Dança afro-brasileira: histórias de danças e narrativas etnográficas sobre a dança afro-alagoana

Abstract

This research identifies and understands how Afro-Brazilian dance was formed in Alagoas from 1980 to the present day. The backdrops are the pioneering work and protagonism of the non-Alagoan choreographer Eduardo Xavier dos Passos and the Alagoan choreographer José Petrúcio Trindade and the foundation of the first Afro-dance group in Alagoas, the Grupo Ekodidé de Dança Afro-Brasileira, which was based on the dance of the orixás performed in the candomblé terreiros of Alagoas. The historical trajectory of Afro-Brazilian dance is based on the experiences of choreographer Mercedes Baptista, who studied the dance of the orixás in candomblé terreiros in Rio de Janeiro in the 1950s. The ethnography of this research is based on a bibliographical survey, interviews, document analysis, participant observation and actual field research. The stories and narratives that make up this research provide a reflection on the importance and valorisation of Afro-Alagoan dance, as well as the choreographers, artists and dancers of this Afro-dance in Alagoas, who are the main narrators, builders and authors of the ethnographic making of these Afro-Alagoan corporealities. The central question that arises and remains throughout the writing is: is there an Afro-Alagoan dance? This dissertation also analyses a pedagogical approach to Afro-Alagoan dance, based on experience reports from Afro-dance workshops held with Diego Bernardes, Mãe Nany and Afoxé Odoyá, as well as the experience report of an introductory Afro-Brazilian dance workshop in Ladeiras-SE, taught by the researcher, in order to understand the methodological formulas and strategies of Afro-Alagoan dance in practice. The reflections and considerations made in this research aim to contribute and provoke anthropologists and artists from Alagoas to observe, research and analyse the making of black arts in the context of the state.