Danças afro-brasileiras em cena: identidades corporais negras entre componentes de um grupo afro em Teresina/PI

Abstract

Afro-Brazilian Dance is a powerful symbolic system that engenders black identities often rejected and minimized by racism. In this perspective, considering black bodies, I recognize their capacity as generators of identity through bodily practices, such as dance. Thus, this work proposes a reflection on identity, body, and Afro-Brazilian dances through the processes of construction of Afro-descendant identities of participants in an Afro group from Teresina/Piauí. The central question of this work is: what do participants in an Afro group from Teresina/PI elaborate on the construction of their identities from the practice of scenic Afro-Brazilian dances? It aims to understand, through the narratives of Afro-Brazilian dance practitioners from Teresina/PI, meanings of corporeality and black identity, constructed from elements of scenic Afro-Brazilian dances. As a research phenomenon, I grasp the identities of black bodies that dance. These bodies are located in the context of organizations commonly known as "Afro groups": organizations that work with Afro-Brazilian art and culture, which provide important training grounds for the construction of a critique of the racist system that permeates our societies. Methodologically, I used Oral History and the analysis of pictorial materials, such as photographs, drawings, and digital arts, considering these methods as key points for the analysis of accessed information. I worked with the perspective of the braid as a form of interpretation of individual and collective performative experiences, a metaphorical, subjective, and personal dimension through which, I believe, I can better approach the understanding of the flow of meanings granted to the investigated experiences. By using the symbolism of the braid, I bring that the trajectory of this research is based on an Afro-referenced conception, in which the signs and symbols of African and Afro-diasporic cultures make sense and should be considered in the act of researching our knowledge and practices. To feed this braid, I contextualize body, identity, and scenic Afro-Brazilian dance using theorists such as Santos (2021), Passos (2022), Sabino and Lody (2013), Martins (1995; 2003; 2021), Tavares (2012), among others. Interviews were conducted with three members of an Afro group working with Afro-Brazilian dance in Teresina/PI, with a specific focus on the study of scenic Afro-Brazilian dances, inspired by African religious and cultural traditions and the black diaspora in Brazil. In this braid, participants elaborate a construction of their identities from the practice of scenic Afro- Brazilian dances that is based on a sense of Afro belonging. The research progressed in the understanding that, supported by the narratives and gestures of the research collaborators, scenic Afro-Brazilian dance is a fundamental device for the preservation of subjectivities and understandings about the multiple possibilities of the black body being inscribed in the world. Thus, we experience the emergence of dancing our dances and telling our stories, deepening the understanding of an anatomy and gestuality that does not disregard the relationships with nature. In this journey, the importance and necessity of building and reinforcing senses of belonging and Afrodescendant cultural identities, as well as an anti-racist critical consciousness, were highlighted