays 1997. Richard. Dyer, References University Press. NC: Duke Durham, The Promise of Happiness. 2010. Sara. Ahmed, Accessed Press 2 April. release, Astrige/Ostrich.” Alvin Ailey American “Awassa Dance Theater 2014. (Ailey). Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on 02 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/dram_a_00774 by guest on02 October 2021

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