How does Shakira "have it all?"

From her pies descalzos (bare feet) to those hips that don’t lie, Shakira has undoubtedly become a global phenomenon. A bit of pride emerges knowing that she hails from my mother’s home town of Barranquilla, Colombia. I learned all of her songs by heart back in 1996 when anyone and everyone in Colombia (and even Latin America) wondered where there love/heart was… ¿dónde estás corázon? … only to let out a sigh of relief knowing that he/she would eventually reply, ‘estoy aqui.’

When she began to dance more confidently in her performances and videos I was intrigued. Had her transition from pop-rockera in Latin America to ‘sexy Latina’ in the US commissioned her hips to begin moving and enticing? She quickly affirmed her body’s technical and aesthetic prowess by claiming that her hips didn’t lie. But it wasn’t until I saw her dancing bullerengue (a Colombian folkloric dance about female fertility) surrounded by representations of Barranquilla's carnivalesque revelry and dressed in white, skirts raised, hips pulsing side to side, that I knew I was in love (it's about 2:30 minutes into the Hips Don't Lie video)

Shakira - Hips Don't Lie
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Her hips continued to enthrall me when they were paired with Beyoncé’s. Here was a pairing of skin and sinew, of hips and hair that was almost too hot to handle. But, Shakira’s hips were never always this lithe or limber. In her early career and videos, her jet-black hair lay perfectly straightened down her back while her hips usually hid behind a guitar, a guitar that she has ceased to play as she became more mainstream, thereby replacing the curves of the guitar with her own. I wonder about the power of foreign, othered, and sinewy hips in the global marketplace. How did her hips break free and harness her inner she-wolf? She has admitted to studying Middle Eastern dance and somewhere there exist lonely dance studio spaces with steamed mirrors, longing for her undulating body to be reflected back onto them.

Beyonce Shakira Beautiful liar
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A newly techniqued body, disciplined in the art of hip-notism with hip vocabularies coming from Colombian cumbia and bullerengue, Middle Eastern "belly dance", and Brazilian samba accompanied her wavy blond hair and the hippie-rocker image which emerged as Shakira “crossed-over.” The juxtaposition between ripped jeans and harem-style hips drove the MTV crowd crazy. That’s right, Shakira, show them what hips can do!!

SHAKIRA Live - Objection
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Many hip-circles, figure eights, samba hip shimmies, and undulations initiated from the pelvis later, Shakira winds up sharing recording studio space with Lil Wayne and Timbaland to create the track “Give It Up To Me.” Here is where I shall pause, catch my breath and stretch for a moment.

Shakira ft. Lil Wayne - Give It Up To Me Official MusicVideo
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The video articulates a global citizenship for Shakira, a sonic and kinetic environment where access to the world is “given up to her.” Here, she metaphorically moves from the “third world” (her native Colombia) through the “first” (US hip hop culture) and back to the “third” (Asia), hips swinging in time to the infectious Timbaland beats that are visualized by the pounding woofers in the background. Lil Wayne is almost an accessory (or assistant) to her desire to have it all, his presence in the video merely to appreciate how “her hips swing like nunchuks.” Even his gaze shifts to her hips sways and at one point she waves him away coyly, dismissing his compliments, but even more so, dismissing her need for his presence. What I find troubling about this video is how the black bodies, Lil Wayne’s and then the dancing black girl chorus, literally labor in order to render Shakira’s global citizenship. Yes, she can have it all (records, money, fame, dancing ability, trademarked hip moves, money for her charity back home in Colombia) as long as there are other bodies around that will do the signifying and racializing labor for her. For example, a dancing black girl chorus (because I am reading Jayna Brown’s amazing book, Babylon Girls, this is the term that is in my mind at the moment) first appear in shadow; they are strong, muscular bodies frozen in poses, looking ready to pounce. She-wolves indeed. Initially, they are de-racialized because we cannot completely identify skin color but, at the same time the sonic environment along with the dance vocabularies used immediately racializes them. They are finally perceived as “black” when the lights turn on, and even more so by Shakira’s body. Her pale, blond appearance next to these deep cocoa brown women only intensifies Shakira’s incursion into “whiteness.” An exotic “whiteness” to be sure, her body capable of moving those hips, legs, torso and arms in ways not immediately associated with a white dancing body aesthetic. She is strategically placed in the center further highlighting her own highlighted body as it enacts black expressive gestures stemming from juba, step-dancing, and hip hop with militaristic precision.

Later in the video, the skyline of Hong Kong signifies Shakira’s global travels as she moves from the US (where I situate hip-hop in this analysis) to South and East Asia. Computerized Ganesh arms appear behind hers while her fingertips adorned with Thai gold and gesturing in an amalgam of bharata natyam and Thai arm movements seem to conjure the global capitalist marketplace that has indeed embraced her as a commodity worth consuming in the first world, or the third, or any other that exists in between.

Allusions to Beyoncé’s “Single Ladies (Put a Ring on It)” video and choreography appear, yet the choreography in “Give it up to me” seems relatively easier to pick up and master for those willing to practice, learn and embody the moves. While the chorus repeats “you can have it all, anything you want, you can make it yours, anything you want in the world” like a self help daily affirmation, I think about how Shakira has utilized her celebrity status and the cultural and economic capital that comes with that, to start an educational children’s charity in Colombia called Pies Descalzos Foundation. Rather than make a value statement or judgment on this kind of philanthropic endeavor, I want to consider how the rendering of a third world woman’s body into a first world commodity (through Shakira’s own self-exoticization and fetishization) enables “charitable” circulations of capital. What is at stake in terms of the processes through which such capital is gained? What types of bodies are used, valued or created in order for such processes to occur and what does that say about how consumerism and capitalism operate? To conclude with not really a conclusion in this instance, I just want to state that the trademarking of truthful, ample, yet nimble hips by Shakira has allowed her to assume some power over the world with an army of poised black women hands on swinging hips, ready to attack.

Bouncing Bundles of Beyoncé or Beyoncé brings the bottle

All the Single Ladies is one weird song. It has to have the weirdest dance break I have heard in a long time. I mean, weird. The dance break, aka, the bridge, is usually that transitional moment in a song where you, the listener, are swept up and transported to another key, or even meter: your limbic system is commandeered, synaesthesia is induced (this music is hot, what a sweet riff, etc), and off you go into the sublime. Well, if they are a great performer that is. If they are not, you likely will yawn and think, "oh yeah, here comes the big chord change, still didn't save it," or if it's poppy RB, "this bridge is better than the rest of the song, but it still ain't happening." That transition becomes predictable, hackneyed, embarrassing. When it's good, like, Whitney Houston back in the day good, you get chicken skin on your arms, you burst into tears without knowing why, you loose your breath, you wanna spin around in a circle holding your heart.

Well, Beyoncé did not achieve that at all with this song, but she managed something else:











What is it with the diapered set that this song moves them so? I would like to go back to that awkward bridge and rethink it for what it is: the song kernel. Yes, maybe the song marshals such strong, quick and easy infatuations from babies because it is all dance break with a wee bit of verse. All up in the limbic system, this vapid call and response ditty simply drives impulse through repetition, never allowing synaesthesia to occur. Rather, it seems to me, that it allows practice to occur. DO it over and over and over; it is literally pre-mastered. If I were a toddler trying to get my walk on, I would feel mighty good grooving the biped-way after one chorus. What do think? What's Beyoncé's special sauce?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8mVEGfH4s5g
(embedding disabled)

(as I am reviewing the video, my 4 year old is right now, mastering the choreo as she sees it for the first time. not kidding. she completely stopped moving at that "bridge")

'Suda el Jamon' - Latin America Nike Campaign

I was first introduced to this advert by a student in my Dance, Politics and Identity class and would like to share it with all of you.



As someone who has several family members who have gone 'under the knife,' I like the subversive potential of the message, especially for the bourgeois Latin American culture that it was initially geared towards, yet the you-tube commentary (as well as my student's paper) point to the fact that these dancer bodies do not necessarily have to worry about corporeal enhancement because they are already physically fit and adhere to aesthetic ideals. Nevertheless, dancer bodies have to work and sweat, they don't automatically exist as 'beautiful' or 'ideal.' Cultural labor (the actual labeling, setting up and rendering of the aesthetic ideal), and physical labor (dancing/working out 6 days a week, every week) operate in the rendering. So, I leave you with the video. Let the commentary, conversations, analysis, and dance theory begin.

Nike Women Ad

Dance Day 2009

Hey there! SO my dance partners slept through Act 1! I'm in Riverside now, gearing up to challenge the parking lot. Spent the drive in thinking of ways to just make dance a daily gift to commuters. Am I a bit too excited? Yes. Yes I am.

Here is a message about the day from the International Dance Council-UNESCO, of which I am a member.

Official Message for Dance Day
29 April 2009

The future of dance lies where there are persons who do not dance.

These belong to two categories: those who simply did not learn, and those who think that they are not able to dance. They represent the greatest challenge for the dance teacher's profession.

In line with UNESCO's struggle against prejudice and discrimination, we are trying to expand the boundaries of dance and to change the current perception of what a dancer is.
Dance performances are not necessarily exhibitions of extreme physicality, accurate precision, or bursting emotion - they can be celebrations of interaction between performers. We can enrich dance concerts with dancers, singers, actors, narrators, mimes, acrobats etc., of all ages and all degrees of ability.

Bringing the 'excluded' into dance is a moral duty, but also opens a great door in times of economic crisis and unemployment. In every country there are millions of persons with physical or mental disabilities. We believe they are ready to dance.

They will create jobs to thousands of dance teachers. They can be assisted by the Ministry of Health, whose budget is many times bigger than that of the Ministry of Culture.
Integrating marginalized persons into the practice of dance is as important as integrating them into the workforce.

CID holds to the philosophy that everyone can dance.

Dance Day 2009 is dedicated to inclusive dance. Let us include all members of society into our classes and our performances.



Prof. Alkis Raftis
President of the International Dance Council CID
UNESCO, Paris

Transition Town?

This morning, I went out to dump my trash. The bag had been nipped a bit by the possum who thinks he's my roommate, or perhaps cousin. The sun was shining, everyone was already up, planning for just how they were going to get to the beach in the next 30 minutes before the rest of LA arrived to our little village. It was perfect Venice: slight breeze, lots of chirping birds, wind in the palms, jasmine still smelling sweet...I unlock the back gate and step into the alley where we keep our cans. There was a perfectly coiffed and dressed older woman--at least in her 70s and OMG are those pearls--going through my trash.

And she was my neighbor from down the street, half a block over.

Did I freeze? I think I went to speak, but likely I frowned. A frown is my default "processing" face. It is rare that I don't turn up the data, so usually the frown becomes a blank look, then a smile. But this morning, I think, at about just the same moment I recognized her, she recognized me, too. And not to be outdone, lest this situation be any more awkward, she said, "Oh, hello" as I was turning to get back into the gate quick before I burst into tears. I said hello back. It took the edge off.

Now, I am not trying to be judgmental here, I used to keep my bottles myself and then take them into a center to get my money back. Here in California, when you buy any beverage, a user fee is levied against the container. If you recycle at a designated center you get your cash back. If you recycle someone else's recycling, you get their cash back and hence, an instant profit. Being the thoroughly mismanaged state government that it is, California requires you to report any income you have earned from recycling cans and bottles. Can't let those scoff laws get the best of us! I no longer recycle my own bottles because it took so long to get an amount that was worth wasting the gas to drive it somewhere, that my landlord was getting annoyed. I also managed to pay off my car, so I no longer needed that extra bit of spending money at the end of each month (public university assistant prof, what can I say). Over Christmas 2008, I decided that I would gift my bottles to the roving community that moved through the alley ways.

I had no idea that my neighbor was among them.

It is likely that this was perhaps her first go at it. Typically, people who pull recycling out of the blue bins are quasi professional: they have shopping carts, large durable plastic bags, even tongs or extended arm grabbers. Lately, they have been in Broncos, vans, and clanky old Toyota trucks. She had none of that, in fact, she was in the black cans, pulling out plastic bags, likely to get into the blue bin. She picked a good day; usually the pros wait until right before trash day or in the middle of the week to come through. I was going to bring out the recycling after the trash, but I could not bring myself to go back out.

There is a bit of a tradition in Venice combing through things set out in the alley. Our spaces tend to be a bit smaller (unless a recent McMansion), so people just set out the old item in the alley, knowing that someone will come by and get it, for free. Yes, we have to pay to have our large trash hauled, so it is a great ecosystem we've got going. However, actually getting into the actual can is not all that neighborly. Everything has its etiquette I suppose. To see her in our trash set off alarms upon alarms. I thought that maybe she did not know that she should look in the blue bin and not the black bin. Then I thought, maybe she is hungry, with four kids in the complex we likely throw out a good bit of edible food because we don't want to deal with the drama of getting it eaten a second day. I wondered if she was perhaps being malicious, simply tearing open the trash bags to encourage maggots and other pests (she kinda doesn't enjoy the large number of children running around the neighborhood). Finally, I settled on: I don't want to know.

I have been slowly reading an article in this month's Whole Life Times called "Life after Oil." Written by Rachel Dowd, the article describes a new movement called Transition Town, that is an effort to get ready for the end oil availability as we know it. Shifting from a culture of consumption to a culture of permanence is the ultimate goal. What makes this particular eco-flash-in-the-pan relentlessly possible (and perhaps entirely impossible), is the fact that it treats our reliance on oil-based economy as an addiction. It is a fascinating concept. As someone who is thoroughly into reducing her carbon footprint, cheers for local currency, delights in community gardens, I think this is a very good idea. But dang it, we are at the end of something else first. In the moment when all my research and enlightened magazine reading should have served me, I kinda acted like a co-dependent at best, or another junkie at worst. "Why is she in our trash? I don't want to know I don't want to know I don't want to know."

But honestly, I did want to know. I want to know if I should be taking her a casserole once or twice a week. I want to know if I could convince her to change her ornamental yard into an edible one. I want to know if we should have a fundraiser for her to keep her house or help repair it so she can move to an assisted living facility. Things are in transition here, but we are all secretly hoping that those who scrabble through the alley, looking for anyway to earn a living will remain the same folks, or dwindle in number. This morning, I was very quietly alerted that the transition has begun: the numbers are increasing, silently, and in terrifying ways.

Planning for the end of oil is a great idea. The communities that will be created will be more balanced, part of the larger eco-sysetm in each microclimate where these towns will exist. They will be full of art and collaboration will be the norm. But if we don't hurry up and acknowledge that we are already transitioning out of money itself, it will be impossible to come together to do anything other than scrabble over the cans of the few who still have the luxury of having trash.

Calling All Jesters/Gestures for Anatomy Riot #31

Calling all edge-riders, mad scientists, explorers and instigators: ANATOMY RIOT #31 approaches. The A-Team (Arianne Hoffmann & Anna B. Scott) is looking for new works, old bits, recent drafts, and ancient ideas for a May, 11th 2009 night of performance.

With low-tech, do-it-yourself spirit in an easygoing setting, Anatomy Riot is an ongoing (almost) monthly dance/performance series, curated by choreographer Meg Wolfe & guest curators. AR started in October 2005; since that time, 230 artists and counting have performed at Anatomy Riot. AR encourages creative exploration and provides a platform for local artists to share what’s new and what’s in the works.

Send us a brief description of your work and a way to to contact you by April 15. We have space for 7- 9 acts, no longer than 8 minutes each. This is low-tech, high intensity danced-based art making at its rowdiest (best?). Check out Anatomy Riot’s pages in FaceBook and MySpace. Post us a private message there or contact afrologic@gmail.com

Obamanating, Dance, Power

It was often remarked how unusual the 2008 Presidential campaign was in the United States for the simple fact that the candidates not only made sure to make the rounds of the news talk shows, but they also made the rounds of daytime talk shows and late night television. All of this amounted to, in fact, self-mockery in many cases, often, as int he case of Obama, to give a better sense of the like-every-body-else-ness of a man who holds degrees from some of the top schools in the nation, with excellent grades no less. In this installment of my investigation of the kinesthetic conjuring around/through Obama, I will look at the impersonator. For those late night appearances could be read as self-impersonation, but they were definitely moments that allowed for a "thicker" study of Obama's kinestethic palette.

The Daily Show With Jon StewartM - Th 11p / 10c

Barack Obama Pt. 1

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http://www.thedailyshow.com/video/index.jhtml?videoId=189761&title=barack-obama

a late breaking appearance, Obama clearly has figured out how to do snarky and still look cool

We can think about Obama "markin'" himself in the vernacular (imitating with a slight bit of dramatas to draw attention to an otherwise indistinguishable affect upon which the actor relies to convey meaning) and also in the denotation of "mark," and "to mark," in all its meanings in the dictionary. Really. From the online Merriam Webster for "mark/noun":
1: a boundary land
2 a (1): a conspicuous object serving as a guide for travelers (2): something (as a line, notch, or fixed object) designed to record position b: one of the bits of leather or colored bunting placed on a sounding line at intervals c: target d: the starting line or position in a track event e (1): goal , object (2): an object of attack, ridicule, or abuse ; specifically : a victim or prospective victim of a swindle (3): the point under discussion (4): condition of being correct or accurate mark> f: a standard of performance, quality, or condition : norm mark lately>
3 a (1): sign , indication mark of his esteem> (2): an impression (as a scratch, scar, or stain) made on something (3): a distinguishing trait or quality : characteristic marks of an educated person> b: a symbol used for identification or indication of ownership c: a cross made in place of a signature d (1): trademark (2)capitalized —used with a numeral to designate a particular model of a weapon or machine <Mark II> e: a written or printed symbol (as a comma or colon) f: postmark g: a symbol used to represent a teacher's estimate of a student's work or conduct ; especially : grade h: a figure registering a point or level reached or achieved mark in the first period of play> ; especially : record
4 a: attention , notice mark> b: importance , distinction mark> c: a lasting or strong impression d: an assessment of merits : rating marks for honesty>

Okay, maybe Obama is not a postmark, but he did use the song "Signed, Sealed, Delivered" by Stevie Wonder, so then again...The point I hope I have made here is that delivering a particular corpo-reality for a specific time slot, audience, and network, is no small feat. What Obama was successful in doing is creating a string of impersonations that gave the effect of proximity to the viewer following him; especially if that viewer were not a television viewer, but rather a clipwatcher on YouTube.








Some of the videos I have posted in this series of Barack Obama are cataloged on his channel on YouTube. This is significant. These "microplays" and "instant dances" were available 24/7 as on-demand instant replay, unfolding an unusual character, one that certainly never makes it to the curtain call as a clear hero: the mulatto man. Where the tragedy of a female torn between her two races is a much gone-over story layered over celebrity products like Dorothy Dandridge, Lorraine Hansberry, and Mariah Carey (yes I know that only Mariah is a real one..for more on that read Melissa Blanco's dissertation, Ochuness...), you would be hard pressed to think about a story or movie from the US where the main character "mixed race" and a man. Jean Toomer's Cane, perhaps, and then certain sequences from Roots. Leave comments if you have others. All this to point out that Obama's kinestheic awareness does not cohere around a stereotype.

That might be overstatement.

But for now, I'll leave it there and we can look at ways that others took Obama's forays into self-impersonation and made their own.

Dance, Power, Obamamania

Having written these quick perspectives on dance practice and the figure of Obama, I realized that I should look at the man himself dancing. He did a lot of it. It reminds me of that quote, "if I can't dance in your revolution, then I don't want to be a part of it..." often attributed to Emma Goldman.



Obama the man seemd to be having a genuinely good time spreading his message wherever he went. His forays into ass shaking, rather than cause a good deal of laughing, were met with geniune delight and response in kind. We can think about his hips, and those cute little fists up by the shoulders, relaying information that he could not otherwise say without sounding cocky and/or crazy: "I am winning and I know it. I am joyful in this knowledge and I invite you to join me in this feeling."



Obama is that guy who starts dancing across the dance floor when his song comes on in search of a partner, moving his head and hips while professionally scanning the room until he finds YOU.



Obviously, a lot of people decided he would be a great dance partner, just enough awkardness to make his moves accesible and endearing; locked on the beat, though, so you can't get lost in the melissima or polyrhythm. It's in his dancing that all of his points of origins could be said to coalesce, revealing a man with many options, not one beholden to "blood memories."

In dance scholarship we frequently trace, or at least attempt to, the history of a dance move, discover who it "Really" belongs to, when it was first performed/staged/recorded/taught, etc. This act is usually futile, since most popular dances evolve mightily form their point of origin, other dances that seem to circulate mostly as religious implements tend to turn up at house parties with different music, poeple travel, artists, travel and then so do the dances. The provenance of a dance is quite an elusive thing.

Similarly, stamping a racial identity onto a series of floor patterns, torso isolations (or not), spine positions and arm swings can also be exhausting, and in the end, ten years down the line, really not the point of the dance anyway. These days, I prefer to think about dances, popular dances, as a series of networked corpo-realities that mark a specific location, pattern of practice and set of material conditions (that includes access to television and/or robust internet connections). To me, Obama's hips, facial expression, feet, arms, and hands reveal not so much ancestry as travel, accomodation, adoptation...code switching.



Given that we all now find ourselves immersed in codes, digital, indexical and corporeal--the ease with which Obama can allow in his body several codes to co-exist without resolving them is on the one hand, "funny," but on the other, "cool." This not to be confused or conflated with the "cool" that he exudes when getting out of a car, or putting on his jacket, lighting up a cigarette, kicking up his feet. No that cool is almost a picture perfect study in 1950s bebop elegance. The cool that I am referncing is the, "that's ok like that. I like it cause it is itself" type of cool that so many of us use instead of saying, "alright," "ok," or even "yes." Obama's dancing is cool cause, well yeah, I could do that. That's cool.

A little hip there, a lot of teeth here, and soon, Obama's dancing helped create a delirium, a mass need to move with him; effortlessly, in one's own contradictions.

Obama, Dance, Power II

The choreostories we inscribe on ourselves to celebrate great passages can often seem obscure if we think of the passage has having only a two-dimensional force: here to there. The election of Barack Obama, plural entity that he is, presents an opportunity for us to rethink the ways in which dance stories are not so much marking a singular transition as they are multiplexing the various elements that combine to give rise to "a moment." Such is the case with the video below.



The residents of this Japanese town live literally in Obama. Pause for a minute. The name that we have been rhyming with "Osama" and collectively amazed at the similarities also turns out to be a place, but in a region of the world far removed from the Middle East conflict and Barack Obama's father's homeland of Kenya. Nope this is even sweeter, since Barack Obama, here I will call him Barry, since Barry is from the Pacific Islands known as Hawai'i, a place with a very large Japanese ex-pat community. Japanese tourists favor the islands of Hawai'i as a destination. It should come as no surprise, and yet it does, that the dance that the people of Obama, Japan would pick to celebrate Obama the man would be the hula, since he is, Hawai'ian.

The choreostory they crafted tells of his journey to the white house, making him an epic hero. Never mind that culturally he is not illili, nor through heritage. his heartspace, the place where he goes to recharge is in Honolulu. Therfore, to welcome the hero into his new palace, the dance of that most reminds him of home should be done.

For all of this, what Asian-Americans were interested in seemed to be missing from his campaign. Odd since he grew up in a Pan-Asian environment. Reading his name as the flight from that childhood to a more African one only to discover later in life that it takes him instantaneously back into "oceania," I am struck by the inability to escape his metanarrative of being/belonging to everyone.



o
ba
ma

In his name, are root words, primordial: air, father, mother. That's my hoodoo kickin in with a dash of Afrocentrism. But I do think that I'm not too far off. This chant that Barry picked for a name...can't help but want to dance to it, for it and in it. Talk about Conjure!

The dancers in the video also desire something Other than Barry: they are very skilled in the dance so they did not just up and decide to do hula a few weeks ago. Like salsa in Tokyo, there seems to be a proficiency here verging on a transposition of self. In all of this, how does the man which inhabits the mantra/greeting/chant transform through each hip swirl, kick and spin?


(C)Anna Beatrice Scott

Dance, Power, and Obama

Barack Obama not only inspired people to vote for him, but amoung various black communities, he got people up off their behinds and onto the dance floor. In this blog post, I am simply going to embed a number of the videos I've come across. But I do want to talk about at one point the way that these dances were "dropped" not just to have fun, but to imbue Obama with invincible grace: these dances are nkisi, powerprayers, dropped around the shoulders of Obama like a mantle of super-energy. In one video, and elder proclaims "this is the dance we will do when Obama wins." People felt it, even while political junkies were afraid to believe it. At the inauguration celebration in Oakland Oracle Arena, a woman declared that Obama was annointed.These dances reveal that fervor to celebrate "an instrument of god."

Truly, the thing that interests me here is dance as distillation. The dances here capture in turn, the joy of the campaign, the wonderment of collective desire and work, the strength of group visualization, and the idea that a body in motion is easier to move than one at rest.

Check it.


This song was released back in 2008. There are 3 videos showing how to do the dance. It is very dynamic and I love how they incorporated bits of Afro-Hatian dance. The arms going over while the foot comes forward looks like a dance called "maie" a harvest dance. Gorgeous.





This video includes contributions to the kinetic get-out-the-vote effort in Detroit and Miami. "Obama Hustle" from Detroit created by Crystal Smith; the "Barack & Michelle Obama Rock" created by Linda Halloway in Miami, Fl. I LOVE the Rock and don't know if I will ever get it. Ms. Halloway must have been a Grambling Girl! Syncopated is not a strong enough word.




This is the original video for the Obama Hustle. I found this video on Black Bottom.com originally. I love this one because it is all elders workin it. This dance is very subtle and sophisticated. I think the one above actually does not show it in its original form. IN this version, check out how difficult it is to figure out where to turn. I loved this because it reminded me of Obama's speeches...




This dance is an ode to the man himself: Barack's Grove. The choreographer, North Song and Illmatic Force, made this dance for a song by Tex -n- D. He actually did a study of how Barack was dancing on the Ellen Degeneres Show and of Obama's walk, stroll, and that infamous "dustin' his shoulder's off." This is a very clear instructional video, with a high level of difficulty to the dance. it is brilliant encapsulation of Barack Obama, though the frat brothers at the end kinda did not get his whole dignity thing. You'll see what I'm talkin about. Don't sleep on that slide though!




This dance by Terry Dwight Coleman also comes with a song he made up. The dance is really a phrase, and he explains how you can change it as you wish. It seems to turn, but really it just dips back and is done mostly facing the front. Would probably be a good partner dance.





Not much of a dance, this retro-rap video by Bob Brown is just a groove. Again, it takes its choreographic inspiration from Obama's own moves on television. Cute fun, especially when he says he pulled his pants up. Go Obama!





This last one was dedicated by the performer, Cupid, to Obama. He talked about that with Steve Harvey. I have to relocate the video where he is overcome with emotion, talking about the love that Obama was bringing. This one is simple and really enjoyable.

So there is a lot to say about these dances. There are also spontaneous dances on the internet where people just started grooving at Obama rallies and were caught in the act. I find it all fascinating, obviously, but telling. here on Day 3 of the new Obama Administration, already a LOT has changed with Guantanomo Bay closing and birth control freedom being restored globally to NGOs that receive funds from the US Government. I wonder if we will see more dances cropping up to celebrate the inauguration? The dances above were all created in advance of the win so that people would have something constructive to do on the night of the win.

I guess we should all get busy making new phrases to keep folks occupied as the economy continues to tank...Maybe we can take these dances as maps and figure out a way to make a whole lot with just a little.

(c)Anna B. Scott

Dear President Obama

January 15, 2009
Barack Hussein Obama
President, USA
1600 Pennsylvania AVE
Washington, DC

Dear President Obama,

Congratulations! Now save the world! I am sure by now you are equally astonished at just how much you have to “fix” and annoyed that you can’t just step in and start your/our own agenda today. So I would like to take this moment to offer you a respite, of sorts, a way to look at the situation from a choreographic perspective. I just have to say as someone who joined mybarak.com and made those last hour phone calls, I am in awe of your web 2.0 skills, but I am equally impressed with your astuteness in recognizing that the internet is only as good as the person surfing across it. It was sheer genius to actually have members of your team available and actively participating with us, the volunteers. And it is that act, that gesture of moving “politics as usual” with ease and grace by gathering force and numbers incrementally that got you that Aretha serenade. But this momentum, this people powered bit of contact improv elegance will also be your undoing if you fail to take some rather simple steps, mostly of the decorous sort.


Always invite your friends to dance with you first. grand gestures to those that clearly want to hurt you, while laudable, can begin to look like negligence and deference at the same time: aka inertia.

Taking center stage is not equivalent to being in the center. And locating a center between such vast polarities could be perceived as installing yourself in a no-man’s land. Move from your core, not the empty space of the play area.

Go for dynamism by pairing contrasts (note this is different than seeking to balance opposites), Your teams of Strong Personalities might actually need additional positions, in which to best mobilize. Education & national Security; Arts & Green Economy; Energy & Healthcare. Allow them to stretch into the possibilities of their limbs of government.

Establish a Department of Arts & Culture that works with the Internet Czar to magnify the visual learning potential of your online social network efforts. We artists have had to suffer through lean times for a very long time and find ways to reach and create audience in ways often astonishing and down right entertaining.

Remember to take the time to explore in “the studio” to develop a common vocabulary of movement and to set parameters for the exploration and execution of the big idea. Every great piece of choreography takes a lot of rehearsal, especially when done as a collaboration. Take your time, and throw out false gestures to achieve arresting, course-changing movement.

Finally, achieve momentum by first solidly grounding your weight in your base. Push off from the people that voted for you in record numbers. Those people do not think nuclear power is safe. Those people want a lasting WORLD PEACE helmed by a Department of Peace (a Peace Corp is simply not enough). They ache for the freedom to move about and love whomever and where ever they choose. Those people are willing to lift you high to change your perspective, so that we can all have greater possibilities, beautiful execution, exuberant finales.

In sum, don't drop your dance partner, cause that would really suck and we'd have to go find a better one.


Sincerely yours,

Anna Beatrice Scott

Dance as Civic Duty Lecture Series

The dates below are subject to change. You should contact anna.scott@ucr.edu to confirm the event 2 days prior.

Dance As Civic Duty
Dancing to shift social discourse has made a comeback; even if there aren't enough stages on which to do it or audience members to pay to see it. With the current economic challenge, dancing is ever more a diverison of choice (it is free, you can move your body how ever, whenever and practically wherever you want) while dance companies are beginning to fail. Taking their signal from the dissipating audience, dance makers, producers and promoters are putting up shows in innovative locales, using current topics, pick up dancers, and often, web 2.0 strategies to reinvigorate their practice and speak to the task at hand: making an open society. Civically minded, this mode of production seems to have the potential to impact policy making with regards to shifts in demographics, urban redevelopment, K-12 education strategies and even international cultural exchange. Remember that? Dancing to save people, places, and things is not so far fetched as it might seem. This quarter the Department of Dance welcomes a series of performer-scholars, activist-performers, producers and promoters to explore the idea of dance as a necessary component in the restructuring of our sociopolitical landscape. All talks are free and open to the public and unless otherwise noted, located in PE 102 on Tuesdays at 4:10 PM


Tuesday, January 20th, 4:15 - 5:30 Joe Goode is a choreographer, writer, and director whose first concern as an artist is to provide a "deeply felt, profoundly human experience" in the theater. He is widely known as an innovator in the field of dance for his willingness to collide movement with spoken word, song, and visual imagery.

Tuesday January 27th Victoria Marks creates dances for the stage, for film and in community settings. Mark' recent work has considered the politics of citizenship, as well as the representation of both virtuosity and disability. These themes are part of her ongoing commitment to locating dance-making within the sphere of political meaning. Marks is a Professor of choreography in the Department of World Arts and Cultures at UCLA where she has been teaching since 1995.

Wednesday February 18th, 1:10 - 2:30 Stephan Koplowitz is an award winning director/choreographer/media artist internationally known for his work on the concert stage and for creating original site-specific multi-media works for architecturally significant sites. His site work aims to alter people's perspectives of place, site, and scale, all infused with a sense of the human condition. He is the Dean of Dance of the Sharon Disney Lund School of Dance at CalArts.

Tuesday February 24th Meg Wolfe is a choreographer & performer, organizer & instigator of Show Box projects, including: the tri-annual dance journal, "itch"; the Anatomy Riot performance series; and DANCEbank, a roving dance class that marauds across the Los Angeles landscape with different instructors every three weeks.

Tuesday March 3, Michael Sakamoto creates interdisciplinary performances in butoh-based dance theater and contemporary theater as well as photography, installation, and media art. Drawing on influences as diverse as the dark, visceral physicality of butoh, the weighted presence and minimalism of Zen, and pop culture from around the globe, his works express a subversive yet benevolent multiculturalism caught within an absurdist east/west dialectic.


TBA/Confirmed
Shakina Nayfeck is a recent MFA in Experimental Choreography from UCR. His rock opera Junk, will open on May 11th in the Zipper Factory in New York City.


California Lawyers for the Arts The mission of California Lawyers for the Arts is to establish a bridge between the arts and the legal communities so that:

A. Artists and art groups may gain greater competence in handling legal and business aspects of their creative activities;

B. The legal profession may become more aware of and involved in issues affecting artists and the arts community and,

C. The law may become more responsive to the needs and interests of the arts community.