How does innovating cultural dance perpetuate culture? The Councils first #TBT, or Throwback Thursday, reignites a discussion about dance and identity in the Pacific. The discussion began when the Council brought New Zealand-based contemporary dance group Black Grace to Guam to tour the islands schools and perform their award-winning dances for local audiences. The Guam premiere of the documentary, Black Grace: From Cannon’s Creek to Jacob’ Pillow was also part of the tour. This film follows Black Graces journey from Cannons Creek, a small town outside of Wellington, New Zealand to the prestigious Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival, the oldest one of its kind in North America. The dance performed in this clip is called the Minoi. Minoi fuses a traditional Samoan dance style known as Fa’ataupati (slap dance) and western contemporary dance as a means of exploring the idea of cultural identity issues, live singing and vocalisations, according to the Black Grace website blackgrace.co.nz/productions/1999-minoi. To learn more about the 2009 Black Grace Tour, Dance and Identity, visit guamhumanitiescouncil.org/workshops.html#3.
Posted on: Thu, 04 Dec 2014 04:11:44 +0000
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