Educational Review Video-

This is a review of lecture I gave to my dance history class on modern dance: It is the third in a series on American modernism—The Black American Contribution to American Modern Dance.

Just like modernism was an artistic concept that was explored, informed, and shaped by artists beyond dance and other visual and performing arts as they found a voice… finding a powerful narrative that spoke truth about one’s story was also a goal for Americans who were notof the European Diaspora but rather of the African Diaspora. These Black Americans knew they had to use and develop their own voice.

Fig 74  – Symbol for Virtuosic Speed in What Makes That Black? – Stephen Curry—Golden State Warriors vs. Washington Wizards. Feb 3 2016. https://www.flickr.com/photos/keithallison/24689492152. Photo by Keith Allison.

What Makes That Black? The African American Aesthetic in American Expressive Culture received 4.5 stars. Reviewed by Whitney Smyth

What Makes That Black?: The African American Aesthetic in American Expressive Culture is an ambitious and remarkably accessible work. Luana admits early on that, “Philosophically this was not an easy task; I repeatedly questioned the validity of using narrative (my personal story and the experiences in the Aesthetic) within a critical literary tradition.” It turns out that her decision to write this book imbedded in her own personal experiences brought a level of life and connection to the book that a more clinical or academic tone may not have been able to convey. The book functions as part history course – with a focus on African American influences in dance, music, art, and literature – and part biography or personal journey. This is both a personal and academic examination of the degree to which American culture and society has been influenced by African American people and history, and emphasizes how much of this rich information has been ignored and brushed over by our choices in how history is taught and represented in American education systems.

“[t]he goal of this writing is to highlight a pattern in the cultural formation of the United States and to momentarily tease apart or extract the motifs, themes, context, function, and substructure via the tools of vernacularism, giving them history the pedigree, much like seeing and understanding the myriad shades of blue that contribute to the color purple. However, my intention is not to permanently separate the African American Aesthetic from the mainstream nor within itself. And I am not attempting to box-in the definition of Blackness or inanely apply my findings to all matters of our complex humanity. That would only diminish Blackness, defeat my purpose, and exacerbate the already too-Cartesian approach to the scholarly canon, where examination is limited to a structuralism in analysis.”

This nearly 400-page book is nowhere near as dense to read as the page count may first imply. It is broken into six sections, which are further broken up into shorter and more manageable chunks. The book contains a plethora of gorgeous black and white images featuring African American celebrities and popular works. The book contains 431 endnotes and a comprehensive bibliography for those interested in further reading or research of their own. This is the kind of book that is best enjoyed in short bursts as it inspires deeper thinking and is highly recommended for people of all racial and ethnical backgrounds. What Makes That Black? is a well-sourced book that is informative, endlessly quotable, and well worth the time it takes to read.

I’m excited to share the latest review of my book, What Makes That Black? The African American Aesthetic in American Expressive Culture:                           

Reviewed by Danielle McManus

What Makes That Black? is an erudite, deep-thinking personal discussion of how African American history and experience shapes both art and its lived experience. Author Luana breaks down the elements of African-American art in finest-grain detail to form a theory of the African-American aesthetic. The book is a hybrid of both the academic and personal style, an unusual and effective form, something like Gloria Anzaldua’s Borderlands/La Frontera. It’s approachable for both academic and casual readers, though its code-switching is also what will make the book delightfully strange to both audiences—which is the point. Luana, as she details in the book, is trying to push back the layer of Western ideas that covers, and very frequently masks, the influences of African-American art and culture to broader “American” culture. Luana demonstrates how Western art and academics have alienated the personal African-American experience such that when the two are intermingled, it appears strange to us.

Thus, What Makes That Black? is interested in answering its own titular question, yes; but it’s also interested in subverting your expectations of what that answer will be and how it will be presented to you. The book approaches its central question cautiously, aware that African-American identity is multifaceted and amorphous. Rather than attempt to conceive a top-down, all-encompassing definition, Luana works to examine the many fine-grained elements of history, culture, expression, art, movement, philosophy, and experience that compose a black aesthetic. And fine-grained it is. The book reflects upon years of research, and, though the book is not the first to address the question of what defines African-American identity or an African-American aesthetic, she makes clear that this inquiry is her inquiry—a deeply personal attempt to dig beneath the Euro-centric traditions that have informed Western beliefs about art and academic inquiry. However, one question emerged immediately and seemed to remain unanswered: how is the book using the term “black” versus “African-American?” Because “African-American” is a moniker that excludes black people from other areas, like the Caribbean or South America. The book seemed to use the terms interchangeably, which would be problematic.

Ultimately, in working toward a definition of the black aesthetic, the book distinguishes itself both in its detailed and uniquely personal contours. Author Luana has allowed us to come along on the journey, rather than conceived a definition oriented around our—the audience’s—expectations.

As a professor of dance and scholar in African American Aesthetics I teach a course called “The Black Tradition in American Dance.” It examines the use of the African American dance aesthetic by performers, dancers, choreographers, historians, and dance theorists, from the 19th century through 21st century.

During the first weeks of the course I give a two-hour lecture specifically defining the African-American aesthetic. This video is an abbreviated version of the longer lecture. In the video I touch on five key points:

1) The need for scholarship in Black aesthetics. Other scholars working in the field.

2) The operating definition of Blackness, aesthetics and slippage for the 18-week course.

3) Introduce the elements of the African-American aesthetic and presentation of the aesthetic as a concept that is comprised of elemental parts that are interconnected and interdependent.

4) Deeper delineation of the African American Aesthetic tenets as a structure, function, and psychology manifesting in various arts.

5) Address the uniqueness, prevalence, and commonality of these tenets. Also, how the African American Aesthetic became part of the American Aesthetic.

Using the African-American aesthetic, artists in every field created and contributed to the idioms of modern, jazz, ballet, street vernacular and traditional African based dance forms in the United States. The course is fun to teach because it inspires great conversations.

Below are the Links to The Videos

Opening Up American Art—The African American Aesthetic Part 1

Opening Up American Art—The African American Aesthetic Part 2

Expand Your View of Culture in America

 See Books for More Details and Book Trailer

Available at Amazon and Ingram Spark (Booksellers)

The more I encounter chocolate’s darkness the more I synchronize with it, opening myself in hedonistic moments of quietude as I allow it to liquefy with the natural heat of my body. Artisan chocolate shares the aroma palate of fine wine and boutique coffee, where cherry wanders the perimeter of my tongue and smoky-leather aerates my mid-palate and nose. If the texture is right I can feel its brown silk quiet me into blackness of stark awareness … awakening dreams unfulfilled yet possible.

A few times I have successfully made my own raw 77% cacao truffles, its fresh darkness quickly dosing my senses like an unclothed dancer in black pointe shoes moving to Bobby McFerrin’s Spain. Chocolate firmly has me in its clutches, its grasp more sophisticated, and expensive over the years. As a matter of course I never admit how much I pay for good chocolate, it’s disgusting really … I’ll just say I have come a long way from my childhood where I paid twenty-five cents for a Butterfinger candy bar at Andy’s Corner store in North Minneapolis.

Trickster and guardian of the crossroads. Papa Legba (collage copyright 2010 Denise Alvarado)

It is my personal opinion that chocolate is sentient and knows exactly what it is doing. It is a Trickster. It can be sweet, bitter, salty, simulate Zen bliss or brutally attack. But more alluring is its three-dimensional sensation – it stimulates other tangential awareness’–that is its true power. That is the power of the Trickster. I once stated my belief of chocolate’s trickster nature, the ability to open distant portals with a local key, to an acquaintance, and she said, “What do you mean?”

“Did you see the movie from Mexico based on the Esquivel novel,  Like Water for Chocolate?” I curiously asked. “Yes, but I didn’t understand it, especially the scene when everyone stated to cry and vomit after eating a cake.” I just looked at her. With her answer I thought two things, this woman could never be my “very best friend”, and two, it’s not her fault she didn’t understand.

In the United States of European-America, there is no residence for sentiency other than the human brain and God. As an African American I was raised differently, I grew up with energies, dynamic forces that could be called upon if needed and would bring gifts of information or opportunity. Or, at their discretion, these forces could descend into a situation bringing absolute mayhem – it’s really up to the Tricksters.

Now that I am older I can feel the Trickster enter the room. Not consciously, but deep in the grist of my soul I know some aspect of my countenance will be deconstructed. The flesh of my torso filleted on the floor, my heart visibly pumping, as the wolves of my life circle me, drooling at the fresh meat. There, in all my grand ineptitude, I publically lay in psychological shreds or in surrendered hilarity. This act of the Trickster/god will likely not occur privately in the depths of my Buddhist meditations. Discretion is not one of the qualities of the Trickster.

I have had many trickster teachers; most were not as gentle as chocolate. One thing for sure, best to have a sense of humor when you meet the Trickster on the road. While being evaluated by a peer, I have had a student in my classroom thrust the very inane and challenging bullshit at me I had insensitively thrust at my own teachers in my youth. I have tripped and fallen at formal, bordering pretentious, events with NO apparent cause. However, one of the strangers who eventually helped me to my feet became a key mentor in my career. If I had focused on my ego and it’s embarrassment I would not have paid attention to the person who helped me to my feet – tangential awareness – and I would have missed a great journey.

Like chocolate the trickster can serve the superlative in each human, or itself.