Belfast Festival

I've commented before that Belfast is festival mad--not realizing that the big daddy of them all was yet to come. The Belfast Festival is on now and the 84-page guide of concerts, plays, exhibits is breath-taking in its scope.

This weekend we didn't go to Sharon Jones and the Dap Kings but we DID go to see an incredible troupe of African American dancers, the Camille A. Brown dancers. The work was focused on black stereotypes that have dominated media, from minstrel shows to gangsta rap. It also made clear how exhausting it is to wear masks to get by in white-dominated society.

The performance lasted an hour and, afterward, the eight performers sat on stage and engaged the viewers in a fascinating discussion, the likes of which I've never been a part of.

One example: a young girl, maybe 13, said when she sees a black person on the street, she says "What's up, nigga?" She asked if that's OK? Dancer Mora-Amina Parker asked her what the word nigga means to her? Then Mora-Amina said she uses it to criticize other blacks. If she calls someone a nigga, it's because that person discredits or demeans black people. The pianist added that the term is very prevalent in black music, so it isn't a surprise it gets used in different contexts, but he also said it isn't a good idea for a white person to use to address a black person they don't know.

I had so many reactions to the show that I'm still sorting them out. I'm trying to write what I felt and plan to send it to Camille. The dancers are sincerely interested in what people see in their work, so I want to try to deliver. The work is fairly abstract, so it is open to interpretation.
10-25