Note from BW of Brazil: First became aware of this group, Grupo Cultural Balé das Iyabas, from their appearance in the recent celebration of the global black woman, Festival Latinidades, that ended on Monday in the nation’s capital city of Brasília. Two of the women were featured in a televised report on the festival (see video and report here) and according to their Facebook page, “the group came about in February of 2012 from the union of three feminine forces: Ana Flávia Vieira, Ludmilla Almeida e Sinara Rúbia em fevereiro de 2012.” It’s always incredible to see how the spirit of Africa provides a common bond for people throughout the Diaspora. And judging from the description of one of their workshops, we look forward to seeing more from these young ladies. Below, is a description of that workshop from last December taken from the Sinara Rúbia’s blog.
This Saturday, December 7, 2013, the last workshop of the first season of Vivências do Balé (Experiences of Dance) was conducted. A work with the dynamics of interaction between Yoruba myths referring to Iyabás – feminine orixás (orishas) worshiped in Brazil – and its similarities with everyday actions, proposing to analyze political, social and cultural aspects of women in our day-to-day. Among dialogues, exchanges and experiences, we also brought to the body, a possible interpretation of the mythological gesture of Iyabás, understanding how it establishes the manifestation of these orixás on earth, through dance.
From the five themes: A criação do mundo (Creation of the World), A criação da humanidade (The Creation of Humanity), Ser mulher (Being a Woman), Maternidade (Motherhood) and Sexualidade (Sexuality) and As Mulheres na Morte (Women in Death), the activity was developed in order to reflect and dialogue about the role of women in view of their struggle, progress and daily challenges throughout our historical trajectory. The evaluation of Grupo Cultural Balé das Iyabas group, creators of the project, along with the workshop participants went beyond positive, indicating the need for continuation of this work, since it constituted itself in this period, a space for reflection and debate about feminist issues and gender envisioning the possibility of building a “safe place” as our feminist companion Jelena Djordjevic says, for women to come together to exchange experiences and support, in order to be strengthened to everyday challenges.
Source: Sinara Rúbia
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