Saturday, March 12, 2011

Gumboot Juba

During the month of March, 2011 the Mink Building, an old storage facility located on Amsterdam Avenue and 126th Street, was the site for an interactive window and live art installation. Dianne Smith, an accomplished Harlem artist has been selected to create the window installation.

The West Harlem Art Fund has over the past thirteen years, spotlighted the history and beauty of this rich community by producing innovative works, utilizing new technology and weaving great stories.

Installation art can be very site-specific with three-dimensional works that are designed to transform the perceptions of a space. Live installations take this to the next level, involving members of the public and bringing art to public spaces. The installation can be either temporary or permanent, and in either public or private spaces. This genre incorporates a broad range of ideas and concepts, often resulting in evocative themes.

For this particular installation, that began

March 1st, The West Harlem Art Fund decided to reflect inward and deep to an African tradition that has universal appeal – dance.

The installation Gumboot Juba pays homage to Tap, Gumboot, and Step Dancing. Juba, Pattin' Juba, Handbone or Guiba is the name of the dance (West African influence) that Black slaves did in order to communicate with each other on Southern plantations, in the Caribbean and Dutch Guiana. Juba’s later popularity in musical performances and minstrel, indirectly birth American Tap dance in the United States.

South African miners suffering harsh working conditions also came up with a rhythmic way to communicate using hand slapping and body movements. While wearing Wellington Boots or Welly Boots, this dance took the place of drums, a traditional form of communicating in Africa. In our contemporary culture, these movements can also be seen in Step Dancing, a line dance done by African American and now Latino Greek fraternal organizations.

Gumboot Juba will comprise of multiple screens with images and videos of the Juba dance and its many variations. Dianne Smith will also create sculptures made from repurposed materials with a Zulu, Yoruba and African American Aesthetic. The following day at 12 p.m., a Live Art installation will take place where the participants are the installation. They will learn and rehearse the South African Gumboot dance in a routine with an experienced dancer/choreographer. Participants will then change and perform the work while being videotaped for an online viewing.

Dianne Smith was born and raised in the South Bronx and is of Belizean descent. She began her career as a visual artist after living and working in Europe as a model. In 2005 she was invited to be a teaching artist in aesthetic education for the Lincoln Center Institute. She has exhibited in New York, Florida, Arkansas, California, North Carolina, and Philadelphia.
Since 2001, Dianne’s career has been punctuated by national exhibitions (collective and individual) and residencies. Her work has been represented by Gale Martin and UFA Galleries in Chelsea, New York. Her work can also be found in the private collections of Danny Simmons, Dr. Maya Angelou, Cicely Tyson, Terry McMillian, Vivica A. Fox and Rev. and Mrs. Calvin O. Butts, III. Dianne Smith compels us to engage our senses to redefine purpose. Her art installations incite new curiosities in known landscapes, through the use of materials, colors, and shapes that rebirths, remixes and repurposes the elemental aesthetic components of communities and the lives it inhabits.