African/Caribbean Dance Sequence: Artists Statement and Reflection Gary Chen

Dance: I am Africa Group Members: Gary, Adil, Ziming, Muhammad, and Aryan
Artists Statement
For our Integrated Arts assignment African and Caribbean Dance), we have created a routine with a
goal of portraying the spirit and nature of the African people, their history, and their hopes for the
future. We assembled a combination of movements that were taught to us by Ms. Hamilton and
movements created by ourselves, and we used them to tell the story of the African people through
dance. It is centred on telling the story of the African people, from their beautiful natural environment
to their rapidly evolving culture, the harrowing threats that they face, and their struggle to strive
towards a brighter future. Our performance is split into three distinct parts, each representing a
different facet in the history and culture of Africa.
The first part is about Africas natural beauty and the historical way of life of the African people. Africa
is one of the few remaining regions that still retain its original ecological delicateness, with a diverse
collection of vegetation and wildlife. It demonstrates a scene different from the hustle and bustle of
crowded cities that most people live in nowadays, and it brings us back to earlier days of a more serene
and pleasant living, revealing the enduring connection between the people of Africa and the natural
environment around them. In this scene, Ziming and Aryan play the roles of two diligent farmers,
cultivating and gathering their harvest. This demonstrates the traditional African way of living, sustaining
themselves from the harvests of the land they live on. Muhammad and Adil are two majestic elephants,
roaming the great plains of Africa, while I am a soaring eagle, flying in the boundless sky above the
grasslands. This represents the diversity of wildlife present on the African continent.
The second part of our dance portrays the culture of the African people and its evolution over the
years. The triangular formation signifies the traditional tribal structure of the African culture. Respect
and loyalty is show towards the elders, who pass down knowledge and wisdom through the generations.
The canon is present in this scene flowing from me, to Ziming and Aryan, and then to Muhammad and
Adil, and shows how the younger generations follow the example of the older ones, signifying the
traditional patrilineality of the African people. As new influences fall upon the more recent generations,
especially with the prevalence of North-American pop culture, their children will follow their lead,
even if it means losing their cultural identity. However, our dance shows that this is not at all inevitable.
Once the younger generations are able to grasp of the importance of maintaining their identity, they are
able to backtrack and return to embrace their cultural roots and traditions, hence our retrograde. This
was also shown in our use of the ABA format, which began with the traditional low-hop, hands moving
inward movement (A), moves on to the canon (B), and then reverts back (A). The specific dance
movements chosen in the canon and retrograde scenes also had significance to them. These movements
focused on the stereotypes that have been used upon Africans throughout the years. The first
movement (sidestepping and crossing arms), shows how Africans in other countries (especially the
United States) are looked down upon as a ghetto culture. The second movement (Egyptian walk)
demonstrated something that is stereotypically associated with ancient Egypt and is one of the first
things that pop into peoples minds when thinking of this topic, above all of the astounding
achievements that the amazingly complex civilization has accomplished. The third movement (vine
climbing) is a portrayal of a common stereotype of traditional Africans as tree-swinging, vine climbing,
jungle savages, which completely ignores the rich and diverse culture of native Africa. Our dance
shows the Africans first going along with these stereotypes in the canon, but then dismissing them and
returning to their traditions in the retrograde and the ABA sequence.
The third part of our dance outlines the struggles that the African people face and their hopes for a
brighter future. The culture scene transitions into one where a child (played by me) is crawling on the
ground, with four vultures (Ziming, Aryan, Muhammad, and Adil) circling around him, waiting for the
moment to swoop down. The child represents Africa, which, in comparison with the first world (e.g.
North America, Europe) is severely underdeveloped, lacking the physical, technological, and intellectual
infrastructure to move forwards in the 21
st
century. However, this child is filled with hope, and he tries
to crawl forward and away from the vultures encircling him, toward the audience, who symbolizes the
developed world. The four vultures represent the greatest challenges facing the African continent: War,
poverty, disease, and famine. They hover around the child, only a short distance behind, signifying that
they have haunted Africa in the past, continue to affect it today, and are constant roadblocks on the
path to a better future for the continent. The dance then transitions into a war dance sequence, with all
the members moving in a circle, chanting on every four beats. This is a representation of what is
required for Africa to move into a new age of success. Our dance shows how Africans should re-embrace
their culture and their traditions, as shown by the war dance, and unite in their determination,
perseverance, and ambition in order to build a better future for Africa. The energy of the war dance
sequence signifies how they should overcome daunting obstacles with confidence and energy. A final
scene shows a dancing warrior killing off four kneeling characters, which once again are symbols for the
threats, Africa faces (War, poverty, disease, and famine), and stabbing himself in the end. This tells
about how a warlike energy is required to defeat these threats, and also why the warlike energy should
not last beyond that, as war never leads to good in the end.
Self-Reflection
This was the third group project/presentation in Integrated Arts, and I believe that it was a resounding
success! I was able to apply lessons learnt from the previous performances, namely overcoming internal
conflict and dealing with external distractions. It wasnt perfect (nothing is, really), but I strongly believe
that this performance was the one with the least issues that needed to be resolved. We were focused
on the tasks at hand during most of the preparation time we were given (aside from a minor distraction
with trying to jump at a hanging line when we were in Gym C), and we were very productive throughout
the entire project. This group experience was unique and interesting in that it was my first time working
with an all-male group in Integrated Arts (excuse me if Im being somewhat politically incorrect here). In
the previous two assignments, there was more of a sense of group purpose in working on the project,
while this time I had to take on a more active leadership role in order to coerce the group into working
towards the common good. But contrary to my expectations (Yes, this was somewhat judgmental on
my part, but I did see certain members partaking in horseplay in previous performances.), it actually
turned out to be easier to motivate and coordinate the group than I first thought. The group dynamics
ended up working out quite well, and we were on track for most of the project. I was mostly responsible
for contributing the content of the performance and relating it back to the theme of I am Africa, as
well as organizing the choreography of our dance (learning from my ill-fated attempts at choreographing
my Elements Mash-Up performance Water Striders). The application of the movements and finer
details of the performance (music, costume, refinement of movements, timing, etc.) were mostly the
task of the other members, though I also shared some of my ideas and opinions. One of the best aspects
of our project was the high level of cooperation and maturity at which we operated (which, to be
absolutely honest, I did not entirely expect). The only shortfall was that some of our group members
were missing, one of them for multiple days. This did result in some complications and issues with
familiarizing the missing members with new content, but we were quite efficient in doing so and we
managed to overcome these obstacles without adversely compromising the quality of our performance.
All in all, I believe that my group did a very good job in bringing the story of the African people to the
class though the use of different movements and techniques, including canon, retrograde motion, and
ABA sequence. As well, I got a chance to experience what it feels like to smear Nutella on my face (trust
me; its probably not something you would want to try). But above all, I was able to apply previous
lessons learnt to a new Integrated Arts performance, and it was an opportunity to express something as
serious as cultural identity through the beauty of dance.