This August, the inaugural International African Diaspora Dance Traditions Conference, IADDTC, debuted in the historic center of Salvador, Brazil. The conference united diaspora dancers of different backgrounds to experience history and connections through conversation and movement in alignment with the theme, “Honoring traditional and spiritual dances of the African diaspora: Reuniting, Remembering, Resisting.”
IADDTC drew approximately 150 registrants and presenters from Trinidad and Tobago, Panama, the Republic of Congo, Denmark, Barbados, Uruguay, Canada, the United States, and across Brazil.
The conference opened with spiritual practices led by representatives of the Iyalorixas of Salvador. Attendees visited the Afro-Brazilian Museum and received a presentation by Vania Oliveira on the Bloco Afros, which is a topic focused on social economics. They also learned about diasporic traditions, which included Flamenco, Haitian, Trinidadian, Afro-Uruguayan, and Cuban dances.
Silvestre Associação Cultural, an arts-based community organization, hosted attendees, and master instructors and practitioners shared their knowledge.
The organization hosted attendees in an intimate studio with grand, open windows overlooking the Banco de Panela. Calming breezes, refreshing mists, and rays of sunshine adorned the studio as master instructors and practitioners shared their knowledge.
IADDTC Journey and the Place of Academia and Literature
Tamara Williams, the IADDTC founder, creator, and co-organizer, emphasized the need to close the culture gap as the reason she started the conference. “I created this conference in response to the lack of international dance conferences that uplift and highlight Black traditions. Specifically, those which are practiced and maintained by traditionalists, and practitioners,”
“This conference also highlighted the practices of scholars in the field. However, the voice of the practitioners was of the utmost importance and significance for this work. This includes Iṣeṣe practitioners across the globe, spiritualists, root workers, dancers, movers, conjurers, musicians, and more”
“It is especially important to gather communities of the African diaspora through a conference led by Black and Indigenous women to make sure that our histories, stories and narratives are cultivated and shared. We are different in culture but similar in the roots of our practices,” Williams added.
Williams is a professional dancer, choreographer, practitioner, and scholar. She is also the author of “Giving Life to Movement,” where she wrote about studying extensively under Rosangela Sylvestre who developed a dance technique that infuses Afro Brazilian Candomble’ spiritual practice.
This influenced why Conference sessions were held in Sylvestre’s historic studio making Sylvestre’s studio the perfect location to breathe life into the theme of the conference—Honoring traditional and spiritual dances of the African diaspora: Reuniting, Remembering, Resisting.
One of the researchers the conference has highlighted, Dr. Mesi Bakari Walton, professor of Spanish and Afro Hispanic Diaspora cultural traditions, spoke about her research on dance and seeing minds with similar keen interest.
“I research and do dances from the African diaspora, so I really wanted to be there to learn more and to be in a space with people who study and who are interested in dances of the African Diaspora as well. Secondly, it was hosted by Rosangela Sylvestre who I had done choreography with Mantu dance theater in Chicago. I enjoyed her energy and wanted to study with her again,” she said.
Walton’s research highlights the intersection of dance, spiritual ritual and resistance of Afro Venezuelans. Walton and Williams’ work is featured in the book “Fire Under My Feet: History, Race, and Agency in African Diaspora Dance,” edited by Ofosuwa Abiola.
Brazil, Africa, To Washington DC: The Go-go Museum and Cafe Journey
According to Travelnoire, Brazil has the highest number of people of African descendent outside of the continental Africa. This position puts the the city of Salvador as a key backdrop for the conference and an educational experience with its strong presence of African tradition
“Being in Bahia, Salvador, Pelerheriuno, in these historic spaces that hold so much history for African people outside of Africa I was able to pick up on how African traditions are still infused in living in Salvador,” Walton reflected. “People were very forward with their Africanness and it wasn’t something that was just mentioned. It was how they walked.”
A group of ten journeyed to Salvador, Brazil, to explore Afro Brazilian connections to Washington, DC traditions. They were led by Go-Go Museum and Cafe Founder Ronald Moten and Lead Curator Dr. Natalie Hopkinson. Go-Go music originates in Washington, D.C. It features polyrhythmic sounds, live instruments, and African drumbeats that connect it to other diasporic music genres. The improvisational dance style accompanying the music also aligns with diasporic dance traditions.
“It was an incredible experience to be able to bring scholars, creatives, photographers, filmmakers. Not only did we go to the dance classes and go to the dance showcase to experience dance from the diaspora, we actually visited Salvador,” said Hopkinson. She reminisced about seeing Orixa shrines in various locations, visiting Parque Sao Bartolomeu where they saw wild horses and waterfalls, indulging in the spiritual culinary arts, and attending street sambas.
Hopkinson said, “Samba culture is certainly a cousin of Go-Go. The last night, we went to a Samba outside of a church; full-on street party that happens every week. I found that very analogous to Go-Go culture which is everywhere all the time especially in the streets.”
Dr. Nina Angela Mercer, a renowned artist and D.C native who traveled with the Go-Go museum group, said, “The percussion really drives the Samba; the drummer and the percussionist. And I like really seeing how the people appreciate when the percussionist was really getting into his thing…and how it drives the music in Samba and in Go-Go.”
IADDTC offered a full breadth of spiritual and embodied experiences that were enhanced by Salvador’s vibrant culture and history. Williams confirmed that she will host the conference again in the future. Interviewed attendees are already awaiting its return.
