On Batey y Macorix's Pathways

Batey y Macorix: Senderos de Carbón / Carbon Pathways is the newest installment of the Young Roots Performance Series presented by Hostos Center for the Arts and Culture in the Bronx, NYC. The Young Roots Series mission is to "showcase emerging artists experimenting with the artistic roots of Afro-Latino traditions to create new branches that reach into the future."

Batey y Macorix (shows 9/30 and 10/1) features Sita Frederick, artistic director of Areytos Performance Works, guest artists Alexander Callender and Genaro Ozuna, musical director Desmar Guevara, and an amazing cast of dancers and musicians.

BATEY Y MACORIX: SENDEROS DE CARBON /CARBON PATHWAYS

Sita Frederick, Artistic Director

Desmar Guevara, Musical Director

Leticia Peguero, Producer

Nick Hung, Lighting Designer

Guest Artists: Alexander Callender, Genaro Ozuna

Dancers: Beatrice Capote, Chanon Judson, Alethea Pace, Richard Rivera, Pedro Raposo, Ricardo Urena

Musicians: Manuela Arciniegas, Fidel Paulino, Yasser Tejeda, Alberto Toro

An important part of the 2 year Young Roots Series is for all the participating artists to engage each other in dialogue. Since I had the honor of presenting my collaboration with Catarina dos Santos titled The Mermaid's Feet as part of the Young Roots Series, I'm taking this opportunity to get inspired by Batey y Macorix.



I watched the short promo video above (as well as the longer version) and was blown away by the importance of the project, the sticky and tricky waters of racial and ethnic identity that it navigates, and the artistic nuance and poetry of Sita's description of the project.

I love...

* ...that this project speaks to the universality of certain human experiences (in this case, migration) by focusing on the extreme specificity of the gagá and guloya dance/music traditions brought to the San Pedro de Macorís region of the Dominican Republic by immigrants from Haiti and the English-speaking Caribbean islands. As Sita says: this is about the surface of who we are on the outside versus the depth of who we are on the onside.

* ...that it hones in on the contentious issue of race as a central theme. From Sita's words in the promo video, I can anticipate that the piece will balance artistic subtlety and social critique. I so look forward to seeing how these artists grapple with finding that balance, since it's an issue that I deal with in my own work.

* ... the artists' choice to innovate and still serve a clear educational function regarding the traditions that their innovations are based upon. Sita explains that hers "is not a folkloric company but a contemporary company that is based in folklore." Still, she recognizes that fusing roots traditions with contemporary dance is a controversial issue. As Sita says, "not everyone wants to see their things borrowed and changed." Plus, there is also the matter of audience members often not being able to distinguish what is traditional from what is an innovation. If a bunch of roots traditions are mixed together with other dance languages, how do people get to learn anything about the traditions? That's why Sita and her company have opted to strike a balance by including in the show pieces where the dances and music stick to traditional parameters. As Sita explains, she is aware of the controversies surrounding "fusion" and that is why she doesn't shy away from it but proceeds with "as much honor and respect and integrity as I can."

Yet, another important aspect of this project, as Sita explains it, is for the artists to "make this our own" by being true to their artistic impulse to innovate.

Tricky indeed!

Sita's way of addressing this issue got me got me thinking (again) about the choices Catarina and I made for The Mermaid's Feet, as well as the choices Noemí Segarra and Henry Cole made for de rumbo de rumba. Save for a short capoeira section in our concert, Catarina and I presented songs where tradition and innovation were completely fused. Noemí and Henry's project is an even more interesting case in point, since audience members expecting a recognizably "rumba-ish" (in the Cuban music genre sense) presentation got many things, but not what they had imagined. (There was a fascinating post-performance dialogue between Noemí, Henry and audience members regarding this very issue.)

Thinking about our different approaches makes me want to stress that artists don't all have to deal with the tradition/innovation tension in the same way. Each of us artists and ensembles will have different needs, desires and opinions regarding how to make roots traditions "our own." We can all be aiming to honor tradition and approach our work with integrity... but it will look very different in each case. One size will definitely not fit all.

I just emailed a few questions about this all to Sita, as part of out artists' dialogue. I'm looking foward to what she has to say. Stay tuned.