ARTS FEATURE
BRING BACK THE RING SHOUT
Tamara Williams pays homage to the enslaved with upcoming dance showcase
Pg. 10 NOV 18 - DEC 1, 2020 - QCNERVE.COM
BY LEA BEKELE
Williams has professional experience with dozens of styles of dance that span an array of cultures, all of which have ties to the African diaspora. For the Fall 2020 Virtual Dance Concert, Tamara Williams chose to shed light on the Ring Shout style in the pre-recorded piece, which she titled “Remembrance” in memory of the enslaved and descendants of the enslaved who once utilized and inhabited these spaces. The film aims to take the viewer on a journey of different locations through movement, song, nature and rhythm. In an effort to preserve the original movements and gestures of the tradition, Williams made it her goal to reconstruct the earliest records of Ring Shout dancing and teach them to her students.
The Ring Shout traditions originated in communities of enslaved people throughout the South, including the Carolinas, that practiced the dance almost exclusively as a religious experience in which worshipers moved in a circle while shuffling and stomping their feet and clapping. As an homage to the past, part of the “Remembrance” dance was filmed outside of the Siloam School, a 1920s school for Black children in Charlotte built in the same vein as Rosenwald Schools of the early 20th century. Another part of the performance takes place at Mecklenburg County’s last standing slave cabin. The third piece of the performance takes place on the banks of the Catawba River, symbolic of the coastlines where Ring Shout dancing was most popular.
Any other year, UNC Charlotte assistant professor of dance Tamara Williams would be training her students, readying them to leave it all on the stage during the upcoming annual fall dance showcase, a live performance that acts as the culmination of what the class has learned throughout the semester. But 2020 isn’t any other year. In fact, this year Williams is utilizing three stages unlike any the showcase has seen before. Oh, and there is no live performance, no audience, and most of the work is already done. When Williams and the Dance department began planning for the showcase, A RING SHOUT DANCE DURING ‘REMEMBERING CYCLES’ AT UNC CHARLOTTE’S 2017 FALL DANCE CONCERT. they had to keep COVID-19 PHOTO BY JEFF CRAVOTTA restrictions in mind, as we’ve all learned that you can’t make any assumptions Williams’ desire to film in these locations came about whether the virus will let up. The department from a prior trip to Charleston, where she visited decided to broadcast this year’s performances live Dance of the diaspora The African diaspora describes what came of the multiple plantations and performed alongside on Zoom so the audience can watch safely from their mass transportation and subsequent enslavement dancers in that community. She was inspired by homes. their movements, which she says brought a whole While all but one of the performances will of the African peoples during the Transatlantic different element to the dance. Each choreographed be carried out live on stage for the virtual event, Slave Trade. The diaspora consists of descendants of piece was a love letter to the people that were there Williams decided to do things differently, partnering millions of people taken from western and central before them — those who may be gone but have with Charlotte filmmaker Marlon Morrison and five Africa and dispersed to different regions including not been forgotten, she says. of her dance students to create a documentary- the Americas and the Caribbean over the span of Throughout the rehearsal process, Williams style video showcasing their performance of the three centuries. asked her students to do research before they Modern-day Black people of the same ancestral traditional Ring Shout dance, first practiced by started the choreography of the piece. Each student African people enslaved in the West Indies and background have no way of knowing the details of was encouraged to look into their genealogical United States. The class filmed its performances their relation due to that separation. The African diaspora remains as relevant as background and create movement in honor of their on the banks of the Catawba River, in front of the ancestors. historic Siloam School, and at the only remaining ever today, as Black people around the world seek a The elements of the video play a part in the connection to their lineage. slave dwelling in Mecklenburg County.
overall meaning; earth, water, fire and air signify the connections the dance has with the afterlife. The group dancing in the water represents the act of rebirth and what Williams describes as the cleansing of communion. Earth is represented in the form of plants, which are used throughout the African diaspora for their medicinal purposes. “Remembrance” features movements that represent the gathering of herbs. Though there is no physical representation of wind and fire in the film, both are also intertwined with the choreography through themes of transformation and determination that Williams weaved throughout the piece, she says.
Movements through the dance community
Williams started dancing when she was a child in Augusta, Georgia, first at Davidson Fine Arts, where she trained in West African dances, ballet, tap and jazz. That was her jumping-off point into the dance community. As a teen, two of her teachers encouraged her to study dance in undergrad, inspiring her decision to audition for the Florida State University dance program. Williams spent the next four years in Tallahassee dancing at Florida State, where she eventually earned her BFA. She went straight into touring with Millicent Johnnie, owner of Millicent and Company, which afforded her the opportunity to dance for audiences across Florida, her home state of Georgia and parts of Texas. From there, Williams went to New York where she stayed in the city for 15 years. She danced professionally with Urban Bush Women and Alpha Omega and fine-tuned her understanding of West African dances. “I started really getting interested in dancing movements that were inspired by African diaspora culture,” shares Williams. Williams met Rosangela Silvestre who taught her the Silvestre Dance Technique, which originated in Brazil. Silvestre defines the practice as “a continuously evolving contemporary dance technique with the objective of conditioning the dancer through physical and expressive training regardless of level or previous experience.” Williams traveled to Brazil for Silvestre’s dance intensive and eventually gained the choreographer’s blessing to teach others the technique. It was then that Williams began traveling the world as a Silvestre instructor, until she started her own dance company called Moving Spirits, Inc. in 2011. “The dance company is really dedicated to
