I think of myself as a patron first and a critic second. What I mean by that is that even when I scrutinize a work, I make a point of not getting so wrapped up in the intellectualism that I forget the audience experience of simply watching a show. I want to still be a member of the crowd who can get lost in it all; I just happen to be the one shifting their eyes down to take notes.
I say this because there are few things that can truly ruin the viewing experience for me. One of those things is an audience member taking photos during a show. That’s what happened during the opening night performance of Raíces et Résistance (world premiere through October 20 at Dance Mission Theater, SF). In fact, there were half-a-dozen audience members who decided that the professional photographer in the front row wasn’t enough to preserve the moment, so they took it upon themselves to pollute the darkness of the theatre with the irritating blue glows of their smartphones.
Granted, the show was not preceded by the usual “no phones” disclaimer in the curtain speech, but that was likely due to forgetfulness. What’s more, all the folks committing this faux pas appeared to be white and many were senior age. For all the talk about “kids today can’t live without their phones”, these older folks should have known better. It’s as if they were actively trying to spoil the great show for the rest of us in the full-house audience.
And make no mistake: Raíces et Résistance is a great show. I don’t know if it’s specifically meant to serve as a companion piece to Dance Mission’s August show Following the Road to Ose Tura, but the two complement one another perfectly. Both serve as dialogue-light musical tours through history of Transatlantic African dance. They draw a straight line from the sun-drenced Earth of the Motherland to plantations of now-Central & South America to the discotheques that serve as social gatherings that just happen to carry a lot of history. As performers and show creators Susana Arenas Pedroso and Bongo Sidibe tell us at the beginning, the show is an attempt to “bridge the diaspora as Black people.”
The show gets its title from the way African and Afro-Latine music and dance were used as the score to the rebellions of enslaved Africans fighting for freedom. After an introduction of a variety of tribal dances—the first of many featuring the colorful costumes of Arenas Dance Company costumers Deborah Valoma, Jessica Maria Recinos, and Diana Aburto—we dive into the 1950s story of Guinean freedom fighters Mafory Bangoura and Sekou Touré, who fought for workers’ rights and “lead the resistance against French colonial brutality.” This section is performed by women wielding wooden rifles as the band from the Duniya Dance and Drum company send the visceral message of their intentions through the air with their rhythms.
It doesn’t hurt that this section, like Following the Road to Ose Tura, dedicated a considerable amount of time to Vodou and Yoruba, African religions that were slandered and are still used as pejorative short-hand in the West. By making them the soundtrack to resistance, Pedrosa and Sidibe make the music almost like a Vodou- or Yoruba-based message from the spirits calling practitioners to act the way Joan of Arc said she heard voices.
We see archival footage of Guineans welcoming Cuban liberator Fidel Castro as a brother-in-arms (not to diminish what happened in Cuba after he took over). We see more social dancing incorporated, as the performers—and their costumes, which are no less stunning as the show goes on—create and embrace dance styles like the rumba as a way of forging their own identities from under the thumb of colonialism. It’s almost sad when one stops to consider that the folks portrayed have never really escaped colonialism’s grip (nor have we Westerners).
Yet, the more the dancers (choreographed by Pedroso, Royland Labato, Karelia Despaigne, and the folks from Duniya Dance) embrace the power of their movements, the more clear it becomes that the dances themselves are a victory. The West strongly clings to the Judeo-Christian idea of self-sacrifice as the highest form of service, but that idea is so locked into revering one’s own death that it gives little reason to celebrate life. Raíces et Résistance’s ultimate goal is to juxtapose that which makes life worth fighting for with how to live, and enjoy, it once you’re done fighting.
Dance is crucial every step of the way. Even if you don’t follow the show’s narrative (the program connected a lot for me), losing oneself in the eye-popping threads and acrobatic choreo is enough to keep you captivated.
Speaking of preserving life: Dance Mission continues to both encourage and support masking at their shows, even if only a few patrons actually do it. Of the full house attending the opening, only a handful of us were masked. The couple seated behind me seemed to mask reluctantly, ranting about how each of them had caught COVID twice, but were still strongly in favor of vaccination. Over the course of the two-hour show, I was surprised at how—again, like Following the Road to Ose Tura—the CO² levels remained low in the old Dance Mission building. During Act 1, my Aranet4’s readings peaked at 709ppm, with Act 2 peaking at 657ppm. I don’t know what Dance Mission’s done since January to create such a free flow of air, but one hopes they keep it up.
All of this would’ve made for an absolutely incomparable experience, if not for all the bad audience members taking out their phones to record the show. They obstructed the sightlines of other audience members and acted as nuisances for everyone trying to enjoy the show. Again, the fact that these were mostly older audience members is inexcusable.
Nevertheless, should you have a better-behaved audience to work with, you’re bound to enjoy the show and its story of music as the soundtrack to rebellion. Its creators pack a lot of history into each and every dance. By treating history as music, they make every note count.
RAĺCES ET RÉSISTANCE’s world premiere runs through October 20 at the Dance Mission Theater, SF. Tickets and further info here.
