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Migration and Marginality (reflections on the Vision Arts Forum 2002, University of Auckland)

Author: Linda Ashley

Publication: unpublished

Publication Date: 01 July 2002

Subject: Commentary on Auckland University Vision Arts Forum 2002

Dominant cultures either have no culture or it is invisible. I was unsure as to which of these were the final call at the end of one of the presentations in the University of Auckland Vision Arts Forum. In fact I was left with many questions, as instructed by the presenters, but not necessarily the questions which were intended.

However, of one thing I am sure, the new NZ Arts Curriculum is a beginning and gives the arts in education what they deserve, status and recognition. The Forum did not seem to acknowledge this other than to determine that despite the national curriculum arts should be taught “interdisciplinarily as a condition of curriculum implementation and development”.

An interdisciplinary cross-curricular unit embracing dance, visual art and social studies generated by the project of the video Dancing the Long White was mentioned during the Forum. The incident of a young Afghani boy spontaneously performing his traditional New Year dance for a class of years 4,5,and 6 as part of a dance unit on the theme of Celebration, (referred to by Tina Hong in her presentation). As Project Leader for the video I was present at this shoot and witnessed this extremely moving moment when the deepest (and in many ways darkest) powers from our world of dance were summoned. Here I refer to a doubt which was raised from the Vision Forum, namely that of the inability of the Curriculum to be able to impact with the really ‘deeper, darker’ significances which art can embody. Believe me if you had been present that day in that dance class you would have little difficulty recognizing that it is most certainly not only possible but inevitable. For me reading the Dance curriculum is dance in all its power and intensity. It only requires a sympathetic and empowered dance artist and/or educator to implement it. However, as far as dance goes, to have its rightful place as a stand alone discipline (if it chooses to be so) after far too long on the fringes at every others’ beck and call, (I include drama, music and physical education here), is an important milestone not to be diluted into an interdisciplinary cocktail.

Another example of this interdisciplinary implementation was the focus of Chris Naughton’s investigation into “Free Samba as a democratic and inclusive practice”. Well I suppose if you live in the slums of Rio and spend most of your hard earned pittance on the annual samba event, then you may regard that as your democratic choice. My real concern is his mention of how a samba project in a NZ school was able to facilitate the students ‘making their own movements’. The process which he described, rather inaudibly, over video footage, I think sounded suspiciously like something from my culture. Speaking of my culture I relate to the Laban legacy of “Educational (aka Creative) Dance”. This is much used in Brazil by dance educators such as Isabel Marques as a means of teaching “ dance lessons that allow me to connect the dance body of knowledge…to contemporary society. “ (1).

Now we know that Laban was German but, thanks to the passionate pursuits of Mr. A. Hitler, laban-based dance education developed in English schools with a group of women physical educationalists. This generated an international practice of child-centred dance education. It is this foundation that is a starting-point for the new NZ Dance Curriculum. A starting-point, and only that, but nevertheless a poignant one. It underpins my work with pre-service and postgraduate teachers at Auckland College of Education and empowers students to do likewise with their classes in making accessible a world of artistic nonverbal expression. Dance is, after all,“unique in its intention to express meaning through movement.” (2) It is this creative, artistic and choreographic process that Naughton referred to and mistakenly accredited the resultant empowerment of the children to the genre of samba!

As a recent immigrant from UK to NZ I was rather marginalized during the day, just as I am sure keynote speaker, black Dominican Josefina Baez was too. Her evening performance was well-attended and stimulated many thoughts and reflections on the previous Forum. A few thoughts about the performance:

Loved the ‘Los Hermanos Isley’ reference. So revealing about the place of an immigrant from Dominican republic to New York trying to make sense of a dominant culture.
Intrigued by the choice of Kuchipudi as the main choice of dance style and vocabulary to tell her story and admittedly worried by the resonance of Krishna’s stories translated into referencing her Dominican Samba mentor (at least I think that’s what she said). But hey, it’s a post-modern world!
Entranced by her stage presence and the tight fabric of the spoken text, live trumpet and, of course, her idiosyncratic dance language.

In Baez’s post-performance discussion she answered queries with refreshing openness and clarity. One such addressed the question of whether she borrowed other cultures’ ‘property’. She confessed candidly that she did and would continue to do so. Her proclamation that she "...would borrow some Maori dance too if she felt like it!" was met with a range of visceral responses from the audience, felt in the rustle of the room. This effective and suitably nonlinear response encapsulated the nonsensical, rather grotesque (in the real sense, please consult dictionary if confused by this one, it is not a negative), eclectic performance. I was momentarily taken back to earlier in the day when Janinka Greenwood mentioned the recent Maori version of Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice and that of course is a part of my increasingly more and more visible culture. Indeed how Shakespeare’s Romeo and Juliet is a reminder of how culture is an infinite maelstrom; from Arabian story, to Italian fable, to English play, to New York musical to Hollywood film. As for classical ballet, well of course it is ethnic cultural dance from my culture.

By the way the next conference of Dance and the Child International is in August 2003, Bahia, Brazil, I would recommend that all arts educators and academics go and experience it as part of their interdisciplinary experience.

So to sum up. I look back at the article above and hanker that I should have said more at the time of the Forum, but well just not the space to really. What I note is that above I have spliced Afghani, American, Arabian, Brazilian, English, German, Indian, Italian, Maori, and New Zealand European, dance, music, drama, physical education and social studies (sorry to visual arts and other nations / curriculum areas not mentioned, I couldn’t quite manage the lot), and as such what set out to be a short review of a performance reflects on the post modern curriculum bigger picture.

References
(1) pg. 183 . Dance,Power and Difference. Critical and Feminist Perspectives on Dance Education Editor Shapiro H.
(2) Linda Ashley 1999.

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