BY DANA KAWANO
I didn’t wake up one day came from a human most people know as Amara Tabor-Smith. In this article I share an inside peek into the approach I use to concep- tualize and render ritual costumes in general and take a look at how that works in practice in my collab- orations with House/Full of Black- Women Co-Creators Amara Tabor- Smith and Ellen Sebastian Cheng. The starting point for a success- ful ritual costume process lies in drawing out a clarity of the inten- tion behind the planned ritual per- formance and then breathing that thinking I should create rit- ual costumes. They snuck up on me. They whispered to me, they brought magic into my home and drew me into their clutches. Those whispers intention into each step of the design and construction process. Ritual performance combines art and aesthetics as an instrument to inform viewers about beliefs, the constructs of our ancestral origins. It calls upon education and con-
templation to understand diasporic experiences while honoring and retaining our cultures and grounding in our identities. It brings about perspectives that we might otherwise overlook, deny or refuse to see. It often infuses… It is a digestion that can transform us. You see, what I have learned about ritual costume design and cre- ation is that it is in essence a guided process with spirit at its core. It is not based on perfect construction of the garment but rather a mindset born of an earnest desire to understand, honor and respect the traditions where they are derived. It is an openness to embark on a journey where you as the creator let go of ego to solely embrace the intent of those who will wear it, heightening awareness of the mes- sages and materials that appear during the process of creating and then trusting that those materials showed up so you can integrate them in a meaningful way. It is as if spirit is guiding you through the process, telling you what to do—as long as you listen. Costumes and fabric share a long history. French poet Charles Baudelaire’s phrasing of the essence of that relationship speaks for me: “fabrics speak a silent language.” RISD Museum expands that, speaking to the Egungung costumes I create: Its universal significance and applicability might sometimes be culturally specific, but in essence spans the entire gamut of our collective human experience. Though it has no voice, cloth speaks in complex, multisensorial fashions. 1
The ritual costume serves as a dramatically symbolic vessel carrying a story all its own while holding space for embodiment of spirit. It is an instrument called to action that is imbued in the fabric of intention whereby we can carry out those intentions with respect to the world, our fellows, ourselves and our traditional beliefs. They hold a back- bone of courage that dares to hold truth through subliminal messages, alluring layers with complex meaning carried on the backs of channel- ers. They are a canvas for the integration of symbolic references, for spirit and woven in the fabric of life’s journeys. They recall ancestral guides deepening our awareness and bringing forth new perspectives in moving forward. They are a protective womb of safety to release the injuries of the past and move forward toward healing. THE CONCEPT My process of conceptualization draws inspiration from various points during development. There are typically portions of Amara’s and Ellen’s projects where they are clear in their vision while other parts that remain open, providing room for improvisation. As they tell the story underlying the performance, it gives rise to strong visions of the setting within me. Their explanations evoke a series of symbols, meta- phorical relationships, spiritual overtones/undertones, objects, textiles, organic matter, texture that seem to appear within my mind. Having
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
u n i f y s t r e n g t h e n amp l i f y u n i f y s t r e n g t h e n a p l i f y
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