12/26/2023
It’s funny when this card comes up in gameplay — it usually elicits a giggle, followed by a considerate moment of what dance defense could mean.
Maybe folx are picturing a flash mob.
Maybe they are picturing a totally unpredictable and immediate free-flowing dance response to the delivery of an eviction notice - that is, if it comes at the hands of a person. If it arrives in the mail or posted to a door, then perhaps the person goes to the address and if possible, dances their defense in the visual presence of the delivering entity. OR if that entity is some corporation, one of many that has started buying up available homes and holding them vacant, or making them ready-for-market at exorbitant rental rates. In that all-to-common scenario, the person may gather with others quite visibly outside of some visual symbolic cluster of one of these areas, and dance their outrage, invite the press, cover it themselves, submit entries to independent media, to Zine makers.
Upload the images, the music, the words, to the Creative Commons - Wikimedia - Wikipedia Consider giving those orgs $5 cause they’re struggling, and the common spaces of information that can be utilized, collectively built upon, and scrutinized or held to account, are important.
Note: That particular scenario has not been freely mentioned in gameplay. I’m usually caught up in the moment of inventiveness and forgetting to record what great idea or commentary has been delivered.
The actual intention for this card - though I do not wish to impede creative responses here - was different. It was two forms of health and well-being and opening up access to these. Not only do forms of dance and martial arts offer a person great physical health and activity, but they also empower and free.
Many forms of martial arts are widely available in cities in the U.S. — including karate of various styles, some including weapons, many relying only on the trained muscle memory moves of the body. Not to mention boxing, kickboxing, and mixed martial arts.
Dance could be formal, could be fun, and could include hip-hop choreography led by an instructor. Could be ballet, though there seems to be an age limit on that. Down with the age limit, bring on the tutus. Seriously though, there is Barre, but the cost of it (last time I checked) is high. Ecstatic dance was a form I was inspired by and stuck with for some years. Worth looking into if you haven’t heard of it. It’s been around a while, and continues to create sober community spaces where it’s encouraged to move with the music and explore what our bodies are feeling and needing in terms of movement. There are parameters for interaction, a way to approach a dance partner and an understanding of the ways that approach can be accepted or declined. Many just dance independently, but there are usually at least 1-3 interactions of people playing and rolling around like kids. In Boise, I have to note, that the handful of Ecstatic Dances I’ve been to do not include a ton of diversity, those gathered are predominantly white and the crowd is small compared to other cities I’ve been in. I was introduced to it in Portland in 2009 and there was a great diversity of ages present, an entire old dance hall full of people on a Sunday morning, no talking, varied states of apparel (several people in pajamas), kids, elder folk, lots of adults. Perhaps the cultural diversity could be scaled there and be about the same. 1-6% of those gathered. This ratio carries on to Seattle, Olympia, and outside Farmer City, Illinois. Maybe the music selections and the wonder are representative of white culture. Maybe there are dance forms that are as deeply beneficial happening for communities of Color - or Culture - as Resmaa Menakem says.
“I don’t say “bodies of color” anymore, because what I’m trying to do is, I’m trying to reclaim the idea that I’m actually a human.”
He also notes that for some work it can be unwise to bring multiple cultures together for generational healing work. I know I am not alone in seeing this form of dance as deeply healing. But pause when thinking about it in terms like it could work for everyone all at once.
Menakem “… then that is in some way gonna make it so we can all sing kumbaya together.” And this is why I don’t — when I do my workshops and I do my experiences, I do not slam white bodies and bodies of culture together, because it is unsafe. And we all know it.
We’re hurting each other. We’re re-wounding each other. Some of the things that we go to that are “supposed to” help and “supposed to” heal, really are re-wounding and are violent.” - On Being: Notice the Rage, Notice the Silence
Forwarding this thought process, Ecstatic Dance is a means of freeing, healing, and tapping into. In some communities at the circle-up times, a person conducts a guided meditation that harkens (back?) to times where people of European descent were aligned with the seasons and the movements of the land. Tapping into annual cycles, quiet dark reflection of winter, fiery spark of life in the fresh wet green of spring, the height of harvest mid-summer, and gathering and preserving the bounty in the fall. Dance can be a very healthy form of stepping out into the world and into ourselves and bodies, and connecting. Maybe preparing, clearing the way for response to navigating collective grief. I’ve relied on it to clear grief, find happiness, acknowledge grief, dance it. Come together after.
This card also exists because of Capoeira - my favorite form of martial art, as well as dance. It is one of the forms that is housed firmly in cultures historically oppressed. There is some variation in origin story, but the form and practices are very similar, and the benefits to the people are very strong. Capoeira Angola originated in Angola Africa, according to my Mestre of that form, Silvinho. It came with the people to South America in the area of Brazil where it continued to the present. It is low to the ground for the most part.
Capoeira Malês originated in Brazil, it is a form that has been adapted to higher movements, including a lot of kicking and flying through the air. Mestre Curisco may have adapted it and developed it. I obviously need to reconnect with my fellow students, and read up on the forms again. I have not found Capoeira in Boise.
Both forms carry a similar origin story and ongoing reality. They were a form of self defense developed by enslaved peoples of Africa. As I was told by another student outside of class, it was designed to allow the people to fight, even if their hands were still in chains. This is how my mind recalls this story-part anyway. The people hung onto this form of self-defense and it was a part of their liberation. It was also known that it was a form that was targeted by next waves of oppressive forces. So the form too had elements of dance. Actually, my mind is releasing the recall in fits and caffeinated starts this morning, it’s may have a basis in Samba dancing, lots of fluid movement.
There are a couple of great documentaries to watch about it. In these, people walk the streets of Brazil, sometimes in clothes I’ve only seen in churches, but more colorful. They spar in these, and their clothes stay clean (I would have to practice many many years to be that good - and I am well out of practice). Maybe from early on it served to help generational healing. It provides community and a safe outlet for rage, grief, and defense to express itself, and in that, healing.
Capoeira is a cross cultural space, and hosted by the Cultures that are sharing it with all peoples. This is supported by song, traditional instruments, and learning Portuguese - all while learning the moves. Hands down my favorite form. If anyone knows anyone in Boise offering this, please let me know.
Zooming out a bit to the big picture view of the past years of women’s disempowerment as marked by the overturning of Roe V Wade. Marked by the increased violence globally, the marked suppression of girls and prohibition of their attending school. All of that is subjugation. Learning to use our bodies to defend ourselves allows us to be moving concealed weapons, and if we all embraced that practice or a great majority of us did, just think how different things might be.
Posted a couple of days after #InternationalWomensDay - originally drafted in the early winter.