| Session 10 | Global Perspective |
| Kadidia V. Doumbia | Globalization and Dance in West Africa |
| Dance in most African countries, more so in the western part of the continent is the responsibility of a particular class of the society. The main issue for performers or choreographers trained on modern standards is the transfer of information to dance professionals who are illiterate, and we’re talking about 75% of non educated people on the continent. The majority are women. It is an oral tradition too. So diversity, globalization, feminism mean nothing to them. The socio-political situation of the entire continent is a good example of the consequences of the colonization that, besides being a historical big mistake, was also a disaster because it did not respect the structure of societies, and today’s globalization of the world draws the continent down because it cannot consider its specific needs. To me, dance cannot be globalized because of creativity, identity, social specific values that would die. | |
| Hwan Jung Jae | The Cultural body and The Politics of Difference: How Korean Dance is Commodified in the Politics of Tourism |
| In tourism, dance is popularly used as a medium that attracts outsiders’ attention and curiosity. One of the most prevalent images in Korean tourist advertisements and films is a female dancer in a colorful costume, welcoming foreigner tourists with a big smile. In this paper, through the critical analysis of the stereotypes and gender differences in dance depicted in Korean tourism commercials and shows, I examine how Korean dance has been commodified in the politics of tourism. Also I explore how tourism constitutes a “fantasy” of a culture in correspondence with Korea’s globalization and localization process, whether in the presence or the absence of actualities. | |
| Kadidia Viviane Doumbia was born in Paris (France) in 1961. She obtained the Medal of Honor at the World Dance Training in Paris in 1979. She studied with Maida Withers and Nancy Johnson at the George Washington University Dance department in Washington DC, and graduated in 1985 from Regents College (now Excelsior College) in Albany with a BS degree. Back in the Ivory Coast (West Africa), Ms. Doumbia opened a dance school and also contributed to the organization of the Dance department of the National Institute of Arts in the city capital of Abidjan. She worked and studied with Lori Belilove of the Isadora Duncan Dance Foundation in New York city, and she founded the SAKOLOLAI Dance Company. She is trained in Baroque Dance and the Feuillet Movement Notation System, and she is also received training in the Benesh Movement Notation System at the Royal Academy of Dance in London, England. Ms. Doumbia worked as the choreographer of the National Ballet of Mali for two years ( 2004-2006) and gave a dance workshop at the new Conservatory of Arts in Bamako in 2006 ( Mali). She moved her dance Company from Abidjan in the Ivory Coast to Bamako in Mali and participated to several dance festivals such as the “Festival Dense Bamako Danse 2006”. Ms. Doumbia is a member of the International Dance Council CID-UNESCO and member of the Executive Committee of the CID and is currently working on a Master Degree program in Education and on the Labanotation certification. | |
| Hwan Jung Jae is currently a PhD student at Temple University and received the doctor of philosophy scholarly achievement award in 2006. Ms.Jae has had five books published in Korea such as Choi Seung-Hee, An Elusive Muse of Chosun (2005) and Mr. Layman Goes to a Dance Performance (2004). She holds the MA and the BA in Dance from Ewha Womans University. | |
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