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
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