Projecting The Folklore

 

Projecting the Folklore to keep Traditional Dances' Heritage in Modern Times 

By Paola Diaz Uribe | Creative of Artist Souls Paola Diaz

Traditional dances, all around the world, allow us to remember the origin and the life of our ancestors who inhabited our homeland before us. They reflect the history, the “feelings”, the identity of a region, country or continent which are transmitted through generations to keep the knowledge through time. The traditional dances together with their typical costumes, sounds, musical instruments reflect the respective culture and show to others the way we are originally shaped.

As times keeps evolving, it is challenging to keep traditional dances alive and interesting to the younger generations. Here using creative resources to maintain it is important. The projection of the folklore is a very useful concept I found for this purpose.

The projection of the folklore is the diffusion of all manifestations of the folkloric arts in a context which is different from where they originated.

By teaching my homeland traditional dances, I promote, expose, sensitise and create awareness in people about the strong bond, a blend of African, Indigenous and European folkloric influence that many other places in the world share with my own land: That blend that brings us together.

As an artist who loves the folklore, its historical, theoretical and practical background, I encouraged myself to project my folklore through my artistic project. This brought me in deep connection to many people and organisations around the globe sharing that artistic and folkloric interest.

 

In my journey, discovering rhythms that bring my dancing passion to the highest feeling, I identified many associations between traditional and modern dances. I learnt to assemble parts of both and bring them into one combined result. I started to blend sounds, rhythms, tempos, lyrics, instruments, into one common choreography music. I was able to incorporate modern concepts yet still reflect a traditional dance performance.

Some children listen to house, reggaeton or hip-hop, and these share similar tempos, beats that can be blended with cumbia or mapalé sounds and instruments. The kids then, find a playful melody making them jump and dance.

Women feel feminine and beautiful wearing a traditional cumbia outfit with subtle off-shoulder tops, flowers in the hair, different outfit colours, fabrics and designs yet keeping the original concept of the long skirt and the top.

My story telling of the origin of the traditional dances is nurturing for the people. With theatre, singing and dancing activities, people travel between the past and the present, allowing them to discover their own feelings and thinking in a fun creative way, helping them to explain their own heritage and to embrace and connect it to others around them.

The projection of the folklore makes us see beyond our own perception to find the similarities connecting us with other cultures worldwide. We become aware of the immense blend we all share and that goes beyond our dances but in our own blood and genes. We start to see each other in a “mirror” effect way, the same in one another.

By keeping traditional dances alive, we realise that we all share a diverse origin, past and struggle with differences along the way. Our stories can be told in many ways, helping us to define our future, ideally making us more flexible, understanding, compassionate, emphatic and united.

Do you share African, Indigenous and/or European roots' heritage in your traditional dances? I encourage YOU to discover it!

Paola Díaz Uribe is from Colombia and has been a humanitarian worker in the Middle-East and African continent for the last ten years. She lives in South Africa. Paola is microbiologist with Masters in public health. She is also a choreographer, dance teacher of Kizomba Soul Secrets^© method and traditional Latin-American dances, Spanish tutor and artist team member for Less Is More Foundation. She strengthened her self-confidence and empowerment through the arts while appreciating different cultures and societies. She believes in a common space of non-judgment, positive thinking and wellness and the possibility to become change-makers through heritage and cultural exchange of the arts.