Fist And Heel
The language of movement
by Julie Mitchell
"I tend to hate words, and
I get really frustrated when words become the only functional way to
communicate about my form, which is dance," says Reggie Wilson,
artistic director of Brooklyn's Fist and Heel Performance Group.
A novelist doesn't rely on creating a dance to explain what her book
is about. Similarly, Wilson objects to the public's insistence on rendering
the language of movement into verbal form, an objection that was clear
when he reluctantly spoke with HIJ from a hotel room in Montana while
on tour.
"I think a lot of the work that I do in performance is trying to
communicate something that can only be communicated with movement,"
states Wilson.
"What are the things best communicated by dance … that don't
really translate into words or language but exist within specific cultures
as well as human cultures in general?" he asks. An example: when
enslaved Africans in the Americas were converted to Christianity and
denied drum-playing, it forced them to recreate their spirituality in
other forms. One resulting expression was dismissed by white authorities
as mere "fist and heel worshipping," a practice that helped
keep the displaced Africans' culture - and their spirits - alive.
"Fist and heel is clapping and stomping, shouting and hollerin',"
explains Wilson. "It is a continued manifestation of the rhythm
languages that provoked, appeased, and controlled spirits."
Founded in 1989, the Fist and Heel Performance Group combines contemporary
dance with the spiritual traditions of Africa and the African Diaspora.
Wilson draws on the movement idioms of blues, slave, and worship cultures
to create what he calls "Post-African Neo Hoodoo Modern Dance."
Wilson's most recent full-length work, a one-hour piece performed without
intermission, is "The Tale: Npinpee Nckutchie and the Tail of the
Golden Dek," which premiered in New York City to critical acclaim
in 2006 and has since toured to several states.
This month, Fist and Heel appears for the first time ever in Hawai'i
and debuts this new work at the Kahilu Theatre, Maui Arts and Cultural
Center, and UH-Manoa.
"The Tale" draws on a huge range of influences, from South
African stomping, to American "hand dancing" styles such as
Bopping and the Lindy Hop, to the detached gazes of a Chicago-born line
dance form called Stepping.
"It's an abstract piece, so I don't like putting my own narrative
on it," Wilson explains. "But it's about individuals relating
to each other, and it's also about relationships … how people move
toward each other and away from each other over time."
His performers'own bodies often become musical instruments: voices shouting
and singing, feet stomping, hands clapping, body percussion and aspirated
breath.
"Sometimes we use recorded music, and sometimes we use our own
vocals," says Wilson who, having suffered a knee injury, is one
of four singers in the eight-person troupe. "Some of the songs
are original, but some are songs from our own backgrounds or songs that
I've collected on trips."
From his family home in the Mississippi Delta, Wilson has traveled extensively
throughout the U.S., Africa, Europe, and the Caribbean to teach, to
dance and to research his performances. He received a BESSIE (New York
Dance and Performance Award) for his piece "The Tie-tongue Goat
and The Lightning Bug Who Tried to Put Her Foot Down."
Wilson likes the contradiction of having a title that simultaneously
entices and obscures. "It's definitely getting the audience coming
in thinking, 'I need to be engaged in this, because I can't come in
with a preconceived word notion,'" he says. He "I think movement
- sometimes the word dance can be misleading because it means so many
different things in different contexts - is a ridiculously important
part of human experience."
Fist and Heel Performance Company
April 17, 7 p.m.
Kahilu Theatre, Waimea
TIX: $43 / $48
INFO: 885-6868 or
kahilutheatre.org
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