Danças africanas: trajetórias e linguagens das danças mandingas em Florianópolis

Abstract

This work, titled “African dances: trajectories and languages of Mandèn dances in Florianópolis”, is the result of nearly three decades of engagement and practice in Afro-based dances in Florianópolis, Santa Catarina. The investigation initially focuses Afro-Brazilian or Afro-diasporic dances introduced by teachers and dancers of such dances as a field of research and exploration in artistic dance. However, as a central subject of this work, African-rooted dances are addressed, especially following the introduction of Mandèn dances in Florianópolis in 2003 as a means of construction of artistic language and of formation of afro-Mandèn dancers who, motivated by these practices, end up encompassing values beyond the dance itself, fostering Afro-referenced knowledge and African cultural awareness. Thus, this study presents significant insights into these practices as processes of teaching and learning. It also reflects on this trajectory of Mandèn dances from the perspective of the author's experiences alongside the Abayomi Collective in Florianópolis in the form of a documentary and of mini biographies of Mandèn artists and masters, which are taken as references of the Mandèn culture, including their speeches about the Mandèn culture and their teaching processes. This work includes two written productions, which are articles that were published in the Annals of the National Association of Dance Researchers. An artistic production is also included, consisting of a video documentary titled “Routes, crosses and means of learning: a documentary about the Mandèn dances in the Brazilian context”, besides a technical-technological production in the form of an educational notebook titled “Solfege and rhythmic musicianship for dancers: afro-Mandèn references”, which is a demonstration of the solfege of three Mandèn rhythms followed by its respective dances.