Liz Edouard-Danc 163- Kykunkor or the Witch Woman

The creation of an opera by Asadata Dafora reminded me of the creation of a ballet company by Alvin Ailey. Both artists wanted to develop an art form that had long been the standard of western art by incorporating African elements. In previous readings, we have looked at the term “black dance” and the difficulty in defining such a term due contradicting beliefs with regard to the dancers, the choreographer, or the influence needing to be “black” to be “black dance”.
In this case, critics are reluctant to label the opera that was developed by Asadata Dafora as an opera as it does not conform to previous ideas of the opera. Dafora chooses to side with the critics by changing the name of his following work to “dance drama” instead of opera. Later in his life he does in fact create “operas” although I am not sure why these works are deemed operas as opposed to his earlier pieces.
Whether it is an opera or a dance drama, the work is described in great detail and left me wanting to see a piece of it. Unfortunately I was not able to find a video clip on the internet, the closest I came was to a review from 1934 describing the show as exciting and a success owed to its song and dance. Artists such as Dafora who dared to create performances that challenged the typical and were able to attract a public were rewarded. As opposed to catering to white’s fantasies of primitive African dance, he created pieces that reflected his culture using polyrhythm and asymmetrical movements yet had aspects of European aesthetic: “controlled savagery” as it is described by a critic.