Alexandra Parker, AFFRAM 337, Group 12

Live Blog #1

During the 2019 Women Who Rock (Un)Conference, guest were welcomed by a center stage decorated with a vast assortment of vibrant inviting colors and pieces of cultural art that reflect diversity within the community.The overall main goal of the Women who Rock project “is to engage scholars, musicians, activist, etc. to learn more about the role of women in popular music and the creation of various culture scenes and social justice movements”. The conference opened with a choreographed dance involving vigorous foot stomping and chants that displayed confidence, projecting a sense of strong female power through the sounds and rhythm. Following the opening dance, the guest were then invited to join a workshop involving a passionate bomba drummers where we were given the opportunity to connect with their community through the inclusion of being welcomed into their dance. The WWR (Un)Conference succeeded in creating an environment that feels inclusive in the sense of building a stronger community.

Live Blog #2

An acknowledgement of diverse and different cultural traditions, dance, and music was heavily present in the theme of the WWR (Un)Conference. There was high energy in the atmosphere coming from the performers and the audience who were filled with enthusiasm as the guests were dancing to traditional Puerto Rican Bomba music. Welcoming everyone to be included in this form of tradition that represents a bigger meaning of culture, rhythm, and confidence, seemed to give everyone a sense of empowerment within themselves. The Women Who Rock organization has seemed to have reached a successful milestone that presents to the public that the power music and dance is not just exclusive to particularly assigned groups, but within the whole community entirely. Creating stronger bonds that gives individuals a true safe haven where they feel like they can belong somewhere and make a significant difference in social justice and movements.         

Everyone is getting down as they learn how Latin-American dance moves. Half of the room is dedicated to learning and performing Latin-American dances while the other half is for mingling. The dancers are practically playing a game of Simon Says as they learn dance moves.  One of our group members decided to join in and felt like she was part of a larger community. It’s a great atmosphere to be in. If you’re not interested in dancing, you can talk to the vendors and people who just came to enjoy the event.

Vendors come from all over. In Seattle, there’s not a lot of places where can connect to their cultural and ethnic roots, so the Women Who Rock (Un)Conference is a place where people can be their authentic selves.

Tessa Achevarra for AFRAM 337 Group #11

#1 Afro-Puerto Rican Bomba

The drums are percussive as the workshop gets into full swing. Sitting on the floor at the back, I can see feet stomping and pivoting in time with the beat of the drums, laughter and cheering every so often when the group nails a move. With the instructor at the front and a group mimicking their moves, to an onlooker, this workshop may look like a dance-fitness class. However, It is clear that this is so much more; the dancers are “dancing to the music, and with the music, and making music.” The dancers are engaged, they are a living organism. The room is filled with ordered, chaotic energy. The women are clearly wonderful teachers, since the dancers seem to become more and more cohesive. But of course, who better to teach bomba than actual Afro-Puerto Rican women?

#2 Feminist messaging

There are reminders of feminism everywhere. The air is charged with it. On the walls are posters with messages in Spanish like “autocuidado” and “todas aprendemos de la experiencia de una;” “self-care” and “we all learn from the experience of one.” These messages are printed with images of women and flowers to invoke the feminine and all of the pronouns are feminine even when they might otherwise be masculine. As the (un)conference progresses, I feel the power of these messages. Music is a form of self-care and especially empowering for women; we are all learning about new concepts and ideas from women who practice them regularly. Everyone here is eager to open up to new experiences and the women who help us to experience.

#1

The conference started off with a bang! Mikayla, an American Indian Studies student at the University of Washington, opened the conference with a beautiful blessing of the building and a wonderful history of the land that we are on. She made us remember that we need to continue to acknowledge that those walking around the world today are not the first to have walked on the land, so it is important to be grateful for everything that those have done before us. She also let us know that she had either smashed or burned sage around the building in order to cleanse the building and the people entering so that this conference can be full of happiness and power for women who rock; I think it did the job. After Mikayla’s blessing, there were the introductions and the acknowledgements of everyone who has contributed to this day.

#2

Though I am writing this a bit after it finished, I felt like it could not be left out of this blog. There was a dance, well, a poem, well, no, a song; it was all of it and none of it all at once. I would describe it as an interpretive dance that went along with a poem. A poem that taught you to never forget where you come from. Milvia and Iris did an amazing job in conveying the power and the strength that came with their performance. Though I did not understand most of it because it was in Spanish, I did feel the power coming from the way they stomped their feet on the stage and the way that Emilia raised and lowered her voice to the beat of their feet. You could hear a pin drop, everyone was in awe. This performance definitely paved the way for a great conference.

When the first dance was complete we all went ere asked to help love the chairs and the stadium to create more space. After about a 5 minute intermission everyone had fun energy while we were patiently waiting for the next activity to start. When we all came together afterwards we began to do a full group dance with anyone and everyone. At first the performers were the only ones dancing but little by little more people began to get involved. It is an awesome experience and the rhythm we danced to was called ”Seega”. It is an important dance for their performers culture which is why they seem so excited about sharing some of their culture with the rest of us in attendance

I am now learning about the bomba which is an Afro Puerto Rican tradition where dancers challenge the drummer. It is important to gain the connection and to never lose the connection. The drums are getting louder and louder, and everyone is starting to clap and sway. It is great seeing people and especially women of all ages and ethnicities gathering together and uniting through dance, especially on such a beautiful day. This by far is my favorite part of the event because of the participation from many people. I can tell everyone is much more excited and feeling confident in their own skin which is what so much of this event is about. The dancers are making music with the bomba and they are connected with everything that is happening here. While I was dancing I was feeding off of everyone’s energy, truly connecting with them and getting in touch with the afro puertican dance. This has definitely got me more excited for my upcoming trip to Puerto Rico next week!

As we are now getting into the dance more and more, we are seeing a variety of different movements and emotions being involved in it. The lady talking explains that they are talking with the music and making the music with their dance. And that the dances make the music into something even bigger than it is. She explains that they are not just dancing around but they are moving in a way that is meaningful. The unity of the people coming together makes it something really special. They can have meaning in dance that allows for them to not even use words to express how they are feeling. She explains that you give your thanks to the drum which means you are giving thanks to the people who came before you as well that did what they could to make all of this happen all the time ago too.

The first dance they do consists of staring at each other from only a couple feet away. They both begin by stomping their feet in unison while one of the dancers speaks in a different language while both dancers continue their unified stomping. The stomping then increases in tempo and rigor while the speaking also intensifies. The dancer doing the speaking goes into what almost looks like a solo with the other dancer beingused as background. The dancer turns into the second background dancer stomping to create a beat or sound for the first dancer where she begins to do quick, sporadi dance movement that seem to go hang in hand with the beat being made by the other dancers stomping. They both are still continuing to look at each other throughout the whole dance creating a sense of connection between the two almost as if one dancer can’t complete their performance without the other there

The Women Who Rock (Un)Conference began with a blessing from a member of a coastal tribe. She acknowledged the people and tribes that once lived on the land we occupy now prior to colonization. Before the conference, she used sacred plants to purify the space of any ill-spirits so the conference space could be a place for good vibes, relaxation, and harmony. After the blessing, Professor Michelle Habell-Pallan and Professor Sonnet Retman introduced people, organizations, and sponsors that helped make the conference possible.

Once introductions were done, the first event of the conference was a dance routine performed by two people. The dance revolved around rhythmic feet pounding and a Spanish poem. Rhythmic feet patterns rose and fell in intensity as if it was linked with the Spanish dialogue that was about a journey of liberation and decolonization. Post-dance performance, the dancers discussed how dance can be a healing process and shared with a collective to empower everyone.

By: Jaylynn Lyons; Group 13

Walking into the event, I was overwhelmed with all of the beautiful colors and culture that radiated through the space. The energy in the room is fulfilling and the crowd’s expressions are full of love and happiness for the words and performances being presented. After the introductions, two members presented a beautiful poetic dance named “Where Do I Come From.” It displayed beautiful movements of the body and rhythmic patterns by the feet. There was dialogue in Spanish that illuminated the emotion of the dance as a whole. During the presentation, I was moved and invited into another universe full of inclusion and sharing. After the performance, they explained the importance of communication and how it can be presented through drumming, singing, and dancing. A beautiful quote shared by one of the dancers was “We all can drum, we all can sing, we all can dance.” They express how emotions soar through the rhythm and way the drum is played. They define it as a way of healing and portraying a story full of emotion. I was definitely enlightened by the performance and it was a great start to an amazing event.