The Martinican bèlè dance – a celebration of land, spirit and liberation – Repeating Islands


Based mostly on her ongoing analysis, Camee Maddox-Wingfield (College of Maryland) writes concerning the Martinican bèlè dance traditions for The Dialog. [See more on the author below these excerpts. Many thanks to AICA Caraïbe du Sud for bringing this item to our attention. Also see our previous post Reviving an ancestral dance tradition.]

On Might 22 annually, when the jap Caribbean island of Martinique observes Emancipation Day, drums beat from dawn till the break of daybreak the following day. Contributors at open-air, starlit gatherings dance, sing, play drums and feast for ancestors who fought to interrupt the chains of bondage. The rebellion that finally led to the abolition of slavery on the island in 1848 was sparked by the arrest of Romain, an enslaved man who refused to conform along with his grasp’s ban on beating drums.

At the moment, drums are nonetheless an emblem of revolt and freedom. The standard dances that span the island every Might 22, at performances referred to as “swaré bèlè,” are full of an electrifying aura of reverence and honor. However the bèlè shouldn’t be solely a style of ancestral Afro-Caribbean drum-dance practices. Quite, it’s “an mannyè viv:” a way of life and worldview by way of which many individuals discover therapeutic and empowerment for themselves and their communities.

[. . .] Centuries of historical past have given bèlè a fancy set of symbols, solely understood by these deeply immersed within the apply. Swaré bèlè gatherings sometimes start with a couple of matches of “ladja/danmyé,” a martial artwork custom between two combatants within the heart of a circle, which warms up the vitality of the house as friends are arriving.

The rest of the occasion includes an improvised rotation of performers taking part in and dancing units from the “bèlè linò” repertoire. These sq. dances use the quadrille configuration, with 4 pairs of feminine and male dancers. After the opening sequences, every pair takes turns dancing in a playful alternate within the heart of the circle, then dances towards the drummers to salute them. [. . .]

Repressed, then embraced

Martinique has been beneath French management since 1635. Even in the course of the post-colonial period, many Black Martinican people traditions confronted repression, as leaders imposed mainland French tradition on the inhabitants. For instance, bèlè practices had been usually denigrated as “bagay vyé nèg,” “bagay djab” and “bagay ki ja pasé”: primitive, indecent and outdated, within the Martinican Creole language. To many within the church, conventional drumming and dance symbolized heathenism. In a rustic the place the overwhelming majority of individuals belong to the church, it was tough for religious Catholics to assist bèlè.

Many practitioners see bèlè as a dance of the earth that reinforces human connections with the land, divine spirits and beliefs of freedom. Touted as a fertility ritual for each people and the land, the dance displays sensuality between companions. Different symbolism suggests sacred connections with the soil, vegetation and water on which Martinicans’ enslaved ancestors labored and survived. Many dance actions characterize agricultural labor.

Through the Eighties, scholar activists and youth teams led initiatives to revive traditions that had almost dissolved because of French stress to assimilate. At the moment an ever-growing neighborhood has embraced bèlè as they problem the legacy of colonialism and racism in Martinique. [. . .]

[Camee Maddox-Wingfield is Assistant Professor of Sociology, Anthropology, and Public Health; University of Maryland, Baltimore County. For this research, Camee Maddox-Wingfield received funding from the Institute of International Education (Mellon Foundation Graduate Fellowship for International Study), a grant from the Ruth Landes Memorial Research Fund (a Program of the Reed Foundation), and UMBC’s Center for Social Science Scholarship Summer Faculty Fellowship.]

For extra photographs and full article, see https://theconversation.com/establishments/university-of-maryland-baltimore-county-1667. Picture above: Dancers Clara Desportes and Simon Lavenaire in Fort de France throughout Emancipation Day celebrations in 2016. Courtesy of Gilles Ticaze Cazenave.

Additionally see our earlier publish https://repeatingislands.com/2021/05/06/how-black-caribbean-communities-are-reviving-an-ancestral-dance-tradition/

For extra on the creator, see https://theconversation.com/profiles/camee-maddox-wingfield-1324479



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