routine at the European figure skating championships.
It was apparently designed as a tribute to the dances of indigenous Australian people. Is that why it’s offensive? They seem to be doing a good job skating. Is it the costumes? Too much like black face? Do YOU find it offensive?
I, personally, thought it was kind of interesting and a nice tribute; however, I’m not an indigenous Australian, and if those people are offended, I won’t argue. I’m just wonder why, exactly.
I have no idea, but I’m posting because I’m aware that some ritualistic or religious cultures have specific reasons to be offended built into their culture/religion. In this case it might be that it is forbidden for someone outside this culture to perform these dances. A bit like (and forgive my ignorance here if this is incorrect) it is forbidden to depict the face of Mohamed (Islam)
Well that would be reasonable if that’s the reason. You’d hope that the coach (or whomever) would have looked into that before they agreed to the dance though.
The only thing I personally have to compare it to would be some sort of Highland dance tribute skate thing (I’m of Scottish heritage way back when and did Highland dancing), and assuming it was well executed and not designed to be a parody, I don’t think I would find it offensive at all.
Heh, I could see it, if the dances in question had some sort of sacred meaning. Like some non-Christians dressing up as the Pope and a Nun and dancing out an erotic version of the Mass in an ice-skating tribute to Christianity.
Actually, that would be kinda cool. But I could see some folks being taken aback.
Just to add (because I forgot to in my previous post): Streaming video is blocked at my place of work so I wasn’t able to watch the video in order to judge it for myself, so I took the OP’s word for it that it didn’t seem offensive.
This, I think. Most people when doing a tribute try very hard to get an authentic feel for the subject, but I believe this one came across as more stereotypical and cartoonish. And although I think it was a misstep on their part, I’m not offended. But like you say, I’m not an indigenous Australian.
If this was the complaint, I’d understand it. But the articles I’ve read have quotes from Aboriginal leaders going on about “cultural theft” and other such nonsense.
What is stupid to the point of offensive is having the music be a didgeridoo played over the top of Vilag-Vilagvetett Agy, a song by the Hungarian Romani group Kalyi Jag.
On the one hand, we live in a current culture where everyone is terrified to make even the most innocuous observation about race for fear of being labelled a racist, but on the other hand, I can see the comparison between their costumes and routine and it looking like cartoonish blackface.
I probably won’t explain this well, but in Aboriginal culture, different dances, designs, stories, and other artistic things belong to certain individuals in the community, who own them, in a way. Other people need permission to use them. There can also be rules about when or where things can be performed, and who is allowed to see them. The art is integrated into the ciulture on many levels. I can easily see how Aboriginal people would think it was offensive for a couple of Russians to appropriate their cultural artifacts just because they wanted something a bit different for their latest dance routine. If the Russians had a relationship with someone in the Aboriginal community, who could ‘authorise’ their use of Aboriginal motifs, that would be different.
Not being Aussie it doesn’t offend me personally, but I can certainly see why they would be. A coach or someone should have caught this.
It doesn’t seem to be respectful so much as a cartoonish mish mash of stereotypes, especially the music. Not very culturally sensitive, if you’d like to present to an international audience.
All the reasons given, mixed together - blackface costuming(certainly looked like that to me), Aboriginal feelings about their own culture and its appropriation and disrespectful commercialisation (see how they feel about [del]Ayers Rock[/del]Uluru), and lastly, even I could tell the underlying music wasn’t actually Aborigine.
Yahoo News had a piece about this last week. They had some comments from Aboriginal folks, who pointed out that the dances used no “traditional” moves, and the costumes looked as if they had been painted by children. In other words, although the dancers were supposed to be doing a tribute to aboriginal people, they hadn’t really informed themslves about the people, their decoration, or their dancing and had gone with their own Westernized impression of that culture. The intent may have been laudable, but the execution was miserable.
Didn’t we just have a thread about a blackface performance on TV in Australia, and how it was wrong of Americans to take offense at it, because it was done without racist intent?
I liked it, a lot. I understand why Aborigines would be annoyed that people were co-opting their dancing and ignoring the traditions that go with it, but that’s pretty much what art and cultural borrowing are. It happens all the time. Of course it’s going to be different than the source; it’s being done as a dance on ice with 2 partners as per the rules of the sport. It’s an interpretation of a style of dance. It’s not supposed to be a strict study of the actual dance the way competitive ballroom dancing is, or a tribute to native dancing done on a summer lawn; it’s an interpretive piece designed to showcase artistic and technical skill on ice. Ice dancing is a tricky sport where it’s hard to come up with something that hasn’t already been done to death. I thought they did a beautiful and exciting job. I don’t begrudge Aborigines being annoyed, but neither do I think that nobody else has the right to copy and interpret their dancing. BTW, I didn’t see it as blackface, I saw it as dark. I did not see it as a caricature, but a recreating for a new form.
Pete Seeger co-opted the Bible, Gwen Stefani co-opted Fiddler on the Roof, Leonard Bernstein co-opted Shakespeare, etc.
What confuses me isn’t that the indigenous Australians were offended - I can understand that, even if I’m not sure I understand why - but that Canadian First Nations also seemed to take offense, and take pre-offense at what the Russians might make of Canadian indigenous peoples… The CEO of the Four Host First Nations for the Olympics encouraged the Russian pair to get in contact with the Australians AND offered to educate them on Canadian culture.
A friend of mine travelled to New Zealand, and the travel agency had arranged for a traditonal dance group of men and women to do an traditional dance in costume.
All tourists who signed up for that show were explicitly warned not to laugh at any moment in that show, as it would get them in trouble with the dancers who would be hugely insulted. And that warning was absolutely necessary.
The performers saw it as a traditional warrior dance, performed with respect for the spiritual traditions and courage of their ancestors, at which they graciously allowed strangers to attend. But my friend said she could also have seen a bunch of big burly men in grass skirts hopping around with their eyes wide open and their tongue sticking out, prancing in a passable imitation of agressive apes to a beating drum. Not that she did see it that way, but you know, she could have, if she had been that much of a cad.
So I guess it is a bit of a sensitive issue. And don’t forget that Maori culture is rather macho, and ice dancing… is not. Remember that movie "Once were warriors? "
But I could see some folks being taken aback.