Do unlim- l, 196!

:The Diligent Student

iCARLET AND BLACK

 

} Letters
(Cont’d. tom Page 4)

lancers are measured or are
they each culturally deter-
mined? And has it ever oo-
cuned to him that these Afri-
can dancers are not aiming for
the snappy. almost artificial
precision and coordination
characterized by popularized
American modem dancers such
as the June Taylor Dancers,
the Rockettes, etc? The Atria
can dances are more spontane-
nus and oriented toward indi-
vidual or group expressiveness
and entire involvement. They
aren’t “choreographed" in the
American sense of the word.

I choked at Mr. Rothman's
hidlcrous comparison of these
dancers with the Brotherhood
cheerleaders. Get it straight.
Iweetheart, that we Black
Americans are descendants of
Africans, not vice-versa, alld
although we Blacks have re-
tained general modes of kinesic
behavior from Africans, they
are expressed lll different ways
(different types of dancing),
For example, American Black
d a n c e is basically social,
whereas authentic A l ri c a n
dance is basically social, ritual-
istic, and communicative. So
how can Mr. Rothman compare
them? Most young Blacks re-
vere African dancing to the ex-
tent that a black who can do
African dances is highly re-
spected for his skill and agility.
Also, African music is becom-
ing even more a source of in-
spiration for Black jazz, blues,
and rhythm and blues musi-
eians.

With respect to their alleged
obsequiousness, how can Mr.
Rothman compare them with
descendants of slaves who are
oppressed economically, social-
ly, politically and hitherto spir-
itually by a white majority?
In West Africa, remember,
Blacks are a majority, and the
rulers. They aren't former
llaves who’ve been "brain~
washed” and left to wrestle
with and overcome a selfrde-
basing slave mentality. There-
fore, the phrase, “Uncle Tom"
is inapplicable to them.

There are so many state-
ments in Mr. Rothman's article
that show his ignorance about
Black culture, American or Af-

rican, that it is useless for me
to continue my criticism. But
I find it amusing that Mr. Roth-
man, a part of the sterile, ra—
tlonal, emotionally detached.
scientific “white" American
culture can accuse African
dancers, the masters of “body
celebrationists” (see Urban
Blues), of halt-heartedness, and
of simple choreography. In
other words, Mr. Rothman,
make sure you shed your own
cultural bias before you at-
tempt to evaluate the artifact
of another culture,
sherrl DesChamps

President, Intercultural House

Bids Dancer Critic
Take Anthro Lesson

To the Editor:

I trust 1 am not the only one
who, after seeing Les Danseurs
Africains weekend before last
in Roberts Theatre, was as-
tounded by the approach and
tone of Mr. Rothman’s review
of the performance in the No-
vember 29th issue of The Scar-
let and Black, Normally 1 con.
sider critical reviews of an art
form to be only matters of
opinion and hardly worth de-
bate. Art for me is an individ-
ual experience; the same work,
be it drama, music or litera-
ture, can evoke different
thoughts from different people.
Some people have their
thoughts dignified by appearing
in print, 1 let it go at that.
However, the review was in a
profound sense so unusual that
other past precedents must be
set aside also, and I am re-
sponding to its

We are at a liberal arts in-
stitution. This gives us license
to exchange our lessons. I
would like Mr. Rothman to take
an obviously much-needed les-
son frcm anthropology. One of
the basic tenets of this wide-
ranging discipline is that of
“cultural relativism." It states
that a person’s behavior and
thought are to a very great ex-
tent a product of his cultural
environment. His attitudes, be-
llefs, mannerisms and ways of
life are prescribed for him by
his culture. The process is
called "enculturation." It. is
wrong, therefore, for a person
of one cultural heritage to criti-

cize the culturally conditioned
behavior of a “foreigner” -— it
smacks of ethnocentrism. Mr.
Rothman was not being cultur-
ally relativistic. He was judg-
ing ceremonial performances
of an African people by stand-
ards he apparently picked up
from Broadway critics. He de-
scribes the music as "lifeless,"
the choreography as “trite,”
the heats as “primitive," the
bare-breast performance as
"salacious exploitation of tie
sires” H this is utterly fantas-
ticl it really is. My first re
action was a laugh of incredul-
lty, then a snort of incredulity,
then a realization that the critic
was serious and desperately in
need of some criticism himself.

Related to his lack of cul-
tural relativity was Mr. Roth-
man's placement of all blacks
in the same cultural bag. He
failed to distinguish between
the meaning of black American
and black African. 1 accuse
him of this because of his ref-
erence to the “Uncle Tom dis-
position" of the ensemble. Mr.
Rothman failed to realize that
the same action performed by
a black American and a black
African wniild very probably
have different meanings and
implications. The behavior of
a black American which might
be construed as Tomvism is not
necessarily Tomrism when done
by a black African.

1 could go on but my points
would begin to sound the same,
due, i suspect, to the fact that
all the shortcomings of the re—
view were manitestatlons of the
same basic fault: a lack of un—
derstanding of the term “cul-
ture.” I wish Mr. Rothman well
in his further critical evalua-
tions of campus events, but
suggest that either he stick to
American productions or read

gy before he

ze foreign per-
formances.

Jon Andelson

Danseurs Africuins

Called Obsequious
To the Editor:

Though harsh in his or cism,
your critic was correct in de«
nnurlcing the “obsequiousness”
of the dancers in doubting their
laudibility in comparison with

Page Five

Orchestra Concert 'Uneven'

By MELISSA HAYS

Paul Zonn, conductor of the Grinnell College Orchestra, de-
manded more of his players last Saturday night than they were
able to handle — for the program included Bartuk’s Viola Con<
eerie and Brahm's Second Symphony.

The concert started with a sonatine by Devienne. The playing
of this piece for strings alone was, for the most part, merely
pleasant — the violins’ tone was sometimes harsh, while the
cellos were unnecessarily restrained.

Many concertrgoers may have wondered about the selection
of the Devienne composition. This rather innocuous piece was
neither difficult to perform nor to understand. Perhaps the lack
of technical problems made this a desirable piece to have on an
otherwise strenuous program. Although there were no memorable
moments of excitement in this number, there were enough thrills
in the remainder of the concert to compensate for this blandness.
And certainly Zonn cannot be accused of selecting old watcherses
for performance. The opportunity to hear or to play the compo-
sitions of obscure composers belongs almost exclusively to college
orchestras and their audiences.

The Bartok Viola Concerto is n difficult piece for both soloist
and orchestra. The viollst, Paul Hersh, played his part flawlessly,
and the orchestra had its good moments. At times, however, the
lack of unity in the orchestra drew attention away from the

soloist (particularly in the allegro when the winds consistently
lagged behind). Although the entrances of various sections ot
the orchestra were sometimes careless and haphazard, at the
moments when the dramatic tension was the highest, their attacks
were clean and precise. In much of the concerto many of the
sections of the orchestra have parts distinct from each other in
rhythm and general character, each of which must be brought
out, but not to the point where one overpowers another. That
these parts were somewhat muddled cannot be strongly con-
demned, for achieving the periect balance would be difficult even
for a professional orchestra. Overlooking occasional and expected
sour notes, the Small 5010 parts assigned to individual wind
players were played sensitively, picking up the tone and mood
established by the viola soloist,

I had expected the Brahms to be the weakest number on the
program, for not only is it a difficult piece of music, but there
was no brilliant soloist to give it interest. I was pleasantly sur-
prised, then, that the symphony was the best performed number
of the concert. The tone of the strings was better than it had
been previously, and almost made up for the sometimes stumbling
brass section. in the first movement, an attempt was made to
create a hushed, expectant mood, but the result was rather thin
and lifeless. The second movement was stronger, however, and
the cellos, which throughout the concert seemed to be the most
uniiied section, reached their highest intensity in this movement.
The sprightly parts of the third movement were played With
just the right amount of vigor, and the contrasting, more solemn
parts were played with as much sensitivity. The final movement
was an energetic close to a sometimes uneven performance.

 

hours a hall is permitted to be
open, when or. Leggett has al~
ready conceded that the hall
may be open all of these hours?

other professional African
dance groups. The dancers
were exciting in that they
showed an interesting aspect of

African cultural life —— prob-
ably very typical of Mali
dancers. Yet the advertise-
ments gave the impression that
Les Danseurs Airicairls would
be something more than typi-
cal. The performance. in my
opinion, was no more than typi-
cal and, therefore, should not
be commended as more.

(Name withheld)

Leggett Proposal
Termed Contradictory

To the Editor:

One of the several points both»
ering me about President Leg-
gett’s statement on dormitory
regulations is the limit placed
on the number of hours of opens
per week. I fully agree with
Dr. Leggett on the need for a
specified and consistent period
of time in which the hallways of
a dorm are to be closed to mem—
bers of the opposite sex (the
rooms themselves are another
question altogether), but why
then restrict the number of

He seems to be contradicting
himself—he is saying that the
hall is permitted to be open be-
tween 8 am. and 12 midnight
on weekdays, and 3 am. and 2
am. on weekends, yet he limits
the number of hours Within that
period. He is arbitrarily limit-
ing the hours for a hall after
allowing them to be open in the
first place! Why not place a
limit on the amount of time
the hall is allowed to be
opened (which he already has)
and then allow the hall to de-
termine how much it will be
open within that open period?
What sense is there in open-
ing the dorms for either
16 or 18 hours. and then clos.ng
them again by allowing only 12
hours of opens a day? Why al-
low only 34 hours of opens? lea
the halls the option to be open
all the time not specifically
closed by Dr. Leggett. Be con-
sistent, Dr. Leggett.
J-C Lahowitz

(All letters must be signed.
Name: withheld by request.)

 

