Dr. C. Kemal Nance hosts this episode honoring Dr. Kariamu Welsh and celebrating the dance technique that she developed called Umfundalai.
Dr. C. Kemal Nance hosts this episode honoring Dr. Kariamu Welsh and celebrating the dance technique that she developed called Umfundalai.
[Music begins, composed by J.S. Bach, performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN:Welcome to PillowVoices, a production of Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival with content from the Pillow archives. I'm Norton Owen, the Pillow’s Director of Preservation, and it's my pleasure to introduce Dr. Kemal Nance, who will be your host for a two-part presentation. Nance honors his teacher, the late Dr. Kariamu Welsh, who was the founder of the contemporary African dance technique known as Umfundalai.
MELANIE GEORGE: Welcome. My name is Melanie George and I am an Associate Curator and Director of Artist Initiatives here at Jacob’s Pillow. And my role here extends to scholarship, and I'm very fortunate today to be moderating a talk around the work and life of Dr. Kariamu Welsh.
Dr. Kariamu Welsh was recognized as a pioneer and trailblazer of African diaspora dance. She was a professor of dance at Temple University for 30 years before retiring in 2019, and an author and editor of seminal texts on Afrocentricity and Black movement traditions. Welsh was born Carol Anne Welsh on September 22nd, 1949 in Thomasville, North Carolina, the eldest daughter of Ruth Hoover. She was raised in Brooklyn, New York. Welsh adopted the name Kariamu, which means ‘one who reflects the moon’ in Kiswahili. Welsh co-founded the School of Movement in Buffalo, New York in the 1970s. She was awarded a scholarship to attend the University at Buffalo, graduating in 1972 with a Bachelor of Arts in English. And in 1975, she earned her Master of Arts and Humanities from the same institution. Between 1981 and 1983, Welsh was the founding Artistic Director of the National Dance Company of Zimbabwe, and a member of the Dance Trust of Zimbabwe, and the founder of Kariamu &Company: Traditions. She is the founder of Umfundalai Technique, a contemporary African dance technique that comprises its movement vocabulary from dance traditions throughout the diaspora. Umfundalai means ‘essential’ in Kiswahili. Dr. Welsh designed a stylized movement practice that seeks to articulate in an essence of African-oriented movement, or as she described, “an approach to movement that is holistic, body centric, and organic.” In 1993, Welsh received her Doctorate of Arts from New York University in Dance history and Choreography. While a Professor at Temple University, she founded the Institute for African Dance and Research, African Dance Research and Performance. A prolific scholar, she's the author of the following books; African Cultures: the Rhythm of Unity in 1989; The African Aesthetic: Keeper of Traditions, in 1994; African Dance and Artistic, Historical, and Philosophical Inquiry in 1997; Zimbabwe Dance, Rhythmic Forces, Ancestral Voices, and Aesthetic Analysis in 2000; Umfundalai and African Dance Technique in 2003 and Iwe Illanan: A Umfundalai Teacher’s Handbook in 2017. She's also the contributing author to the following books, African Dance, from 2010; African Cultures, the Rhythms of Unity from 1985; Hot Feet in Social Change, African Dance and Diaspora Communities, and A Guide to African and African-American Art. A three-time Fulbright Scholar, she was the recipient of the National Endowment for the Arts Choreographic Fellowship, the Creative Public Service Award of New York, a Pew Fellowship and a Guggenheim Fellowship. Dr. Welsh died at her home in North Carolina at age 72 on October 12th, 2021. So I say all that. I read all of that not just to sort of catalog someone's CV, which we know as academics can be a thing, right? But also to say that her reach is quite vast and…to…had she just been a scholar alone, the research is extensive. But she was a scholar as well as an artist, a working artist, and a deeply thoughtful educator as in, an innovative educator, I should say, because there's lots of teachers, but everyone's not creating a technique.
DR. KEMAL NANCE: I think the unique thing about the advent of Umfundalai and its philosophy is that not only did it centralize an Africanist way of moving, or not only did it centralize the dancing Black body, but its approach methodologically was uniquely African American. In a sense that it celebrated a multiplicity of Africanness, but it did so through a lens that was much like a gumbo, right? That my celery and my okra can sit right next to each other, and we are gonna make this together. And it put African-American, the diasporic experience that lives in African-American culture, it places it in its rightful place in the pantheon of different expressions of Africa. And that was huge, right? Because as African-Americans, as American, as human beings, but not necessarily taught to think beautifully about our bodies. And we're not, and we definitely weren't taught to think about the movement practices that we visit dancing in the living room, like I said with my mom, or the kind of movement practices you do when something tastes good or when Soul Train comes on. We definitely weren't used to thinking about those things of being worthy of investigation, of research, of abstraction, of choreography. We were taught to think that dancing meant that you had to get trained a certain way, that you had to create a line in the way that Western dances dictate that you had to have a certain physique. And what Mama Kariamu did for us was to, at least for me particularly, but I've seen it happen to other people, is that, my yam feet [Welsh chuckles], this thick chocolate six-three body is enough [Welsh: Hmm]. It's not only enough, it's magical. And your body is magical, and your body is magical, and it has the potential to transform.
DR. KEMAL NANCE: That was a clip of me speaking at the Pillow in 2022 with Melanie George and Monique Walker as we remembered the life of Dr. Kariamu Welsh. I recently spent time with recordings of a “Cultural Traditions” workshop hosted at the Pillow in 2001. In the spirit of how Umfundalai is taught and transmitted and in honor of my teachers, I would like to share the following moments and reflections to truly share the spirit of Umfundalai with you.
[Sound excerpt from the 2001 workshop, where you can hear drumming and people cheering]
DR. KEMAL NANCE: Aah! Come and dance away! That drumming accompanied a group of students, one of whom is Monique Newton (now she is Monique Walker) who beautifully performs a combination choreographed by the late Charles “Chuck” Davis. I danced with Monique for many years and am now leading a non-profit with her that champions the permanence of African dance traditions in contemporary concert dance. This moment is such a representation of the diversity of African dance styles.
The dancers are adorned in a lapas which is a piece of fabric wrapped around the waist that covers the pelvic area and drapes to at least knee level. This is a West African tradition. They are frequenting the Southern African movement traditions of Isicatulo. The rhythms are a synthesis of Senegambian sensibilities allied with the phrases that are teased out with a plethora of African vocabularies that the late Chuck Davis has at his disposal. I smile because both he and the late Kariamu Welsh have always problematized the epithet “African dance” because of the vastness of Africa and the complexities of its movement styles. In this moment, this exhibition of a Pan African expression, so many things are dancing in harmony.
The class concludes and students take a seat on the floor to receive even more historical context for the movements that have just put on their bodies. This is typical for the educational style of the late Chuck Davis or Baba Chuck as I affectionately called him. This moment is especially poignant because he passes instruction off to Kariamu Welsh and what a beautiful moment it is. Mama Kariamu, as we call her in these dance spaces, sits in her classic stance with her arms Akimbo. She takes the time to embrace each student and in so doing she acknowledges that each person is seen by her. Then to her right, the late Chuck Davis positions himself in the space as an admiring student, even though he must be at least 12 years her senior. With her uniquely melodic voice, she repeats each student’s name as it is told to her followed by the affirmation, “alright.”
DR. KARIAMU WELSH: One doesn't get to these places alone, and I stand on the shoulders of many people. And one of the persons whose shoulders I stand on is Baba. I was just telling him over at breakfast that, I was reminiscing about his company of 26 years ago, that's how far back I go with him. At the time, I was in Buffalo, New York, and he came through on a residency, taught me and I had seen his company before and in New York, at [unclear word]. So, we go back a long time. And then I remember some of the early members of his company, but Baba has been a great influence in my life. He's also been an inspiration. So, you know, we never stand alone, we stand on the shoulders, and in particular Baba. Then my other teacher was, she's now joined the ancestral world but, her name is Pearl Reynolds. And she was a very significant influence on me, of course I miss her terribly. So, I just wanted to start out by letting you know that that's one of my connections. Those are two major influences on me because we all represent those who have would have laid their hands on us.
DR. KEMAL NANCE: Kariamu Welsh acknowledges Chuck Davis as her teacher. She often uses shoulders as metaphor for the acknowledgement of legacy and the bestowing of tradition from one generation to the other. She acknowledges Chuck Davis as her teacher. In particular, Chuck taught her and her company, the Black Dance Workshop, a Senegalese female rites of passage dance called Soba. Kariamu can be seen dancing this dance in video footage from the 1977 Dance Mobile in Harlem, New York. She eventually integrated Soba into Umfundalai’s repertory, further stylizing the dance with Umfundalai sensibilities. She even develops an advanced version of dance.
As a dancer myself, I wish I’d had the opportunity to meet and/or dance for Pearl Reynolds. Just before she transitioned, I pointed out to Welsh that in all the years that I had known her, she could never say Reynolds’ name without somehow genuflecting and saying, “may she rest in peace.” Now, as I fondly reflect on my time with my Mama Kariamu, I find myself in the same predicament. I cannot mention Welsh’s name without mentioning how much she means to me.
DR. KARIAMU WELSH: The philosophical definition of Africa is what [name of person she is citing here is unclear] refers to as ‘where the soul to Africa is not where the saltwater lifts her shores.’ Meaning that Africa is wherever there are people of African descent. That is the philosophical definition of Africa. Africa is wherever there are people of African descent [a brief pause]. So in that way, you can speak of a Baba or myself or Monique or Patrick as an African- Canadian, by way of the Caribbean, or Jose who is what we call continental Africa, but that we are all Africans, because we share a common heritage, although the African-American or the African-Canadian may be further removed and challenge generations. And that we, she has certain cultural traits, and we’ll talk about that.
DR. KEMAL NANCE: The philosophical definition of Africa that Welsh describes situates her artistic work. Umfundalai, the technique she has developed, emerges from the notion that bodies of African descent house this broader context of African dance. This is such an empowering notion for the African-American because our history is riddled with attempts to either rob us of an emergent culture or deny us of a culture because of the nature of our oppression. Here, in Welsh’s philosophical definition, Welsh is giving Africa back to us, endowing us with its treasures as everyone else within its diaspora. She gave Africa back to us, and in so doing she bonded us all together.
[Sound excerpt from a class led by Welsh, in which you can hear drumming and her instructing students]
DR. KEMAL NANCE: And hold! Even watching this class at 53 years old I still have a visceral reaction when I hear Welsh’s voice say “hold.”In Umfundalai studio practice, it usually meant that she was about to engage in some kind of strengthening exercise. It also means that she was going to challenge us to suspend time, to take a metaphysical trip so that there is movement in our stillness. And hold! You would not have thought that the ceasing of movement would require so much energy and tenacity.
[Sound excerpt from a class led by Welsh, in which you can hear drumming and her instructing students]
DR. KEMAL NANCE: In this moment, Kariamu Welsh corrects the musicians with regards to the rhythms they are using to accommodate the movement phrases that she was developing. In African dance, there is a simpatico relationship between the music and the dance and the rhythm has got to be right. However, Umfundalai is a contemporary practice and so the “correct” musical accompaniment requires a reading of the dancing body. For the musician, it may require improvising by integrating several known rhythms or composing a new rhythm in the moment. This is an important point because Welsh is not acquiescing to what the drummers usually play for other neo-traditional African dance classes. She is creating rhythm and in this moment, she is encouraging, demanding, ushering the musicians to follow her through the liminal space brought on by her creativity to do the same.
We will pause here and continue our journey with Umfundalai and Mama Kariamu in the next episode of PillowVoices. So I invite you to close this segment as the way we do in Umfundalai class with a gesture called dobale. Put your hand on your heart, to thank your heart for beating. Thank the earth for letting us dance on her. Put your hand back on your heart, for sustaining life through another couple of seconds. Thank the heavens for not coming down on you. Come back to your heart, with your hand, ‘cuz it still beats, it still sustains life. And you thank me and I thank you by extending your arms forward, without whom this experience couldn’t be possible. Those are six movements and we will see you in the next episode.
[Music begins, composed, and performed by Jess Meeker]
NORTON OWEN: That’s it for this episode of PillowVoices. Thank you for joining us today. On behalf of Jacob’s Pillow, we look forward to sharing more dance with you through the films, essays, and podcasts at Dance Interactive dot Jacob’s Pillow dot org. And of course, through live experiences during our festival and throughout the year. Special thanks to the National Endowment for the Arts for helping launch this podcast series. Please subscribe to PillowVoices wherever you get your podcasts, and visit us again soon, either online or on site.