I would like to draw your attention
to the juxtaposition of Sandra Richard’s article What Is to Be Remembered?:
Tourism to Ghana’s Slave Castle-Dungeons, and the Dance Theatre of Harlem’s
Black Swan ballet production. DTH’s take on Peter Tchaikovsky’s Swan
Lake by choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, should not to be
confused with Darren Aronofsky’s film Black Swan, which depicts an
account of being an under study in the dance world. Several ballet companies
and choreographers have interpreted the love story of this ballet differently.
The original depicts a prince who falls in love with a beautiful young woman in
the guise of the swan queen due to a spell she is under that can only be broken
by true love. He is tricked into professing his love to her twin sister who is
disguised in all black dress.[1] DTH’s
recontextualization offers a combination of interpretations in which case the
swan queen and the black swan are one role performed by a Black ballerina.
Clearly her challenge is to reveal herself as both characters without depending
on a costume change. This however is not what challenges the audience’s
consciousness, a racial awareness does.
Though DTH’s artistic director
Virginia Johnson claimed that the predominately Black ballet company’s
intention was not to portray the Swan Lake love interest as a Black
couple (or even an interracial couple) but rather as a couple “that best
complimented one another,” she admitted that later there was an, “a ha” moment
of “I bet audiences will question this choice based on race.” Thus when
re-presenting Swan Lake billed as Black Swan, danced by an
interracial couple, the performance in ways both inadvertent and direct, asks
us to consider something. So what is it?
Richard’s article reflecting the
tourism to Ghana's slave castle-dungeons suggests that the performativity of
the exhibition, like DTH’s recontextualization of Swan Lake, asks its
tourists to consider something. Richard’s believes tourists are being
confronted with an identity crisis, a lack of connection with their cultural
heritage and no sense of what to make of their past, present and future
existence.[2] While tourists
are being afforded a rich history, what is to be gained from the way they are
experiencing it?
Whether or not DTH’s Black Swan
consciously or unconsciously considered race in its recontexualization, its
audience did. First, let us recognize the fact that this is the first
appearance of a Black ballerina in the role of the swan queen, which naturally
causes one to question why hasn’t there ever been a Black swan in Swan Lake?
Why has that not been considered before? Would she have ever been considered if
not by a predominately Black ballet company? Next let us consider the role of
the male love interest performed by a white male dancer. Is it possible that
the desire for the Black swan to be received by all audiences led
to the interracial partnering choice? Bear with me as I frame my trajectory
with the following quotes: Marget H’Doubler states, “Art cannot be divorced
from life, it is of life’s essence,” and Brenda Dixon-Gottschild states, “…art cannot
ignore politics or history. Choreographers and performers need to understand
the choices they are making, why and how these choices resonate in the
larger-than-dance world, and what history is attached to these choices.”[3] These
sentiments bear tremendous relevance when considering the discontented
audiences who witnessed “controversial” casting in Arthur Mitchell’s pas de
duex performance with a white ballerina, Mimi Paul (both of the NYC Ballet), in
Jacques d’Amboise’s Othello inspired Prologue, or reflecting on
the denied performance of light-skinned black, Carmen de Lavallade and white
Glen Tetley on the Ed Sullivan show in the 1950’s.[4]
Admittedly, I am a discontented
audience member of DTH’s Black Swan, but for reasons completely opposite
to the notion that interracial casting is “wrong.” My discontent is with
Virginia Johnson’s unconvincing blithe remarks intended to shade the
irrefutable conscious casting decisions made. To imply that their racial
awareness was merely an afterthought seems contradictory and a slap in the face
to the standard of the DTH legacy. This was a prime opportunity for DTH to make
a poignant point that art should and does acknowledge multiculturalism and in
doing so the American culture is being offered a richer experience not tainted
by stereotypical norms. Perhaps Dixon-Gottschild would argue my point with that
of her own by asking, “And how much is the world of art beholden to acknowledge
and deal with history and culture?”[5] If art imitates
life and life experience is your best teacher, then it is crucial that the
world of art acknowledges and deals with history and culture as well as
politics.
While I have not yet been to
Ghana’s slave castle-dungeons, I cannot begin to imagine what I would walk away
with other than rage, empathy, and discombobulating emotions. I would remember
what I am supposed to forget, that much has changed, but much has not. I left
the Mondavi Center the evening of November 9th 2012 conflicted by my
contrasting feelings of elation and dismay. The dancing was lovely and
invigorating, but the Black Swan pas de duex left much to be desired
from the dancers’ display of affection for one another. While the swan was
flirtatious and coy with the prince, he was dry and mechanical with her. I
certainly beg to differ that these specific dancers “best complimented one
another.” Make no mistake my criticism is not with their dancing, I was
disappointed with their poor acting. They obviously lacked a connection, so was
I the only one who noticed this? I recognize and applaud DTH’s new
multicultural representation, but I am curious to know if their company members
have fully embraced it. What I believe is to be considered here is the fact
that historical and sociocultural representations are still struggling for
visibility void of dismay and discontent. Reaching a level of equality
that celebrates multiculturalism instead of simply tolerating it can only be
hoped for.
[1] “Swan Lake.” Wikipedia:
the free encyclopedia. Wikimedia Foundation, Inc. 17 November 2012. Web. 18
November 2012. <http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Swan_Lake#Odette>
[2] Richards, Sandra L.
(2005). What Is to Be Remembered?: Tourism to Ghana’s Slave Castle-Dungeons. Theatre
Journal, 57(4), 617-637.
[3] Dixon-Gottschild,
Brenda., p 296. The Black Dancing Body: A Geography from Coon to Cool. New
York: Palgrave Macmillan, 2003. Print.
[4] Ibid. p197
[5] Ibid. p296
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