Identity in Motion

"Identity in Motion" is the subtitle to Raices, the hispanic arts and culture educational program I developed and teach. However, it is also a very fit title for some of the thoughts evoked by reading Caribbean Dance from Abakua to Zouk: How Movement Shapes Identity.

Susanna Sloat's introduction is very thought provoking. She brings up the issue of how music and dance areperhaps the best known representation of Caribbean cultures - Latin cultures in general, I would add. All over the world we are immediately associated with popular rhythms, from the latest reggaeton, to the immortal conga lines. In this way our music and dance represent us, or misrepresent us, worldwide. Music and dance are the most well know Latin cultural expression in the countries that form the diaspora, where Caribbeans and Latinos have immigrated traditionally, and beyond, into countries with no considerable Latino presence. Plenty of times people's concept of our cultures are downright simplified to the characteristics our music and dance. I am also very aware of the fact that we are not only represented by our rhythms and dances, but by our attitudes towards movement, which, carefully contextualized, contain important clues to who we are. Caribbeanness is inextricably associated with joy, hip fluidity, and sensuality. In this way, "dance becomes the primary mark of identity," both personal and communal, both internal and external. Foreigners expect all self-respecting Latinos to be able to dance a Salsa, without exception. Dancing at New Year's parties and other family gatherings and social celebrations creates a communal experience and a sense of belonging, while marking insiders and outsider. Children learn in elementary school the basics to our "national" folkloric dances, and pick up popular and social ones from adults through observation and participation. Considering the colonial history of Latin America and the Caribbean, all matters of ethnic pride and national identity become primordial, music and dance are no exceptions - in fact, wonderful examples. As Sloat so beautifully puts it:
"In the Caribbean, ... where people love to dance, ... individuals become passionately attached to the dances they do, whether they are those of the majority or of a subculture, in that way asserting their identity through movement".