{"id":197,"date":"2015-10-07T15:36:55","date_gmt":"2015-10-07T15:36:55","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=197"},"modified":"2015-10-10T18:44:48","modified_gmt":"2015-10-10T18:44:48","slug":"dance-a-means-of-survival-and-a-revelation-of-truth","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/bcrw.barnard.edu\/digitalshange\/blog\/?p=197","title":{"rendered":"Dance: A means of survival and a revelation of truth"},"content":{"rendered":"

I really like Clarke\u2019s question <\/span>in her blog post \u201cSweat, Truth and Surviva<\/a>l:<\/span>\u201c<\/span>In what ways does Shange characterize truth and survival as \u201cone\u201d?\u201d There are probably several lenses through which one could tackle this question and here I will attempt to offer one. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the readings we have done thus far, dance is key for liberation of the black woman and Shange\u2019s choreopoem \u201cfor colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf\u201d<\/em> continues to express this idea. <\/span><\/p>\n

In the first poem \u201cdark phases,\u201d Shange shows the importance of giving women a voice and the opportunity to be heard. Not only does Shange give voice to the \u201cdark phases of womanhood\/ of never having been a girl\u201d (17), but she also encourages the audience to be intimate with the woman\u2019s story, to \u201csing her rhythms\/ carin\/ struggle\/ hard times. sing her song of life\u201d (18). As the audience becomes familiar with the woman\u2019s song, so does the woman herself who has \u201cbeen dead so long\/ closed in silence so long\/ she doesn\u2019t know the sound of her own voice\/ her infinite beauty\u201d (18). As for colored girls progresses, one discovers that the woman\u2019s voice dwells in her body.<\/span><\/p>\n

Soyica Diggs Colbert\u2019s article \u201cBlack Feminist Collectivity in Ntozake Shange\u2019s for colored girls\u2026\u201d talks about how black women\u2019s bodies are sexualized and demonized. However, she goes on to say, <\/span>\u201cRather than trying to assimilate into a system of desire that diminishes the shape of the black woman, Shange suggests that in order to find her voice she needed to accept her body. Dance was part of the process of moving toward acceptance.\u201d <\/span><\/p>\n

More than self-acceptance, dance is a means of survival.<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cwe gotta dance to keep from cryin\/ we gotta dance to keep from dyin\u201d (29)<\/span><\/p>\n

\u201cthere is no me but dance\/ & when i can dance like that\/ there\u2019s nothing that cd hurt me\u201d (57)<\/span><\/p>\n

Dance is a revelation of truth because it embodies a woman\u2019s very essence, which is something that cannot be fully expressed in words. The lady in purple says \u201cto come wit you\/ i hadta bring everything\/ the dance & the terror\u201d (58). \u201c[the lady in green] is Sechita and for the rest of the poem dances out Sechita\u2019s life\u201d (37), revealing the goddess of creativity and love through movement.<\/span><\/p>\n