B The l)ancing Couple in Black

Atlantic Space
AnanyaJahanaraKabir

\flhen we dance kizomba, people ask,

"Is he markingher ciancethroupihvodou?"
-To' Costa, Dance class,Manchcster',February 2011

The dynamic connecticlnbetween the Black Atlantic and music was pnvr-
lcged by, and indeed foundatignal to, Paul Gilroy's seminal argurncnt fgr
the African diaspora'srole as mcldernity's"double consciousless" (1993).
What is striking is the complete?rbsence of any disclssion, <lnGilroy's part,
of that music'sintimate accompaniment:dance.This absenceis matched by
the other lacuna which this volume of essaysaddresses:an engagcmentwith
gender as a political and analytical category shaping the Black Atlantic's
expressivetraditions. Gilroy's analysis <-,fthc r-rtopiandimension of Black
Atlantic rnusicfocusedlargely on the North American vernaculartraditions
of rap a1J hip- h9p t hat t r ansnt ita1 ( 'xaF, gcr t t . 'J.
evcn violenr lym isggynis-
tic masculinity, and Scemsto dernand a complementarily<lver-sexualized
version of femininity; arguably, a gcnder-basedanalysisof thesetraditions
would invite a note of critiqr-resomewhat destabilizingtcl the recupcrativc
thrust of his argr-rment.lt is not the black male hip-hclpartist, howcver, but
the dnncing couplc in lllack Atlantic spacethrough which this chapter will
seekto redressthe gaps and omissionsin Gilroy's thesis.By "Black Atlantic
space" in the cgntcxt of dance I signal the geclgraphic,social, arld spiri-
tual cclntextsfor the embodied expressionof the myriad partner or couple
dancesthat aroseout clf African and Eurclpeancontact on both sidesof the
Atlantic. Inasmuchas thesedanceshave flourishedin the circum-Caribbean
ar"rdthe 'Western-SouthernAfrican main, my chaptcr also addressessome
other omissiorlsin Gilroy's original exarnination:the role of the "Afro" in
the "Latin" of Latin Amcricrr (Yclvington2001), and an oft-noted, scemine
"disdain for Africa" (Masilcla 1996;Zcleza 200-5;Piot 2001).
At a kizomba classin Mzlncl-rcstcr in February 2072, To' Costa, an Ango-
lan DJ and member of thc l.ondort-bascdPitanga D:rnce team, dt:scrillcd
the intra-coupledynamics of thc dance in the statementI have uscd for rny
epi graph.Kizom ba is a par t ncr dalce t hat cr yst allizedin Algola ar 6und
the 1980s out of a m6langc of carlicr d:r1cc forms and irr rcsponsc to
 I t.l t \ t t t t t y t t .l ,tl t,ttt,tr,r
l ' .,tl ttr l l, , ' l) , r t t , t t t . q( 'r t t t lt lr 't r t I ll, t ,L i\ ! lr t t t t r t , \ lt , r rt ' I t\

t . r it t t s r r r lr r t ltttl
i ctrs i c a ltrc ttc l s(M< l < l rrrra 2rr0 08). l t sprcrrdrrrpi dl y to ol l rt.r l '; t sr lt 'tot st 't 't t t g,
;r W t' st l l rrtl rt . st : r r r lr yrirt r o; t lcr t o lt : t vt 't lr elr . l. lit it , t t . tplt it s
l)rlrtrrgr-rcsc-speaking African coLrntricsand in tlrc Arrgolen r-[iasp,r.irin w t' l l i rs l tcrrrir r ot
g t r f : r t vot t r itrt .
' l, t t t ct
lrrar r d" ( Noblc 1944, t j) '
Furopc. L)r,rringthe past five years kizomba has bccomc incre:rsingly l f rrrycpi g r aplrr r r t icLr lat cs t hc r cclair ningof vcldclras - r kiz- or nbil's csscllco'
1.r.ptr-
lar in the European Latin-dance hubs of London, paris, and Lisbon, whcrc s()nlcthinll Of thc O1.r1-r<lsitc happcns whcn jazz music and swing dancc arc
experts and neophytes alike penerrarethe social spacesalready ekcd orrr sccn r:rs t:ssential elemcnts within modernity's rnodcs of "consumer access t()
by salsa,as well as establishnew sireswhere kizomba can be danced with- rfi c ni ght" (Bcckles 2008, 230; I will r et ur n t o t his phr ase t owar ds t he end
out having to play second fiddle. Yet the tendency for kizomba dancing of the chapter).The conceptual, historical, ancl kinetic ground in betwcen
to calque itself onto salsa dancing in metropolitan spacesis undcrstand- rhcse tw<,1positions is what this chapter travcrscs,using as its twin gr'ridc
able. Both are dancesarising from parallel Black Atlantic traditions (Luso- thc dancing couplc and the analytical lens of gender'
phone and Hispanophonc), both are danced to eponymous forms of music lly genclerI signal an analytical practice consciousof the ways in whicl-r
(salsaand kizomba-although both are also umbrella rerms for complex gcnder rolcs, as played out in qu()tidial and cxpressiveprlctices in a givcn
bodies of music internally differentiated by tempo, rhythm, and distincr sr>cialcclntext, contribute to the self-fashi<lnir-rg of the modcrn subiect
moments of emergenccin a global-local histclry).Most crucially, both salsrr o.male,'ancl ..female," in the process inscribing that subiect in a grid
rls
and kizomba are dances reliant on a couple who musr hold cach other 6f socio-econclmic,affective, and crcativc pgssibilities. Such a gendcred
and move togerher without prior choreography.In making sure rhar thc approach to any form of partner dance, in <>rout of the tllack Atlantic,
gne defeld, from a
movementsrespond to the rhythm, one person in this duo, conventionally ,..-, hop.lcssly hamstrung by irs own premises.clan
and overwhehningly a man, "leads" while the secondone, equally conven- feminist perspective,a fgrm of leisurc in which a woman follows a man's
tionally a woman, "follows." when To' costa compares this connection lcacl, apart fiom dismissing the pracrice ils a rctrogrcssivemimicking of
between the kizomba-dancing couple to vodou, he speaksto the extremely p"rriu..lry', demands?This political conundrum suggestedby what has
minuscule stepsand discreernessin leading and following techniquesthat ir".n .,reiully rermed the Black Atlantic "dance-of-two" (Chasteen2004,
characterizethe dance called kiz'mba. But through the word "vodou" he 13) will be explored in the chapter through the example 6f salsaas a trans-
also claims an afliliation between a dance rnarked as "Anqolan" and whar national scrcialdar'tce.Yet, as another differently transnationalizcd dance
Gilroy himself calls "the playful diasporic intimacy thar has beena marked form, hip-hop, reminds us, kinetic circulations of hyper-masculinity can-
feature of transatlantic Black Atlar-rticcrcativity', (1993,16). not bc ignoreclin a reconsiderationof the Black Atlantic through thc twin
Vodou, vodu, vodoun, v'odoo, whichever way you spell it, the word is foci of g.nd". and dance. This chapter will accgrdingly cultivate a mocle
instantly recognizablethc w.rld over as a fraught signifier of African "oth- of analysis that considers femininity and masculinity as complementary
erness" (Browning 191)8).A participa't in a Delhi Salsa club-organized consrructionswithin the genderedBlack Atlantic spaceof dance.The inter-
"Afro-cuban w'rkslr.p" I attcnded (January 2011) demanded as soon as locked construction of masculinity and femininity is a her-rristicpromptc.l
the body langr,ragc rn<lvcdto a more "African" repertoire, "$zhat is this we by the vcry nature of the cclupledance, which, beneath the apparcnt sub-
are doing-vcldru cir what?" Tcrthis dancer, "vodou" was verbal shorthand missivenessit demandsof thc female as follower, can revcal and prclmotea
for recognizing, sr-rcldcnly, the African kinetic elementsembedded in the dynamic, joyctus,eqr,ritable, and, as this chapterwill suggest,.even a counter-
Latin da'rcc stylcs'f salsa. "vodou" rcconnccts rhythm to ritr-raland to hegemonicpartnership. I will excavatethese other possibilitiesthrough a
thc l>ocly,whilc sr-rggcsting dangerous, bur always excitirg, zo'cs beyond ccrnsicleration of how, and under what cgnditions, the Black Atlantic danc-
n'r<rdcrnify's rcilsonable,reasonedcontrol (Averill 1997).In vodou's carr-ri- ing couple was formed and what its relationshipto the community is; here,
valesqr-rc invt:rsions,which are ncver scparatcfrom the drum, we seem to th" f,r.r.rtwill be on lindy hop, the most popular swing dance form as well
hone in t' thc vcry underbelly of modernity. But let Lrsnot succumb to an as on Cuban casino forms of dancing and their choreographicreinterpreta-
over-facilc intcrprctation of Black Arlantic percussivedancc ir-rall its ava- tion. Overall, the chapter will move to a rcassessment of the Black Atlantic
tars, inch-rdingthc social partner dance, as an entry point into what Gilroy, as moclernity'sdouble consciousness that the couple locked in the "dance-
following I)u llois, called moderniry's "double consciousness."The parrner of-tw r," hr' lpsus achicvc.
dances that evolvcd in step to Black Atlantic rhythms were experiencecl
(and danced)not as counter ro, bur :rsintrinsically part of modernity: "Like
the motor-car, the aenrplane,the transatlantic liner, televisionancl talkics, ENTERING THE DANCE-OF-TWO
liazz) is part of our civilization; it is something that most of us have grown
up with. we switch on our radio to listen to dance-musicfor rclaxarion. ..Are ye dancin'?" "Are yc askin'?" "Yes l'm askin'." "Then I'm cl:rncin'1"
we visit a dance-hall to dance to top-line bands for our pleasure,wc car in This exchangebetweena Glaswegiand:lncing cor-rple early in thc twcnticth
 I l(, i\tt,ltt.\ , , tl, t l, t r t t t , t r , t! , , , t lt it .
I l, '' I ) , t t t , t t r . g( . ot r lt lt 'ir t lllack t \ t lt t t r t r t , \ lt t r r 't ' | \ 7
(('ffttlry ls (l t l( ) ( ( ' ( lilt r t r t
lt t t t ' < ldLr t ' f iolrlo llr t . j r r r r r n l r l l r o l t r r l t t t . M r r s t c . s s l l t , c . i l r l
is s r r c. r r da' c c . N < l ti r-rg tl rt' w rrl tz,rr r , r zr r ll<,r r r, r r poll<r
l rt,o Af r o- ( lar ibbcr r rfror t t t sst t cltas t lt c ( lt r [ r r t t l
" trrc h c i g rrt.f trrcrl ai rr,,r,.,.,
thc city o'e .f the da'cing .nlritnr,
..r^,,.i ,,grr,,.ru.,
tr," t ,.,,," .r,. rtrrrrl r,r(Mor r sor r) ( ) ( ) . 1;M ilnr r t 'l l0( ) 6) . Tlr is s1'r cct r urcill) 'n t ur cst lr c kir r . 't i, . '
of thcjw.rrcl,,, rlr. .,.ri;;;;,, ,,,, r., ..,,,,_ givc irnd frtl<circr<lssthc lllack Atlantic. As demclnstratedby thc cxample of
rnent' "In Havana, peopre,weredancing
danz6n; in rJue'os'Aircs, t:r'g.; l<izomb:r,il couple dancearising in the late twentieth century on the African
and in Rio de.faneiro' samba. It was
n ,i-. of big orchestraswhen worrctl siclc<tf thc lllack Atlanric in responsetc, zouk music from the French Antil-
wore eveningdressesand men wore suits.
Today,whilst th..loth., may havc lcs, it is also a spectrum in constant evolution. From this spacearisesthe
changed,dance with^its link to sensuar
plcasureconrinuesto be fundamen_ ir-rndamentally creolizednature of the dance-of-two:"When Europcansand
ral to our cultures" (cohen anclFairley
iooe ,:+s1.what coh.r'and Africans encquntered each clther in the Americas, 'brcak movements' [the
do not elaborateon, bur is evicle't r,-,ihe,l",.,..rrl.;.;;r;;ofou..r,orrr Fairley
well as in their own comment on the r"novernents of the hip and pelvis charactcristic of Latin srlcial dancesl wcrc
earry twentieth-century global crazc ^ r:rre in European dance br-rtcommon in African dance. Couple choreography,
for ballroom, are the new modes crf
interpersonal bchavior that modern on thc other hand, was rare in Africa but commcln in Europe. . . . Something
ballro.rn dancing ushereciin. Above
nLt, tt *.r. .ri r..r.u.rurrng new and powerful happened when couple dancing rnct the libcration of thc
public inreraction berween rhe sexes "r"
during an era-u,r... g.""i* aemocrari_ lower body to createthe dance-of-two" (Chasteen2004' 13).
zation,.ew techn,l'gies for the heightening "r
of pt."rur.'itrrough recorded Jclhn Charles Clhastcen'sinvestigation into the forrnative histories of
and arnplilied'.rusic (Spring 79.97;F.ngerb.".t,,
r9g:),;"l-;;;'i,"s such as iconic Latin American popular dances (son, samba, and tango) dcvelop-
dance-hallsand "p.leta.iu.t" b"liroo-s
diffusion of coupledancing ing in Havana, Rio de Janeiro, and BuenosAires in the nineteenthcentury
acrossclass (and race) divides (Tornko !1tle
1999; E'gerbr..rrrJggl)l.l.he Gras_ rctraces the encounter between European partner-hclldand African body
wegian couple's tentativc qucsrions ro
cach other, which culminate in the movements that resulted in the distinctive kinesthetics of tl-resedances.
triumphanr "The' I'm dancin'!," urge
us to irnagin. rh. *o-nn springing Both these European and African elemcnts caused consternation among
up with this exclamation, joining th. 'World
_"r, in paitner_hota,nna .rrnrrrngro the dance-watching public of the conservativeNew colonies. The
move with him in time to tlie mu.sic.This
little di"r;,;;i;riiJt, tlr. *oy, phenornenonof holding a strangerof the opposite sex closeto clnersclf while
in which dance opens up spacesfor perfo''ative
frisson, and reminds us rnoving in time was consideredto inflamc dangerouslythe passions-br'rt
how pleasuremoJulates our social
behavior. The ephcmeralnature of thc this was a responseevoked by the waltz itself when it lirst appeared in
spaceof danceand its temp.raily boundecl
narure heightenthe transgressive Europe (Chasteen 2004, 1.23).The explicit "break movements" of the
and transf'rmarive potential of this activity,
which, by dint of rhc pirrrner- lgwer body-thc lateral movements of the hips and the articr-rlationand
holrl, is always cclnducredunclerrhe sign
of gendcr. isolation of the hips, pelvis, and buttocks-wcre dircct ir"rhcritanccs frotn
Yet gender does not. function n, , .or"g,,ry
i'depender-rtclf other social African dance movements ((lhasteen 2004; Picdr:l 1997).'fhc fr-rsiontlf
forces'As observedin rhe conrext.rin'irriical
inqLriryir-,t,-, tlr"i"rrgo, ..rI]t two problematic elementswirhin the danccsthat clcvelo;rcdin hcmisphcric
is a performance of the-play of power
betwcc' men ancl women and between profusion from the nineteenthcentufy onwards grlvccoLrplcclancirlgin thc
colonizerand colonized;'
1Nn.ri2000, 6-59;em'rrasisadciccl;seeals. savigli_ Latin style a sensual profile that was interprctcd as prtlfrtttc thrtlr-rgl'rits
ana 7995)- Two further observatio'rs thus
neci to be maclei,,.r..-rrrr,ty, ,tr. associ ati clns wit h r aceand classdividcs.Sim ilar dcvt 'lopr ncr r t sook placcir t
play of gender in the cor-r;rre dance-a'd tlre wor<t ..play,, is best undersrood
in all sensesof the rer'r-is ncver frce the US. ln the early years of the twentieth century, drrnccsfrorn tlrc An'rcri-
of .rth.. rr;rrori", ,r'"op*rrion a.d can S outh s uch as t he cakewalk and t hc t r - r r keyt r ot ( whiclr t hcr t r sclvcs hr r d
uneqr-ralpower relaticlrs that rock thc
da'ci'g c',ple iu ti,rr. a'd s;race. ari scr.ramong Af r ican Am er ican cclm m unit iesin cxir ggcr r t t cdir r t ir . t t ior oi r
Thesehistoriesarc:rll thc nrorc pronolrnced
i1 the dancesrhat forrned u',er their erstwhile whitc rnasters)rnovednorthwrlrds to Ncw York's l lrtrlcrrrt<l
c'onditionsrf Europca, cxp.nsi,nism,
coroni:rlisrn,n,ra ,inu.l.y"ln tn. x.r, evol vei nto t he f oxt r ot and t he int enselyphysicalChar lcst . r r(rSpr ing 1997;
*:d1'a'd hcncc'r.rryscc*d ,rbs.ru"tion, The parrner-hord
and dranr:rtizcs fh:rt *;rlay of pclwer"
which er.rables Manni ng and M illnt an2007) . Fascinat edwhit e Am er ican obscr vt 't -tst ot cd
is the c.mmrn inheritance of cor_ that thcse danccs"br ought t he hips, t highs and but t ocks it lt o f r t 't t t 't ic: t t lcl
temporary ballr..rr d:r'cing, which is
mostly d''e in ;.;;;;;,"e envi- voluptuous movement," transmitting a kincsthetics both "cxcitirrg," rlnd
ronment, and corrcrn'.r:lry Latin dances,
*.,i.h ;;;:;;.;yc<i in a ' .barbari c" ( G ilber t Sedes,quot ed in Spr ing,7997, 1, 861. As t hc ( llr r r f lcst or r
sociirl environmcnt. Irrclccd,inasrnuch "r.
n. ue.si.,usof Afrci-I_ati' styiessuch and other ver nacular Af r ican Am er ican dancescvolved it t t t r r r t ir r t o t hc
as rumba, mambo, arrd cha_cha_cha
form porl.:lf *.. 1r"ff.".", wildly popular lindy hop, the influenceof ballroom dance w1s rcgistcredin
and comperitive rcpcrr.irc (arbcit with
vcr'y differc'r visr::rr effcct), '".tog,rg;.
rrrcst: the lindy's increirsingexploitation of partner-hold (Monagharr 200l).
two typcs.of cor-rplcdaucc exist nn a historicar
antl t ;,r.ri. ,p..ir",, *rr,.r.' North American dances that develop through kinctic erld rhyth-
stretchesall the way fr'.r Europea'country
crarcca.d .;r;rl;;';s suchas mic intcraction with "h<tt" iazz are symptomatic of thc weys irr whicl'r
 I fli t\tt,ut1 , , 1l, t l. t , t t t , t t . ,l,t . , t lt t r ( , r t t r lt lt 't t t I ll, t t h / \ llr t t t t it , \ lt , t tr '
! 1, , 'l) , t t r , 111p I l')
rrt('rrllcirll cly r r : ur r ic ss lr : r Pr . clln
l illt r il- r r l( . ir r l g ( , 1 1 d 1 , 1
Polities. As wlritt.tlrrnr. tl rrtt It' grrrrt lr r lir r l',t lt t 'St 't or t t l Wor lcl War , wit lr r lr c clr af t ir r gof scvcr , llof
crs fr()n ] d owtt t c lwt r f r c qt r c r t r eJ Flr t r lur r r ' sS r r v o y l i r r l l r t ) ( ) n l
l ( ) l t 'l r r r r ( l r t . r r r . w tl rt' nrost i nv t 'r r t ivt r' t t t clct t ct 'gct iclit r dy ht lppcr s ( M anr ling and M illr r r an
danccs' they prodr-rced vcrsions perkicr than thc nrorc grorrrrclccl
flrrrrs,l L007), c()ntr ilst swit h t hc ut t br okenpublic pr escllceof Lat in sclcit rdar l t ccs
black Harlem (Monaghan 2001, 12-5).Sirnulran.c,,,srv, u'trcr rhc ckrwrr- i rr tl rc (l ari b bciln and Sout h Am cr ica, and also wit h t hcir cf f lor esccnce as
t owr ler s 'v oy c u ri s ri cg rz c . rh e u p ro w n l i n el y hopperspcrfccr,.tl sals:l in Ncw Yrtrk during the 1970s. Some asscrt tl'rat the feminist move-
rhci r ski l l s,
inventing increasinglyacrobaticand athletic steps-brr for cach nrcnt s()Lrndedthe death-knell of those older couprledances (Itenta 2004,
orl,rer.Thc
dance floor's potential as a space for the ex;rression of i.tra-racial 1.51),and certainly the emergenceof feminisnl was synchrgnciuswith ncw
ge'dcr
dynamics was the oppositeof the rorturcd male-fernalererationsrrips rnodes of kinetic expression in Anglo-American rock and pop that pro-
iorgc.l
in the difficult ground of the post-plantation (crichlow 2009),
clescribccl rnotcd single-sexdancing. Tlie challengeis to map changesin fashions for
with such painfr,rlclarity, for exa'.rple, in the novels of Toni-Morriso'.
and within Black Atlantic couple dancesonto the divergencesthat cmerge
The kinetic power .f the lindy hop, caprured for p.stcriry on
films sucrr as frorn their differential incorporation into global leisure markets, including
Hel.lzapoltpin' (1941) that featured the dance through irs l{arlem
exponenrs, thcir contemporary revivalscln naticlnaland international scales.
and the reminiscences..f one-time lindy hoppers, together reveal joyfLrr
a
a.nd exhilarating vibc between the men and- women wh. lincly
hopped i'
the savoy's heydays. The stunning aerial steps and the speecr
of *,ru.r''.r-rr, GAPS, BREAKS, AND PARTNERSHIPS
signaled so'rething very different from a passive ..l""iirrg"
irnd ..follow-
ing" formula between the dance partners, witl-rcore streng-th global rnarket
anil lightness The transnationalization of Black Atlantic couple dilnces r"rr"rder
of fect demanded from the wonrcn. As Malcolm X clescribes
in his auto- conditionsin tlre past half il century has significantlyimpactedon the gerrder
biography' "l rurned up the sream, Laura's feer were frying; I
had hcr in the relationshipsthat cclnstitutethc dancc-of-twcl.The basic divergenccsbetwcen
air, down, sideways,around; backwards,up again, do*rr,-*lri.ling.
. . . The the late-twemtieth-centuryconsumptiort of Afrcl-Latin and African Anterican
sp'tlight was working mostly just us. I caughr glimpsc-sof the
fcr.r. or fiu" dance fonns respectivelyare, I contend, related to their cr-rrrcntlydifferenti-
other couples, the girls ju'gle-stro.g, animal-like, tr-rcking
ancl chargirg. atcd genderpolitics. The most visible fbrms of l.atirt dancc are danccs-of-two:
But little l,aura inspiredme to drive ro new heights.. . . t.oula',,t
believcher salsa,which is now a global phenomenon(Kabir forthcoming),bachataanJ
strength" (X and Haley 1973,66). Likewise leading lin<iy hopper
Frankie merenguefrorn the l)ominican Rcpublic, and Lusophone couple dancr:ssuch
Manning recalls in the context of rris improvisati.ns of inheritid
charles_ as zouk lambada from Brazil and Angrtlan kizomba, which have incrcasingly
ton steps, "[Ilt seemsto.me that swinging out like that might jclinedthe Er-rropeanand Ar-rstralasianmarkets for salsa.ln contrast, the rnost
have helped
my partner feel the motions of my body betrer, ancl give h..
more time to visible fonr-rsof African American dance forms center on solo male perfor-
respondand expressherself" (Manning ancl Millman'2007, g1).
mance, sr-rchas hip-liop, and on spectacularmale b6dies, such as Michael
This fine-tuned connection betwcen equal parrners in a game,
reriant Jackson's.Does hip-hop's hyper-n-rasculinityrelate to the public decline 9f
ultimately cln extra-linguistic cor'mu'icaticl', rccalls the
openi'g com- couple dancing in the pclst-Warera in the US? Cclnversely,can we relate the
mcnt by To' costa regarding kizornba's rescmblance,o "uniou."
ln the srereotypcsof (laribbean f'ernalcsensuality that proliferatc through salsa to
Black Atlantic dance-of-two, thc hctcrosc-xualdyad f,rms a
c're unit and the market conditions undcr which salsamusic was domesticated by big record
it is from this imploded world rhrrt all movcrnenranclsensibility
radiatesfor consortia and resisteclby New York's Latino cclmmunities?Vhat about the
the duration of the dancc'.fhc kinetics of the African American
vernacular ways in which black music was co-opted by sirnilar large rccord Comp2n1s5
dances culminati'g in the lindy excmplifies the of p:rrtnership. and strearnlinedint<tl{'n'l}, and the ev<tlutionclf thc black female singcr-diva-
The panacheand vervc of this dilnce derna'declin'ecessity every -stc1-r
not the sub- dancer, who dancesalone rirthcr than in couple-hold (Bradby 1993)?Hgw dtr
ordinatio. of thc "foll'wer" but intelligent and Ir.,nro.ou,
coordination the different market conditi<lnsthat dictate the promotion and circr,rlrrtionof
betwee. thc tw. d:r.ccrs i'' cor,ple.puiting the lindy h.p intcl
the same Black Atlantic dance and lJlack Atlantic music-which includc the circula-
analytical spaccas Lirtin s.cial danccs is a srcp many execute;lrut it is tion of stereotypedimagesof [.iltin:rand lJlackwomen (Aparicio 1998), and
one jr'-stificdby thcir parallcl hist'ries as Black 'or
Atlantic crrupledarrcesbor' African American men thr()Lrghrrrr-rsic videos-crcate fractures between ther
out of encounters bctwcen slavesand mastcrs, percussion
a'd orchestral music and the dance?Do thcse fr,rcturcsmanifest themsclvesin thc kinetic
instrumcnts, 4/4 rneasr-rrcs a.d polyrliythm, isolaiecihips a'cl partner-holcl. traqsformations the dancc uttdcrg6csficlth within and without the communt-
The.resr-rltant bird's-cyeview illuminates the common ge'der relaticlnships in detail is bcyond tlrc
ties that cl:rim it? Although addrt'ssingthcscclr.restions
predicated by this shared ground, while sh.wcasi'g their
differences.The scgpe<lfthis chapter,articulating fhcrtrhclpscxplicate,at le:rst,(iilroy's twin
fading out of African American coupre dancescrurir'rga per:iod
of clecline silenceon danceand gendcr.
 f . f0 / lr r , t r r \,,t !,,,tl trt.
.l ,tl t,ttt,tt.,t 'l lt t ' I ) , r t t t it t s ( ) ot r lt lr ' it t lll, r t k , '\ ! l, t t t licSlt , t t ' l'l I
( iilr ' y ' s fi rc u s ,l t tl rc Afri c a rr
Arrrc l i c rur:rrrclA rrgl ' pl r' rrc l ]l i rt.l <A tl rrrr, l ri ps,bul ot l<s,r r r r clwr r ist ,or cast igr r t cdf or lr cr dcccivir r gar r dover '- r r lltr ir
r rg
tic col't'tcsto cIidc thc dancc-of-two bccar:sc
tlrc lrrttcr is rrow crrrstcllatccl w ays (A pi rrit io l99li; scc r r lsol) r r cinillcr niindcz 199. 5
on t lr c lyr ics of sot trts
ar.und ballroom on the one hand, an<J
His'a'.rpn,rr-r. L.us<lplr<l'c frlr t['rc l)onrinican-origin sclcial dancc bachata). $7hcn peclple who havc nctt
dance forms on the other. He thus misses ",-,i
n chnn.e i. nrutfr.gender rrrcs gr()wn up with Latin dance start to take lessclnstheir norms of appropriate'
,h.I are played (with) through the Black
l: Atlanri. ;;;;1. ln,r.., borh gcnder behavior gct in the way. In an Asian contcxt, thesenortns may be as
historically and contemporanec,usly.Race,
of .ourr., .o*1r'iiJui., ,t-,. ,nrk. sirnply cxpressedas the prohibition of male-femalebody contact in public
The binaries berween 'black" ancr "white"
in the African American con_ s;raceand between people who do not know each other prior to the dance
text rhar I remarked on in the contexr of
the rindy hop ,r."r. ,h"t ..th. .o-- floor. In such a situation, the woman danccr can be susceptibletcl being
modification and distortion of black u".r"culn,
a"".i"g i", l,'uir,rtr.u- judged as breaching moral codes as soorl as the dance is over and nclrmal
white Euro-American consumprion is as enduring
,t Jrrra*ions them_ life resumes.In a northern European and Anglrt-Saxon context, another
selves" (.|ackson200,1,42). s7_!enswing ",
dance, Ju.h u, ,t iJay crossed set of preconccivednotions come intcl play as women and men enter their
the Atlantic during the Second \world \xznr, "
th. black vs. *nir" i,rr"ry .o,r- first salsaclass.(lan an independentworlan really succumb tcl being "led"
tinued to inform their recep.rion.Early British
,ru.r.. .r,,r.fr"r,lurs aimed by a man? Can a "ncw man" make a woman "follow" him? Ethnographic
for a "crisp control of manliness"
lBaade 2006, 3s7),even as they acrmit- research on salsa in Europe confirms the prevalenceof thcsc stumbling
ted that "Anglo-Saxons . . . lacked virile
dance, uf ih.i. o*.r;; blocks to entering this world (Skinner 2008; Wieschiolek 2003). I myself
1974, 29);,through this competition betwee' 1silu.rr.,
different m'ders of mascu_ was told repeatedlyby *y first instrr-rctorsnot to "fight the lead."
linity, moder' ballroom sryles were formarized.
H;.;;;,;iris bi'aristic N ot merely t he habit s but t he habit us of salsais suscept iblet o f cm inist
model of cultural appropriation and its post_facto
,nupproprlare critiqr-re.ln the cclmmercialized world of salsa promotion, the comrnon-
for Afro-Latin dances, whose socio-historicar """g"rlr-i,
context of *nrt)zo1n 1r.^y- est professional formr-rlais rnale-female partnerships; when these duos
lor 2003) gives rise to different interse*ions
of race To ..the are advertiscd at salsa congresses,now the majclr venues for thc pro-
long and vexed traditigi rhe sounding of blackness ",rJg.,;l;r.
"f or Africanness in rnotion, profcssionalization, and pedagclgicaladvanccfflentof thc dance
Latin America" (Kun 1997,292), n..d to af-6x ,h";;;;ii;l tradition (K abi r forth com ing) , t he m ale nam e usually pr ecedesit s f em ale count er -
of the intermittent kinesisof blackness-sometimes -. submerged,sometimes part. This tendency to privilege the male dancer was glaringly evident
overt. Re-Africanizations of Black Atrantic
<iancein i n the prom ot ion of a "ladies only wellness weekend" or ganized by t he
nations, such as kizomba's relationship ".Jyi..oronized
to circum-Caribbean traclitions in team behi nd t he Ber lin Salsa Congr ess, Eur ope's longest r unning salsa
postcolonial Angola, produce further
intersectionsof dance, gender, ancl event.A t the 2011 Ber lin Congr ess,adver t isem ent sf or t he "ladies only"
modernity (Moorman 200g; Henley 2010). yet
theseaiff...rrtiai body poli- weekend defined participating women dancers through their male part-
tics across the Black Atlantic have converged
in modern .";;;;;".e reviv- ners, whose narlcs, in parentheses, followed the women's. The women
als ' f r om c om p e ri ri v eb a rl ro o m ro s a rs a to ,_ p ro.Jr." , i n common perccpri on,
an experts continued to be yoked to the men they performed with, despite
inized, normatively *h ite i.mal. .1n,r.., (y";;";ril
.ultra-fem Lei b a ncl the l atter' s necessar yabsencef r om an event t hat was m ar ket cd as "ladies
Bulman 2007;McMains 2001j. If i'r ninetee'th-century
r"ii" l-*ica the onl y." A rg uably, t his glass ceiling f or wom en salsa dancer s r eplicat es
developmentof these "dances gave boys
an occasion ro act like men just patterns of exclusion pervasive in the wcirld-at-large. I3ut the dance-of-
as thev gave women a chancc nr prav die
stvrizedf.;i;.;;l.illchur,".r, two format also problematizes the search fclr a choreographic practiee
2004,125), this role-play is whai conremporary
neophytesto couple danc- outsi de the het er osexualdyad. M ale salsa pr of essionalsconcur t hat it is
ing grapple with.
To take a concretc cxam;llc: The worr, easi er for all- m ale per f or m ance gr oups t o succeedin salsa t han f or all-
of transnational salsais nor, on femal e gro ups: Accor ding t o one ( m ale) int er nat ional salsa per f or m er ,
the face of ir, amc'r:rblcto ferninist ,.cup"r"tion.
This is a milieu of macho there exists a greater rcpertclire of body movements for the mcn to draw
leading and ultr;r-fcmiui,e o?
_following; asking women to dance and on than th er e is f or wom en ( Nam gyal 2011) . Never t heless,scver al all-
women waiting to bc ilsked; of women in-"r,
sequins,clrrve-accentuatingsil- femal e groups did audit ion at t he t alent - sp<, r t t ing cont est s wit hin t he
houettes' ard bcsp.kc high heels. Trrere
are'a,tditicrn"l p;i;;, of lan- 2011 l l erl in Congr ess t o indulgent audiences.Their r ole r nodels wer c
guage, evidcnt in thc pcdagogical vocabulary
and the language of song the rare examples clf sr-rccessful all-fen-ralesalsa dance groups such as the
lyrics themselves.\Wl-rcrcnrin" terms ..leading,,
an<l .,following,, rrap men A msterdam- basedLa Dif f er encia, whose body language is Am azoni: lr l
and women. in linguistically over_determineJ
roles, rhe _"ioil,r of salsa and acroba t ic,it s t em plat eof f em ininit y one of st r cngt h and gr ace r at hcr
lyrics is rendered i' a male.voicewho sings
of o?"rra *ith than del i cacy. Sim ilar em phaseschar act er ize t he pr o{ile of t he cclur r lly
women-whether she is to be appreciateifor -"r. ""p"rt"".'.,
her r".rrunl *"'.lJ r*r',grrrg rare l one-wom an salsa pr of essional,such as t he [ ndo- Canadian M r t gr lr l
 l, ll t lt t r t t t \ r,t l ,,,tl ttr
l ,tl .t,ttr,tr,t I lt , ' l) , t t t , it t , q( ', r t t r lt lr 't t r I ll, r rk / \ t l, t t r t r t , \ lt , t tr ' l, l l
( i. P it l, wlt . s l t.w c rl s c s .l tc r
v (' rs rrti l i tyrl s rr f()l l ()w (' r,rrs(' x(,l rpl i l i ctl i rr or t t lt t '<t t lt t 'r , t lr t 'cr r sl, r vt 'r l lllacl<t t t r t lc "was r lcr r it 't l
l rl :rt' l <rrrotl rt 'r 'lr oot l";
I c gc ndar ys p i n n i rrga b i Ii ty . l rt,r
(()nsul l l (.rrl ( '( ( 'sst o t lr c r r iglr tlr y st r ict r cgul?lt ( ) r ysyst cllr sand c<lr - r ld I r cit lt cr
Y c t wher c a sp ro fe s s i o n ' asl a l s c ra sh a v c t o
. l nodul i rtc tl rci r arrrbi ti 0rrs;rrrtl t' l ai nrrror asscr tr ny r iglr t bcyond or ot r t sidc t hoseof his owner , in public clr
v,isiclnin keeping with the pressuresof patriarchy-clrive'
( F ir es t one20 0 3 ; Mi e s 1 9 9 9 ),i t i s th e
nrurl<crfilrr.t.s l )ri vatcsoci illsplr cr cs"( llecklcs2008, 230) . Thc r elat ionshipsbet weenm en
b o < 1 yof thc fcmal c i " " ;;. i tscl f tl rrrr rrnd worlen pcrformcd through dance emcrge in psycho-socialresponseto
resiststhose pressures.The number of times
a sarserctcan rnakc rris :rbnorrnal prcssllresof Plantation-based hegemonicson the constructiorr
ner spin_iscompletely depende't on whar Prrrt
she can U.i"g ro itr. clancc irr of black gender identities in familial and social contexts. "C)utside tight
terms of her skill and kinetics; he cannot
,ictate her moves in dcfia't.t, c<lmmuniticsof dancersthe dancing black body routinely arousesextraor-
of her abilities and desires.In the initial rearning
srages;;;;"" danct,r dinary wariness and fascination," remarks one coinmentator, resulting
can feel constrained in having to be "lc'd." yet,
is gaincd .rrc in questions like, "What drives the movements? How are similar danccs
moves into a kineric inrra-couple relationship "s -"r,..y
that ,up".r.i., ti . .l"rr,rr,, known so thclroughly to danccrs who have ncver met; who have had r-ro
tive (and connotative)ibrce of words. Some
J"r_,."r, .u.h a, lindy hop an. causeto collaborate?How is the body able to scleasily contain narratives
zouk lambada, de'rand rnore kinetic indepencrence
from a woman; orhcrs, of transcendence through dancesof physical cccentricity?How are storiesclf
such as cross-body salsastyles,demand less.
This differenceis manirestcd scxr-ralitylinked to competition revealed in bold assertionsof cxpcrtisc,
in-the proPortion of "breakaway" segments
to segmentswhere lroth hancls of resilicnt virtuosity, of the inscrutable realm of the nonverbal?What is
of the fcmale dancer u..' .or'rt.oil.d by tlie
mare partnc.. But .u.r, rn styrcs the powcr of the body in hiphop?" (Defrantz 2004, 64). Although these
which scem to restrict, the woman's i.depe.ae',i
,tra .'o,onn'. hypothetical questionsare returned to the male dancing body in solo per-
agencylies in crafting her respclnseto the ..leacr" -ou.-anr,
in innovative ,r.r,l,,rrp.ir_ formance, they aptly expressthe dynamics of the dancing couple in Black
ing ways, particularly duringinom entsbetweenthe
bears:what the cubans Atlantic space.This is a dynamics with transatlantic reverberations,with
t er m uac ilar ( to p rc v a ri t' a te .t() rc a s c ).T h i s
sponra' eous ust,,f ..(.mpty.. African danccs-of-two in kinetic and political dialogue with Amcrican and
time-the percussive gaps that open up
through the layering of .1iff.r".,, C ari bbeano nes.
polyrhythms-is, however, also apparent
in the male dancer,smclves.s. It is no accidentthat a commemorative monllment to slavcry donated by
who comes first, the woman *ho .riou.s her
pelvis to the call of ,,uacirara, the people of Martiniquc and Guadeloupe arrd situated at the approach tcr
mamit'" or the ma' who performs a shoulder
shirnmy ;r l;.phy his mas- the Maison des esclauesat Scnegal's IIc de (lor6e depicts an African mar.t
culinity? As:r uto;rian expliczrtionof the Afro-cuban
iu*b" nrkr, ..who i, and wcrmanatop a diembe (\Yy'est African drr-rrn).This choice of monumetrt
or is nor playifrg what and for whom?" (pieclra
1997, r19).rh. i,-,t"rt,r.t.d vivifics hclw the dance-of-two bccomes a spacewhcre the secrct of r:rcial
of the c'uple to heightenedphasesin the
Iespo::e music, n,ri ,n" cyclical_ solidarity is communicatcd acrossthe gender divide thror-rghthc improviscd
ity of.rhythm itself, def-eat,inur.-"'i-effect
parsing; what is ex'e'cncecl yet cor.rtrolledcultivation clf desirc. lt functions as a means for the intra-
is a shared "high" as both partners rnove
in collsonancewith the mr-rsic racial appreciationand enjoymentof the black body, both male and female,
and each other-a srate caprurc,clby the verb
gozar (r; ;;j;;;;;rricularly wherc kinetic motiott to syncopated percussiverhythms, and thc concomi-
within the communal context of dance).
tant generationof pleasurc,becomes the cl"rannelfor cclllectivesubversion.
'We
return to Gilroy's clbservationson rhythmic syncopation: "A preci<.lus
sense of black particularity llets constructed from several interloc[ing
THE COMMUNITY AND THE COUPLE DANCE
themes that cuhninatc in this unexpected timc signature.They sr"rpplythe
accents,rests,breaksand tonesthat make the performanceof racial identity
Dancing with each <>tl-ter qu,c,segctce (to heighten collcctivc cnjoy_
.para possible" (7993,202).'fhc kinesthetics of dance articulatesthis abstracted
ment) is a specialfe:rture inhcrited from the incipient moments of fo'ning senseof the body's responscto syncopated time. l)enial of "cclnsumeraccess
the Blacl<Atlanric d:rncc-of-rwo. Lct us
rec:rlr ,r. airro.r"J p."*.. ..ru- to the night" (Beckles2008) gives meaning to the impcrceptibleyct triurn-
tionships cln thc Pl:rntation,with thcir cascadilg
effecr the interr'cked phant senseclf arrival on thc bcat, at last, but through detours of astonislr-
formaticln of black m:lscr-rlinifies ''
irnclfemininities: "ln social relatior.rshi's, ing virtr-rosity.Ralph Ellisor"rdcscribed it thus: "lnvisibiliry, let me cxplairr,
the enslavedblack ancl his offspring were f'ed,cl'thed :lnd
':rlc shertercd gives onc a slightly different scrtseof time, you're never quite cln thc bcitt.
by white men whosc hcgern.nic nlasiurinities cletermi'ecrthat
being ,kept, S ometi mesyou'r e ahcad and sor t r ct im es behind. I nst ead of t he swif t , r r r , l
and 'kept down' wcrc syrnb.ric of submissive
i.f'eriority,, (Becklcs200g, irnperceptibleflowing of time, y()Lra re aware clf its nodes,those p<lintswlrt'r't'
229)' on the one hand, "slavery, as a soci.-lcgar
,r,.ruJ,.o-pi.i.tr,r.'"r- tirne stands still or from which it lc:rps ahead. And you slip into tltt'lrt't';rlir
ginalized and alic'atccl black farherl-rocld,
and focr_rsed its :lttcnrion uDorl and l ook ar ound" ( quot ed in G ilr oy 7993, 202) . This "lool<ir t g, t t 'out t , l"
 f . l. f / \ t t , t t t . \ ,,t l ,,,tl ,tr
.l ,tl .t,ttt,tt.,r ! 1, , 'I ) , t t r t t r t , q( ', r t r r lt ltr' t t I ll, r rL t \ ll, t r r lr t , \ lt , t rr ' l l\
t s t t ) ( ' llnilgl( ' s si l c l c tl tc l rt' cfll.o rrri r l urtl 1tt,l,.l or.rrr;trrt.r,
1 tt.1 .f1 yp11.t111l vt,t.orrtt.xl r(' l tt l ):l l .ty,tlr t , l l, t r 'l, , r rlrr : r llr oor r rt,lr t 'cr t r r r ival,t lt c b: t t 'r t o,t lr t 'st r t 't 't - 'l'lr t '
ir lr lllic silll: lLl d i c rl c c .A s .J o s i l )i c c l r:r(' x p Ii c i l tcsw i tl r rcspt.cl scr v; t t t t sir t t lt c cct t t t 'r Pit ct '
t9 tl rc r.rrrrrIrrr, l i rr,-l yl roppt, r st l, r r r . t 'r r s: tc( ) lnllt Lr r r itof y I t ot - t sc
" lllt would bc i rrrp o rta n tto v i c w tl rc rrrrn bai u tcrr' s vcrsitln <lf the (]orrnt lJ:lsicnumbcr "Jr-rrnpill':rt tl'rc
< rit1r,,.,,,,,1,(.' sar()ry of I:lcll:tltr,ltltitt'-l
ernpowernlentof, as w_cllas the dangers to, givers ancl takcrs consolidatcd in dancc and undcr a voycuristic
lriprrrtis:yrly W<lcldsidc"-a c<;tnntLtttity
engagedin a biased show of love and bve of show. The
comDc.sirr()rv wlritc gazc. In the rweda <-rfCuban casincldance, couplesdance in a circle,
cmpowerment derivcs frorn a critical viewing of these p"rf.r.rl,.rr'
,..t rl,.,r with improvisation rnoving to the levcl of rhe group. The dancing circle,
is not strictly based olr love and show, br,rtthat takes into
corrsiclerrafi.rr with its flr-rentlyinterchangingpartners ancl tl'reingenuity of the calls which
the strategiesemcrging from thc'mixing and matching of thcsc
ingrcclic'ts: Lrllutlet9 the oddities of Cuban lifc, becomespowcrfully mctonymic of com-
'show-and-tell'witlr'hide-and-seek," (ljieclra1997, liiI).
munity. .rX/ithincreasilg commgdification tlf the dance-of-tw(),this com-
Although the rumba is n'r da'ced in partncr-l,ol.I, rt'i..a couple ,r'r.rnolframework has bccomc an absentprescntthat waits to be mobilized
clanccirr
its involve''re.t of a man and woman cngaged in per-cussicin-lei, contexts. A rueda danced in Manchester,
;,r.rucr.r- under cver-new s<-lcig-historical
tive play. Its mimcsis of sexual fu', sub'rission, and mastery,
culmi'ating with or without (ir-rbans,can ncver be thc sanle as a rueda in Havana and
with the male uacunao ("vaccination" :rs r'etaphor f.,,
1-,.,-r.trotion):rncl neither is a rueda in Flavarrasuspendedin an ahistorical bubblc. But irl thc
female triumph in cvading it (and when unsucces.sfur, her iisclain exprcssccl kinesisof the moving circle and the frenetic improvisationsof the calls, each
through the mirnesisof a wiping mcition), eremplifies :l p'eisis through
.f alter'a- ruetla can potcntially rnemorializc past and futurc cclmmr-rnities
tive gender relations.In piedra'sarticr_rlation, This immancnce 9f cclmmunity must nevcrthc-
aggregated dances-gf-two.
teri t," nuanced by the development of solo clancing for mcn and wornet]
[Tlhe man's movements becomc the signified ro rhe woman,s significr, or ro new styles of music such as the C)-rbantimba. Marshalling especially
better yet, a variant-of the moclel'spart. rn spite of the improvisational booty and body rolls tetmt:d tem-
the female dancing body in spectacr-rlar
vrrtuosity reservedfor-male rumba performers,women overtly tlespelole (Fairley 2006), these new dance styles are significrs
set the bleque ancJ
gramrnaticalpattern of the dance and c.vcrtly that of rhe in a changing world which exceecls the cxprcssivecapacity
song, includ- of social anomie
ing the ma'ipulatio' of rheir p:rrrner's '.triurnph" and the chorcograplry dance-<-rf-two. The silme ilnomie is acr-rtely and beautifully
of thc inhcritecl
of thcir own joint defeat . . . thc roles of the worna* an<ithe
man, or for cxpresseclby the I)ar-rzaContempordneadc Cuba, whose signature works
that matter, those of the virgin anclwhore, the rnachoand the
weakling, Cisi-Casa and Mambo 3XXl play with thosc crystallized cxpect:rtionsof
collapseinto a uniry .f sh:rki'g, perhapsa shaky u'ity. Such
a gencrer- community. ln both works, tortured duos who are never quite able to con-
bending, aesthetic/ cthic-stretchi'g, i)ther l selr exctra'ge
.f rnoves solidate the couple dancc, ar-rdrobotic groups who dance like :rr-rtor-natons
serveto warm ancl war. l'.cn rrnJ women who are hip to iumba
about together ,."rlr*it the affectivedirnensionof life under extrcme socialismin
kee;ringpacewith an cgirlitarianfbrm of poetics. I0,J)
09;7, C uba (Moorc 2006) .
These social and choreogrlphed examples from Cr-rbaare the dc- :lnd
tacing a gc'rcalogy bctween rhe rumba and other Lati'
forr-nspopurar recontextLtalizationsof an ernbeddedaspcct of the couple dancc: intcrvetr-
i n Nor t h A r nc ri c i l , " s rrl s aa n d s a mb a , c u rnbi a ancl bornba,
bcqurne and ing breakaway morncnts known as suelta (or "freeing") in ClLrbanccluple
filercnguc' t:rng. and rock-ar-rd-roll,not to rncntion .orrg,
,.r-r.lbreak- d"nc.. Solo dancilg has also developedin Puertg l{ico in tandem with
dancing, a'rd .f latc, rhe lambada and thc elecrric slide," tlied.a
suggesrs rcggaeton (ltivera 2009), the Spanglish responscto rap which echoesthc
that "in each clf tlresc overtly malc-<lominatedclance.."r.,
there is a coverr lait..'t emphasison vi<llentand lawlessmascr-ilinity.I{eggaetonand tinlba
fcrnalevoice and sr-rbversivc human messagetcl be hacl,and that rurnba leacls fractures of cornrnutlity.Exprcssed
dance stylcs arc responscsto prerccived
as a straregiccriticirl rnodel" (1997, 11-5).Genderedrolc-play
becomesrhe through abandoning the tlerrce-of-two, tltey attempt to rccLrpefatcthe scnse
key to thc dancc-.f-two's coLlnrer-hegem'nicpotential. Ti",.
couple subvcrt of seli thrt,rr-rgh kirrctic cornmcutary.Their narcissisticsclf-assertionis off-
Iiteral mc:l'ing, cam<luflagingthcir intcrdcper-,<1er',cc. For i'stance, zouk set by the nostalgic ittcorpor:ttion that ccluplcdance continues ttl offcr on
lambada sh.wc.scs spectaculiLrlysubmissivepostures for
women through the Latin sclciald:rncc fltlor, whicl'r alterllatesmusic for solcldancing with
manipul:rtions rhc hcad and torso, bur, as with hip-hop's ..scarecrow,,
'f thar for cl alces- <lf - t wo. 'f hisf lr r idr r lt cr n: r t ionit self aspir est owar ds: r holis-
moves' achieving thosc 1-rostures requiresstrength, suppl.rrirs and-for the ti c equi l i briull which, in ot lr cr lilack At lant ic cont cxt s,can be dif f cr cr t t ly
couple dancc-split-scc.nd cclmmLrnication:It's p"a, between
the scxcs maniiested. In (lhicilgt>,for irrstirncc,thcrc nclw exists two distirlcr Afric.rrr
(Castanheir:rSaude201 1). "
A mcri can s ocial dar t ccsct 't t t 's- flt c ir l- yot r r - f aceiuke, r eliant ( likc hip- hop
The p.eisis of rhis pact is supp.rted by the myth'poeisis
of c'mrnu- i n general )on m ale vir t t t ost l pcr f or t t t r r t r cc( [ . aBoskey2001/ 02) , ar t t l t lt t '
nity. Analysis sh.uld return c'uple dance r. its commu,ral
contexts: rhe cl .rsedscen cclf st eppin',wlr iclr pr cscr vcst hc cor , r plcdilncc ir l r lr t alt lt ost
 l' lt t / \ t t , lt t \ ,,1 !r.,tl ttr
l ,tl t,ttt,tt' ,t I lt , ' l) , r r t t r t t ! ( ', r t t r lt lrr' t t lll, t r l: r \ t l, t t t lit , \ lt , t t ' l'17
ir r r lc c c s s iblc
c tl v i t' t> tttttc rrt 2 0 0 .5 ) .' l ' l rt'rctrqrrt9f l l rt' tl rrrrct.-' [-l w ,
(l l a rrc o c l < of l ri p-l ro1r,.t r lt r r r t . . . lr r vt , givt 'nwr r yt o r r r yt lr icr r lt t t clr t r ot t :clcg, ir rsr
c r bice ts
f r or ll pt r blicg l a rc m r,rs bt e c o n tri rs tc dw i th < l vcrw l rcl nri ngl y grow lr is ( ) wll pcr s( ) llit cxper
l ict r cc of lclvcr ant
, l t hc wllr t t t t lt ir r td
w hi rc rcvi vrrl s w l ri cl r f r onr
of thc lindy hop in the form of wcst c'ast swi.g (tJsner2b0l),
rrs wcil as cokrur of tl t c ( ler ibbcar r " ( Scr ot : r2010, 6) . The dancing couple,hor nagct cr
the flourishing of vernacularAfrican American ,olo d"r,." ,ryl.r-{r1,i.r13,, and his subicctsas rnuch as to Ofili's new hclme
en Africrln pl.rotclgrrrpher
juking, its close cousin (and style rivar) from nerroir, jittirig
(which pays on the othcr sideclf the Atlantic, exemplifiesthe recuperationof community
h.mage to the lindy hop by its other name, the "jitterbug'); ;nd
sissyb.1.r, <lffcredby the dance-of-two, here transplantedinto another medium by the
the female version frorn New or:leans.Thesehyper-s.",r"lir"d
solo clanccs, Black Atlantic, tr:rnsatlanticartist.
together with atomized trends in couple clance,from the consumer-driven,
An cmbodicd reading of gender relations ir-rthe Black Atlantic couple
New York-centered salsa scene to the closed African American dance,infused with a strong awarenessof cttmntunilas, alsg <lffersa pallia-
worlcl .f
steppin' and the of west coast swing, cnact a persistentfracturing
'rostalgi:r tive to the salsa-dancingLatina fcminist who grappleswith thc undoubted
of community along race and classlines. Thls is only one example of how misogyny and voyeurism of salsa lyrics, as well as-although this latter
tl.re.dance-of-two,read against its clissolutioninto excessively
masculin- aspect has not hitherto formed thc focus of such critique-thc apparent
ized or feminized solo styles,is a kinetic inclex to utopias, dystopras,
ancr sr-rbordinationof women tl-rroughpartner-hold (56nchcz Gonz'llez 7999;
m or nent ar y t r a n s c e n d e n c e s . cite the title
Santos Febres 1997). It is nuestra cos7) ouf Latin thilg-to
of a DVD of live footagc recently released by the salsa crtnglomerate Fania
Itecords (Fania All Stars 2011). Feminist approaches to salsa have found
*OUR
THING,,: RECUPERATION AND AUTO-CRITIQUE
this visual erotic fixation on the hip and pelvic movetnents<lf the mulata
a problematic phallocentric gaze that both racializes hcr and trivializes
"The rumba offers us perhaps the only egalitarian, or at least
compen- the historical injusticesperpetratedon her body (Aparicio 1998, 144-45).
satory' hope"' declaresPiedra (1.997,121),whereas anorher comrnenraror
Yet such approachesalso admit that the Afro-Caribbean/Latina woman's
explicatessalsa's"jams, twists, turns, ancl soneos" as ..occur[ring]
within enjoyment of her body's exprcssivecapacitiesthrough dance complicates
the strucrured choruses and motions of multinational capitali'rr',-','
1s"rrro, standard ferninist critiqucs, prompting new modes of conceptualizing the
Febres1997,177). These kinestheticand Hispanophor,. .-ph"s.,
broaden rclatic>nshipbetween desire, pleasure,and empowerment (Aparicio 1998,
the salienceof Gilroy's reading of Black Atlantic music as ,.an
rnsrance 149-53). The enjoyment of women as they dance in thc dyad, working
of the anti-capitalisr characrer of moclern brack politic s', (r.993,
202) to creatively with the framework of the partner-hold, points to empowcrirlg
beyond his Anglophone remir, and r' the realm of the body. In
a w.rlir co- self-expressionthrough kinesis. The rnore the dancer courts tl-revoycur,
opted by capitalism and the reification of desire,and fissuredby
biopolitics rhe rngre power s/he generatcs-this is precisely why it is in sglo dance
past and present, the dance-of-two lifts the couple out of
time, in time, stylesthat thc body, male or fcmale, invites the greatestfctishization, chal-
and against time. The momenrary subversionof capitalism,s
rinear tem- lcnging now-standard theories of the gaze (Mulvey 7L)75).This mode of
poralities is accompaniedby performancesof
and femrnrnity recuperation is evidcnt in Colombian artist Liliana Angulo's marshalling
that urge ro be decoded as archetypal, not srereoryped.
-a..ulinityThe dance,of-two of the black dancing rnalc body in a prrolongedmeditation of thc hist<lryof
on either side of the Black Atlantic becomesa palliative for modernity,s enactedcln that body and its capacitiesto transcend
racialized op1'rression
traurrlas,more so becauseof its birth through those very traumas.
This is and reclaim history through physical enioyment and virtuosity. The gcn-
the meaning of black British artist Chris ohli's repear.i ,rrn clf the dance-clf-twohave also been rnined by pcrfornrativc
to the pho- dered pleasr-rres
tograph "Nuit de Noel 1963" by Malian photographer Malick
Si<1ib6,,.a critiques of heferonornrativities,as, for instance,by La Sociedadde Tango
beautiful and_compellingblack and white photograph of two
figures ... Transfclrmista (Tr@nstang1l),an artistic collective from Ecuador seeking
dancing together. . . . Therc's a senseof them being encrose,lin
crneworld, to subverr patriarchal hcgemonicsthat exclude sexually diverse identities
oblivious to whar's goirrg o'around them" (ofili, quoted in
Nesbitt 2010, through tango perforlnanccsthat scramblegendercodesand roles.
207). sidib6 himself rcmcmbers the photograph ai emblematic
of newly This doubling of consciousncssir.rancl through dance is made possible
decolonizedMali (Hcnlcy 2010), when the da,..e-of-two signified
uropran by the dialectical relationship bctween two worlds, insidc and outside of
beginnings. Sidib6'sMalian dancing coupre,connecredby ;a
certain kind the dance-of-two. lt is the powcr of dance' a "cclncentrated" examplc of thc
of electricity or magnerism," reappears ofili', "paintinjs of figures expressivenatLlreclf "embodimcnt," connectedto "ritual, t9 rhythmic work,
clanc-
ing in a space that allows you to feel "r
they are rost i,', tii.*r.ru.s" (ofili, clf thc socialorder to be mounted thr<lrrglt
to play" that cnablesthesecritiqr-rcs
quoted in Nesbitt 2010, 207). with ofili's move to Trinidad,
his earlier the dance-clf-twoeven while it can cclebrate the need for non-cxclusivc
"electric, dazzling images packed with the sexual ancr physici
references communitics (Thrift 1997, 125). [)ar-rccin general "elude[s] Powcr . . .
 l. lli / lt r , t t t . t,,t
.l ,tl t,ttr,rt'l ,,,tl
,t ,rt. 'Il tt'
I) ,tttci ttu ( ) r tr r l r l t' i tt l l l ,tt k A!l L ttttt( ,\l ) tt( ( ' l '1 t.|
llt l' or r gltit s c rtp rrc i tyto l ri rrt rrr c l i l rfc fc rrt
c x P cri crrri rrlfrrtrrrt,s"(N rrsh2000, ( , r i i 'l r l o w . M i t l r r t.l r n t.n . 2 0 ( ) 9 . Ol o l td L i zr tti o tt,tn tl l h a I'o sl - t'r L 'o l t'l tttttg ,i r r ttl r ttr t:
65- 5) . ' l' hisc h a p tc r h i l s fi l c u s c d()u th c
d a .c.c-.f-tw ,,' r.,rp,,.i ry' t< 6i> rf at rr N o / r 's r l r li l tt'tr r gtl tc I'l a tttttl i r tr r l. ) l tr h a l u , N C : I) u ke U n i vcr si ty l ) r css.
dift'ererrtexperiential frame for trre danci.g l)t'fraptz, 'l lrorrrrrs1r.2004. "-l he lllack IJcat Made Visible: Hip-l-ro1.r l)arncc:rncl
c.r-rplctrra' rh:rr prccrictccr[>y
antagonisticmeta-narrativesformed in
concert with modernity,sd<lminrrnt llocly f)<rwcr." ln ()l thc ltresance of thc Bttdy: fissays rtn l)ance and ltarfttr-
epistem.logies. In this task, I have consciously lnancc'l'hatry, cclitcclby Andr6 Lepecki, 64-81. Middletown, CT: \flesleyan
ch.sen ,., i.ri.:.pr., gc'dcr Univcrsity Press.
roles as entwined with commwnitas. Arthough
the chapter in no way crai'rs l)csrnond,.|aneC. 1997. EmboclyingDifference." In Euery Night Life: Cwlture and
to be exhaustive, it offers some tentative
answers to the agenda set out by Dance in Latin/o Amcrica, edited by CelesteFraser Delgado and Jos6 Esteban
thr editors of a pioneering vol,rme on Muiioz, 33-64. Durham: Duke University Press.
Latin American social da'ce, f'r
whom "a really detailed analysis of social lrngelbrccht,Barbara. 1983. "swinging at the Savoy." Dance llesearchJournal 1-5
dance and its gender implica_
tions ' ' ..cor-rldproduce us with a baseline (2):3-10.
from which;;;". further Fairley,Jan. 2006. "Dancing Back to Front: Regeton,Sexuality,Gender and Trans-
large-scalequestions:,.. . how thc concept
of pleasurei, pl;;; o"t in this n a t i o n a l i sm i n C u b a ." Po l tu l a r M u si c 2 5 ( 3 ) : 4 7 1 - 8 8 .
kinesthetic realm. \Who moves an,l who
is movecl? in what ways do the lrar.riaAll Stars.2011. "Owr LatinTbing" (Nuestrd Cosa),40't' Anniuersary Lim-
poses display one body more rhan anothcr? rwhat itcd F.ditio?tCD and DVD. Ncw York: Fania Records.
skilrs are demancredof
each dancer' and what do rhey_imply Firestonc, Shulamitl.r.2003. The l)ialactic rf Sex. Lonclon: Farrar, Strauss and
about desired attributes ascribed to
men or to women?" (Desmond 1997, (iiroux.
37). My overview of Black Atlan_
tic couple dance has, above alr,_use<ia philos'phicar Gilroy, PaLrl.1993. The Black Atlantic: Modcrnity and Douhle Consciousncss.
,o what it Boston: Harvard Univcrsity Press.
means to dance in tandem with anothe. "ppr"".r,
pa.ru',, _h... the grammar of Hanccrck, Black Hawk. 200-5. "Step;rin'out of \7hiteness." Ethnogralthy 6 (4):
the dance calls for an agonistic'artnership 427-6'r.
between two danccrs.Hetero-
normarive social codes have.interpretecl Hallzaptrpltin'. Directed by H.C. Potte. Universal Pictures, 1941. DVD'
t-his pnrrn..rhip oir. b.r*."r,
male and fernale, and the task for flrther ^ Henley, Jol.rn.2010. "Malick Sidib6'sPhotos:One Nation unclera Groove." ()uard-
analysis is to confirm what traffic
patriarchy, capitalism, desire, and civilizati""^ii;;;;tiu., ian, bebruary 27. AccessedDeccmber 20, 2011. httl'r://www'guardian.co.uk/
1..,*":: l"d to artanddcsi!lnl2010lfel:l2Tlmalick-sidibc-merli-photographs-interview'
this reification. In the meanwhile, through
the globni rprelJ of tr,. gt".k Jackson,Jonathan David. 2001. "lmprovisation in African-American Vernacular
Atlanric dance-of-two in the tr"r,rn"tio.rilized Dancing." Dancc llesearcLtJournal 33 (2): 40*53.
piesent, in" a",r.i',g couple
is creolizing the world's leisurepracrices Kabir, Anar-ryaJahanara. Forthcoming. "Tl-re Eurc'rpeanSalsa Congress: Music and
through the kinetic diffusion ancl
conrinuousrepropagationof Black Atlanric l)ancc in Transnational (lircuits." InThe Blackwell ()tmpanion to Diasltrra and
space. Transnatfutnallsz,cditeclby Ato Quayson and Girish Daswani. Oxford: Blackwell.
'fr:rnsna-
Kun, .foslr. 1997. "Ag,ainst Easy Listening: Audiotopic l{ecording and
tional Sounclings."In FraserDelgado and EstebanMuioz. IL)97,288-309.
REFERENCES LaBoskcy, Sara. 2001/02. "Getting Off: Portray:rls of Masculinity in Hip Hop
Dance in hrlm." Dancc ll.asearch Jttwrnal 33 (2): lI2-20.
Aparicio' Frances''l'99g. L-rs,te.n.ing Manning, Frankie anclCynthia R. Millman. 2007. Frankic Manning: Amhassador
t. Sarsa:()ertdcr,Lati, p.purar Music, and of Lindy Hop. Philadelphia:TernpleUniversity Press.
Pu er t tt Ri can CuI twres.M iddlciown, ili,
V.rt.-yr,, U"ir*riri, ]r[rr. Manuel, Peter.2006. Caribbean Currants: Caribhcttn Music frttm ll,umba to llcg-
Averill' Gag,e'1997'A Day
fttr tt ur"i"r,'n Day 7or tbe prcy: por)urarMusic antl gac. Philadelphia:Temple University Press.
Powerin Haiti. ChicagoanclLonclon, "
U,riu"r.iiy Clri.ng" il.;;.' ' M a l i l e l a N t o n g e l a . 1 9 9 6 . "Th e 'Bl a ck Atl a n ti c'a n cl Afr i ca n M o d e r n i ty i n So u th
Baade,Christina.200c..-;'Tr.r.l)anci'f i.,rnil, "f Music,
o"rr.. nancing,] a'cr the Africa." Researchin African Literaturcs 27 (4):88-96.
BRCin \world\war II." tutpularM"ii', ii
Beckles, [jl, 347*68. McMains, Juliet. 2001. "llrownf:rce: l{cprcsenting Latin-ness in Dancesport."
Hilary. 2008. "BlackMar..,liniiy-irrElribbeanslavery.,,
caribheanMascuLinitics: In Intcrr.gatmg Danca llesearch.lournal 33 (21:54-7 1.
Tbeoreticar irJ i*1,onot AnaLyses,edited Mies, Mara. 1999. Patriarchy and Accurnulatfumtm a'Wttrld Scale.London: Zed.
L..Reddock,22S-44. by Rhoda
.. Mona: University Indiespress.
Braclby, LJ.rbara.199-J."Sampri"gs";""iity,"fW"r, Monagh:rn, Terry. 2001. "Why Study thc Lindy lP'op?" Dance ResearchJournal
i.r"r.t.r,Technorogy and the rlody in 33 (2\:124-27.
l)rnec Mu:ic." pt,palsly M'usic-'I2(Z), tiS_ZO.
,.
Jrrownf.ri, trrlrilril. 1998..rnfectirus Rhy.tbtn: Monson, Ingrid, E. 2003. The African Diaspttra: A Musical Perspectiue.London
Metaphorsof cctntagittnantr trtc ancl New York: Routledge.
Sltraad.f African curturc.Lo'don nrri N.*
v.,rr.,nouttJa*;.'"'-""' Moore, Robin D. 2006. Music and lleuttlution: Cultural Cbangain Socialist Cwba.
C-asta'hci ra Sruclc,K l cbcr. 20.'. O"".. .i"r
r. fr,"rr.t .rr.r,-il;1,,".y. Berkeley:University of California Press.
chasreen,.John oharrcs.2004. N,ati,niri;;;;;t, African
n;ry tf Latin AmcricanpttpuLarDancc.,(itruqr.rqr., lr.rrts:ihe DeertHis_ Moornran, Marissa J. 2008. lntonatilms: A Sttcial History ol Music and Natittn in
rcoPress. Universityof New Mex- Luanda, Angola, from 1945 to llecent Timcs. Athcns:Ohio Univcrsity Press.
."1,::,;::irT:.ji?*1t." M u l v e y , L a u r a . 1 9 7 5 . "Vi su a l Pl ca su r e a n cl N a r r a ti ve C i n e m a '" Scr ca n 1 6 ( 3 \:
2006. rntroducion ro ..Dance,,(speciatissue).
,r,r.,7,22- 6-1 8.
Narngyal, Kaytee. Interview with Ananya Kabir. l]erlin, October 20.11.
 | 5() i\ttrttt.\, , .t l, t l. t , t r t , r r ,l,t , , r lt r r

Nrrslr,(lrrtlrcrir lc 20(
. ) 0. "l' c r lor r r r r r t iv it yir r l) r r r tt r c t , :
t r . l ii r r ( . r r l t r r r . r r l
S o r r r tl.{t , r . r 'r rWo
__
(.ig<rgf.rplI."1)ro,qrcss in llurttttz ()t:ogru1th1,24:
Nesbitt, Juclith, ccl. 2010. Cbris ()/iti.I-ondon' 'r :rrc l)trblicrti.rs.
(r.5.j_(r,1.
9 Mapping TransatlanticFeminist
Noble , Petcr.1944. I{ings of lihytltm: A Il.euicu.,
lJand Perstmali/lcs.Lonclon: I)unlon.
of l)ctncc-ltartdartt! Brtttslt l)(nr((, Cartographiesthrough Black
Pacini Hcrn:indez, Deborah. 199.5. Il)chata: A socjal History tf
Pcpular Dance. Philaclelpl.ria: Templc University Press.
a l)ontirtit:arr Atlantic Cinema
Piedra, Jos6. 191)7."Hip Poetics." In [--r'aser r)clgatlo:rncl Estebar.rMti<tz..r.)L)J,
93-140. Emilia Maria Dwran-Almarza
Piot, cl.rarles.2001 . "Atlantic Aporias: Africa ancl Gilroy's Black .l'ltt,
Atlalti c.,,
South AtLantic Quarterly, 100 (1): 1-SS-20.
Rerrta,Priscilla.2004. "Salsa Dance: Latir-ro/aHistory in Motion."
Ccntro .lo.u,tctl
16 (2):1 .38 - 57.
Rivera, Raqr-rel2., ed.2009. Ircggttct.rt.nurhtrn-r,NC: Dr-rkeUniversiry press.
sin-chez Gonz:ilez, l-isa. 1999. "r{ccr:ri'-ring Sjlse." cuLtttral irui'i^
L.i (2): In recent years, thefc has bcen a renewed iuterest in ex;rloring the legacies
2 37 -50 .
santos Fc'bres,Mayra. 1997. "Salsa as'fr:anslocation."In FraserL)elgaclo of what came to be known as the Black British Arts Movement or Black
and Flstc_
b an Muio z 1 997, 175* 88. British ltcnaissance.' Works by prominent scholars such as Stuart l-lall
savigliana, M. 199-5.Tang. and thc poritical Ecort.tny.f passi.n. Boulder, (200-5)2nd Henry l-1ruisGates (2010) are ildicative of the perceivedneces-
co:
\festview. decadesof the 1970s and 1980s, togcther
sity to re-evallratethe convr-rlsive
serota' Nicholas. 2010. Forewordro Chris oliri, editedby
JLrclithNesbitt. with thc role played by cultural institr-rtions and ;rolicicsin thc developmellt
Silvestcr,Victor. 1974. Modern Ballrornn Da)tcing: Histtiry antl practicc.
Lo'don: this
llarrie and Tenkins. of the contemporary British society.In linrr with thcsc prcvi<tlrsstr-rdics,
Skinner,.Jonathan.2008. "\Vomcn L)ancingBarck-ancl Forth: Itcsistalcc chapter sceksto offer a critical reassessment clf lilms dirccted by wcxncn of
and Sclf-
I{cgulation in Belfast salsa." Dance Res,cart:b
J.urnal 40 (1): ()s-77. C ari bbeand esccntin t he LJK in t he 1980s as onc valuablccxar npleof t hc
spring, Howarcl. 1997. "Swing anci the Lincly H'p: Da,rce, Venue,
Meclia, and productive conversationsthat the arts and the acadcrni;rhclped cstablisl'r
Traclition." American Music 1.5(2\: 183-2(i7.
Taylor, L)iana. 2003. Thr' Ar.ihiuc anJ the ll,4t1,ysq1i1,g. around the issueof multiculturalism in lJritarn.
I,crfttrming Cultural Mem-
rtry in the Americas.l)urham, NC: Dukc University press. Althor-rghthe presenceof Caribbean fernale voices in thc Ilritish tradi-
Thrift, Nigel J. 7997. "-fhe still point: Resisrance,lixpressive Embocliment
ancl tion has been lirnited given the marginal positiorl thcy have conventionally
l)ance." ln ceytgralthiesof Resistance,editeclbyS. pire anclM. K.',th, 6ccupied as a result c-rfthe combination of variablessuch as rirce,cthllicity,
r 24-sr.
London: Routledee.
gender, and/clr social cl:lss, their contributions to British, Afro-dils1'roric.
Tomko, Linda. 1999. Dancing class: Cendcr, Etbnicity and s.cial
Diuicles in and feminist filmic producticlnscannot be r-rnderestimated. [)rawing from
A m er i can D an cc, 18 9.0-r 9 20. rlloomington : Inclier'a Ur.river:sirypress.
Usner, Eric Martin.2001.-"Dancing in thi Past, t.iving in the prescnt: comparative and transcultural approaches, analysis of The Passion of
Nostalgiir
and Race in Souther' California Neo-swing Dance i}-rlture.,, Dancc llescarch Rememb ran ce (198 6),co-directed by Ma urine lSl2ckwoodand Isaac.fulien,
Journal 33 (2\: 87^101. and Dreaming Riuers (1988), directcd by Martine Attille, both belonging
\wie schio lek,Hiek e. 2003.
"' Lac lies ,J us t Folr o w H i s L e a d ! ': S a l s a , G e n d e r a n d
Identity." rn Sltort, l)ance antl Embodicd Idantities,eclitedby Eduardo
to Sankofa Film Collectivc, will highlight the multiple ways in which thcir
Ar:chetti work has contribr,rtcdto epistemologicaldeveloprnentsin the sphcrc of the
and Noel, 11-5-38.I)yck, C)xforcl:Bers.
X, Malcolrn and Alex Hrlcy. I 97\. Tbc Atrt,,hi,tgraltrtyof Malc.lm
X. New york:
so-cal l edl l l ack Br it ish Ar t s M gvcr nentof t he 19U0sand 1990s,as wcll as
-BallantineIlooks. to the establishrnentof elobal lllack Atl:rntic feminisrns.
Yamanashi l-eib, Allis'n a'cl Robcrt c. Bulman. 20t)7. .'The choreograprry
of
Gender: Mascirlinity, Fcmininity, and the Cornl-lsx L)ance of I.lcntlty
in the
Ballrocrm." Mcn and Masculinrtics 9:602-21_
Yelvingt.n, Kcvin A.2001. "The Anthropology of Afro-Latin Ar'erici,r BLACK ATLANTIC CINEMA
a'd the
caribbcan: I)iasporic nimcnsions." A""iit lfeuiew ,,f ,lnthrilt,-,/rgy 30:
227-60. Afro-Caribbeirn filrn pr<>dtrctionin Ilritain reached its pcak in thc mid-
zeleza, Paul Tiya''rbc. 2005. "Rewriting the African Diaspora: Bc,yo'd
the Black 1980s and carly 1990s rrspirrt of thc cinem:l produced by black llritish filnr
Atlantic." African Alfairs I04 (414\::S-OS.
eol l t' t' ti vcswhi.
, lr wt 'r t 't r t ': r t r 'Jir r ; r r r : r t t t 'r nptt ( ) lliv( 'r nilr or it ycom t nunit it 's
i n the U K accesst o r cpr csellt ir t ionr lncl t o public r esour ces.As cult r r r al
cri ti c K obe na M er ccr pt r t s it , ir r t lr c r nid- u0st hcr c was a "r allying call f or
bl ack reD resent at ion"( 1( ) L) 4,lf l; cnr philsisin or iginal) in pLr blicct r lr r r r ir l