Pergamon

Annals OJTourismResearch,Vol. 23, No. 4, pp. 780-797, 1996

Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd Printed in Great Britain. All rights reserved 0160.7383/96 $l5.00+0.00

SOlSO-7383(96)00020-5

TOURISM DANCE PERFORMANCES

Authenticity and Creativity
Yvonne Payne Daniel
Smith College, USA

Abstract: Despite shifts in scale and context, dance performance in tourism settings, unlike some other artistic expressions, remains authentic and creative. Possible explanations for this include the manner in which authentic and creative are defined, the unique properties of dance as expressive behavior, and the particular politico-economic situation of different settings. The data used for this study are cross-cultural, assessing Native American, Oceanic, Caribbean, and African studies of dance performance, primarily those collected during fieldwork in Haiti and Cuba. The analysis is interpretive, based on cultural framing and examination of dance behavior and its affect. Keywords: experiential authenticity, Oceania, Native America, and Africa. creativity, dance performance in the Caribbean, Copyright 0 1996 Elsevier Science Ltd R&urn& Les spectacles de danse dans le contexte du tourisme: authenticit et criativitt. En dCpit des changements dtchelle et de contexte, les interpritations de danse dans des cadres touristiques, 2 la diff&ence des autres sortes dexpression artistique, reste authentique et creative. Une explication possible de ce fait comprend la fagon de dtfinir authentique et crtative, les propriCtts uniques de la danse comme comportement expressive et la situation politico-Gxonomique des diff&ents cadres. Les donnCes qui ont CtC utilisCes pour cette ttude sent interculturelles, et elles reprtsentent des Ctudes amkrindiennes, oceaniques, cardibes et africaines des spectacles de danse, avec une attention particulihre aux recherches sur le terrain g Cuba et en Haiti. Lanalyse est interpritative et basCe sur un encadrement culture1 et un examen du comportement de dans et son effet. Mots-cl&: authenticite dexpbrience, crhativitt, interprhtation de danse aux Caraibes, Octanie, AmCrique indigtne, Afrique. Copyright 0 I996 Elsevier Science Ltd

INTRODUCTION Many dance forms have been commoditized for an international arts market. Some have been shaped for tourism performance within their nations of origin, such as Brazils samba and lambada, Jamaica and Trinidads limbo, calypso, and reggae, Haitis and the Dominican Republics meringue, Senegals sabar, Zimbabwes Kalanga mabisa and Ndebele war dances, South Africas boot dance, Mexicos hat dance, Hawaiis hula, powwow dancing from the Apache and Comanche traditions, and disco and hiphop from the United States. Others have been used in tourism promotions abroad. Some countries use video presentations that alternate between wild animal enclaves and ethnic dances from various peoples throughout the country, such as Tanzania Trek. Other videos, like Folkl6rico National de Cuba,
Yvonne Daniel is a Five College Associate Professor (Smith College, Berenson #l, Northampton MA 01063, USA. Email ydaniel@smith.edu) who specializes in research on circum-Caribbean societies and cross-cultural dance performance. She is the author of Rumba: Dance and Social Change in Contemporary Cuba (Indiana University Press) and several articles on inequalities that are revealed through dance analysis. She has been a Ford Foundation Fellow at the Smithsonian Institution.

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publicize both unique historical traditions and original, more contemporary music/dance creations. Still other countries rely on live dance performances by touring companies that advertise national identities and seek to secure international prestige, such as Les Ballets Africains of Guinea and Senegal, Folklorico de Mexico, and Moisiev Russian Dance Company. In fact, the Alvin Ailey Company in the United States, a contemporary modern dance company known for its African American perspective, could be viewed in its tourism art dimension when noting that it has been one of, if not the most frequently, invited dance company to represent the United States abroad, communicating American national culture, but also, attracting visitors to its home performances (Emery 1988:272; Jamison and Kaplan 1993). Probably the most popular dance performance attraction worldwide is ballet. The US ballet can be viewed in its tourism art dimension as well, since it is performed for both domestic and international tourists (cf. commercial fine arts as tourism arts, Graburn 1976:4-g). Although ballet is not commonly regarded as tourism art, as Joann Kealiinohomoku ( 1969-70:24-33) reminded the disciplines of anthropology and dance more than 20 years ago, it is a European and European American (or ethnic) dance form and as such, it has often been staged, prepared, and packaged to frame European and European American cultures. Few, however, think of fine arts such as ballet as ethnic art that is put up for sale, but from an economic view, for example, New York Citys American Ballet Theaters (ABT) or Joffrey Ballets home seasons are important attractions and they are programed with tourist expectations and a discriminating market in mind. In fact, ballet performance in New York has much in common with touristic dance performance elsewhere in terms of intentions that frame the exotic other in traditional or extravaganza dance style, motivations that conserve and present national or ethnic cultures, and packaging that creates viable, mesmerizing products that generate profits. Tourist advertisements have often promoted dancing natives as ...archetypes of the exotic... (Silver 1993:308), but despite the popular image, with the notable exception of Adrienne Kaepplers (1973) comparison of traditional and touristic dance forms among four Polynesian cultures, dance performance and its distinctive attributes have been neglected in discussions and collections of tourism arts research (Cohen 1993; Graburn 1976, 1984b). In fact, in anthologies and studies of expressive culture, there has been an all-too-familiar omission or separation of the examination of dance until recently (Jopling 1971; Layton 1981; Otten 1976; Schechner and Appel 1990). With cross-cultural analysis of dance performance in tourism settings, it is interesting to note that this does not fully exhibit the usual effects of artistic commoditization (Appadurai 1986:6-8, 12-16; Cohen 1988:381; Graburn 1984a:27)-i.e., a diminished authenticity, a limited if not absent sense of creativity, or an unvoiced, suppressed, or drastically changed layer of meaning. On the contrary, the dance is often an exact simulation; a re-creation of a historic past; a contemporary manifestation of inventiveness within and multisensory traditions and among styles; a holistic

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phenomenon that often communicates to tourists and performers at a fundamental level. This article suggests that touristic dance performance shares some attributes with other commoditized arts, but it is also unique. Despite shifts in scale and context, dance performance for tourists and creative. Possible explanations for this remains authentic include the manner in which authentic and creative are defined, the unique properties of dance as expressive behavior, and the particular politico-economic situation of differing tourism settings. The data used here are cross-cultural, assessing Native American, Oceanic, Caribbean, and African studies of dance but primarily those collected during performance and practice, fieldwork in Haiti (1970, 1974, 1976, 1980, 1991) and Cuba (1985, 1986-87, 1988, 1990, 1993). While this field research was not originally intended to focus on tourism, the issue could not be avoided when examining dance performance in those locales. Moreover, Haitian and Cuban destinations offer examples of the manner in which authenticity is gauged and determined for dance performance. These sites shed light on creativity within tourism settings that have tendencies to restructure, condense, or minimize distinct dance traditions. The analysis is interpretive, based on cultural framing and examination of dance movement within the human body and its affect. It centers around the issues of authenticity and creativity, not as polarized aspects of tourism arts (since they overlap on occasion), but because they are most frequently observed as characteristics and/or primary effects of commoditized artistic forms. AUTHENTICITY IN TOURISM DANCE PERFORMANCE

Artistic forms in tourism are often representative of products that are more commonly used, more authentic or genuine, outside of the tourism setting. Therefore, in dance performance, one of the first issues to be considered is what is authentic dance in a tourism sense. For other tourism art products, like a toy drum, a wooden bowl with spoons, or a plastic box of shells in sea water, for example, authentic revolves generally around anonymous authorship and skill or accuracy in the replication of something used functionally by members of a given society. Authenticity relates also to the use of such functional items from one society as ornamentation, entertainment, or contemplation by members of another society. Authenticity includes a sense of boundary among differing sets of conventions, rules, or regulations (Cohen 1988; Kasfir 1992). Richard Handler and William Saxton have clarified some distinctions between the various usages of authenticity (1988:242-260). They argue that there are two kinds of authentic: the one applied to visual arts is generally an external judgment by the spectator/analyst and the one applied to performing arts and their case of living history is an experiential authenticity. In the visual arts, authenticity is most often based on collectors tastes, collectors naming and categorization of genres and styles (Kasfir 1992:44-45),

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and more recently, whether or not artifacts are signed. On the other hand, experiential authenticity concerns itself with perfect simulation, replication of a past, an isomorphism or similarity of structural form . ..between a living-history activity or event, and that piece of the past it is meant to re-create (Handler and Saxton 1988:242). Living history projects involve performers who re-enact events on original historical sites, as in the battles that occurred during the War for Independence or the US Civil War or the courtly dance performances of the colonial halls and salons of historic Williamsburg, Virginia. Despite their acknowledgement that the past can never be known fully or with certainty, Handler and Saxton note the attempt to combine what happened at a particular site with the thoughts and feelings of the participants/actors during specific events in the performance of living history projects-a type of staged authenticity (MacCannell 1973), such as at Colonial Williamsburg in Virginia, Plymouth Plantation in Massachusetts, or the Polynesian Cultural Center on Oahu, Hawaii. Over time, the actors (sometimes tourists who are permitted to participate as temporary/momentary actors in these venues) accumulate informed reflections. Both actors and tourists as performers report that on occasion their performance gives rise to magic moments, those times when the sensation of experiencing the past becomes present reality. In other words, in actively demonstrating the past, the past becomes really real (Handler and Saxton 1988:245-247; cf. route of communitas in Turner and Turner 1978). Similarly, re-enactments of history as danced performances depend greatly on the individual experience within this totality. For example, in the dances of traditional deities performers expected to impersonate the deities are transformed through spirit possession and become the deity her/himself, or in danced mock battles the competition and jealousies from ordinary social life are often expressed in rigorous movement and, on occasion, reduced or individual is resolved. Authenticity prevails when the affected/touched so that she/he feels that the real world and the real self are consonant (Handler and Saxton 1988:243-244, 247-248). It is here that touristic dance performance runs parallel to living history projects in that it relies heavily on the desire for authentic experiences of the performer to satisfy the tourists desire for the authentic. Ideally, both from the performers and viewers (emit and etic) perspectives of dance performance in the tourism setting, authenticity aims for historical, geographical, and cultural accuracy, which usually includes movement materials-that is, gestures, rhythmic motifs, and sequences-that have been identified with a particular social group, movement that has been codified to some extent (even within an improvisational form), and often movement sequences that have been passed down from generation to generation (Williams 1994). In particular, both from the viewers and analysts perspective, authenticity also includes generalization of several dance traditions from particular geographical regions and cultural

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a ritual dance practice may include a wide groups. For example, assortment and quantity of steps, sequences, and transitional these accumulate variations, but some steps or movements; sequences also disappear over time. The tourism setting of these movement materials may utilize either the most visually characteristic sections of the ritual dance performance alone or condense each section to the barest elements that have exhibited continuity. Likewise, in secular dance traditions, a dance practice may include fully improvised sections of solo or group dancing, as well as fully improvised instrumental or vocal lines, neither of which have actual time constraints, while the tourism setting of a popular dance form may utilize only set portions of the movements and music. By generalizing the movement material in these ways, authentic dance performance accommodates some variation and some elements of change within contemporary performance of traditional dance forms, but it aims ideally for cultural and geographical accuracy (Euell 1989). Sometimes, with outside contact, foreign elements and structures have been incorporated within traditional dance performance and over time, these new (restructured or reinterpreted) forms and for the performing community. styles have emerged as authentic The evolved dance performances have sometimes taken pivotal or primary positions in the dance performances, in the evaluation of many community members as part of their cultural identity; and in the esteem of many tourists. For example, Kaeppler (1973:71-85) found that much traditional Hawaiian dance (dance that existed before European contact) was conserved underground in response to contact with missionaries and the resulting pressure from colonization. Conversely, Tahitian traditional dance, in a similar contact situation, was replaced by a new form. The new form has now been completely integrated into the contemporary social system and yet, with analysis, European musical structure, European instrumentation, and European performance focus dominate Tahitian dance performance. Kaeppler called the Tahitian and Hawaiian forms that emerged airport art because they were frequently the first images that tourists saw upon arrival. Very often, tourists to Polynesian islands are greeted at airports and in hotel entrances with leis and dance performance that utilizes English language, ukeleles, and dancers costumed in grass skirts. In comparison with Tongan and Maori and Tahiti was shaped dance structures, airport art in Hawaii heavily by foreign influences and later, touristic practices. Kaeppler airport art placed at one extreme end of a continuum that included contemporary innovation and restructured or reinterpreted forms, with dance performance before European contact at the opposite end. The Tahitian airport art, for example, emphasized the visual movement qualities of the traditional form that originally focused on poetry as the seminal element of the dance performance; the new became authentic, a radical change that was accepted by the Tahitian community.

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A different development of touristic dance performance occurred when Euro-American explorers, soldiers, missionaries, settlers, and later, Easterners, hippies, and various types of priests, came in contact with Native Americans. Jill Sweet (1989:62-75) reports on Pueblo Indians burlesquing outsiders within important seasonal dance performances. Sometimes young male dancers would imitate the peculiar behavior of priests, Texans, or hippies and at other times, the imitation and eventual ridicule were performed by Pueblo clown society members. Sweets study concludes that, for Pueblos, the clown performances and burlesquing eased tensions around disturbing events, such as the intrusion of outsiders, and allowed Pueblos to make sense of the invading tourist/outsider by incorporating the other through a major vehicle of Pueblo expression, dance performance. The Pueblo case, in contrast to the Polynesian case, demonstrates a conscious and more direct development of dance performance. In Pueblo dance, the performing community marks its own understanding of foreign elements and also shows how the community understands its evaluation by foreigners. By adding to its repertoire of performance materials, Pueblo dance accommodates the tourism situation. In both cases, however, new dance performances-from the other (Tahiti) or about the other (Pueblo)-become accepted as authentic dance of the performing community. From the performing communitys point of view, authentic dance forms are differentiated from one another by means of style, type, and context, and until the appearance of tourism, the mixing of forms has generally been judged as a violation of the boundaries between forms. Combinations of dance steps from different traditions, that is, intra-traditional mixtures, have been and certainly less than authentic. judged as fakes, frauds, sometimes such mixed performances permeate a However, creative aspect, both from emit and etic perspectives. Frequently, but not uniformly (as discussed later), touristic performance has become the category of dance in which the mixture of varied traditions and major change may take place. The tourism setting, then, provides the space and time for ideal definitions to expand, for play and experimentation at the edges of boundaries with combinations of styles and traditions that reach for innovation, invention, and creativity. Among many touristic dances, however, authenticity is also determined within the actual dance performance, as in the experiential authenticity of Handler and Saxtons (1988) discussion, and the performer is often the critical item, the indicator of authenticity. What happens to the performer in the process of or as a result of a performance is often deemed critical in determining authenticity. In fact, both within or outside of the tourism setting, authenticity that is located within the performers dancing is a critical criterion in judging and evaluating dance performance. Beyond this setting, on the concert stage, this criterion is noted by critics in terms of the performers commitment to the dance, in terms of the transformation that occurs in performance, or in

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terms of the effect sity of the dance.

experienced

by the

audience

due

to the

inten-

Authentic Haitian Dance Haitian tourism settings vividly illustrate Haitian culture through dance performance and have done so for over a period of years of the authors intermittent field research. Dance performances have Haitian culture and clearly promoted tidun dances as authentic have emphasized tourists expectation of the exotic in extravaganza style (Kasfir 1992:46). Most of the larger and more popular hotels in Port-au-Prince, the capital, manage to support an evening of folkloric dance---@anchis, meringue, but mostly Vodun dances-as a show for tourists. The same dance company has often been used among several hotels, which has required a revolving schedule for company personnel (e.g., Monday and Thursday nights at Ibo Lele, Friday and Saturday nights at Cabanne Chaconne, Wednesdays at Caste1 Haiti, etc). At other times, a hotel could retain its own dance troupe, which appeared three, four, or live times per week (e.g., Hotel Oloffson). These shows have had a history since the occupation by United States marines (from 1915 to 1934) of catering to a sense of escapism and capturing the tourist through shock and sensual stimulation, such as the inclusion of an almost nude rendition of zarien, the spider dance of Haitian folklore, or the dramatization of Vodun ceremonies (Goldberg 1981, 1982). These danced performances have been offered with few introductory remarks and with a great deal of emphasis on the foreign and exotic quality of the Haitian other in extravaganza style-i.e., the augmentation of production values (costuming, lighting, set designs, etc.) so that cultural understandings are often disregarded and historical functions are eclipsed within the dance performance. Despite imagined notions or promoted expectations of tourists, and despite the analysts understanding of the generalization of several distinct dance traditions (including some generalizing or distorting of local culture in terms of space, time, and often personnel), the touristic versions of Haitian dance performance have encompassed what natives could and did determine as authentic dance performance from the Vodun dance traditions. Through reenacting myths and the use of many of the requisite rhythms, instruments, and gestures of Vodun dance performance, often ceremonial spirit possession has occurred in the tourism setting; that is, there has been an actualization of the ideal or genuine ritual performance. Alan Goldberg (1982) h as described Haitian performers evaluations of their own performances that explained authentic spirit possession in the midst of touristic events he called play. They report that, frequently during the dance performance for tourists, the loas (spirits) arrived in the bodies of the performers. When this occurred, the spirits subsequently assumed the direction of the performance. Using Handler and Saxtons definition as applied to dance performance, this would, therefore, augment the authentic force of the dance performance. In the transition from Goldbergs

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play to authentic, not only would there be a real performance by means of the possession (experiential authenticity), but also an authentic ritual event would continue thereafter by means of the direction of the performance as a ritual event by the spirits. Moreover, a differentiation within the level or degree of authentic possession has been noted. In questioning Haitian, Cuban, and Brazilian dancers on the experience of possession, when performers receive the spirits, most dancers reported that they believed something special happened and that they went elsewhere. When asked to compare this ritual experience with touristic performances, they differentiated among the latter types. They were aware of the imitative, repetitive movement patterns of possession; they danced for , about, and as the spirits. On other occasions, they remembered nothing while performing possession segments. For example, one devotee became possessed during a 1980 performance at le cave in Haiti and despite her eating of a live chicken and running from the performance space into the nearby Caribbean Sea, she remembered nothing of her profoundly wet condition, nor any of her behavior after the procession at the beginning of the evening performance. Amnesia is characteristic of genuine spirit possession (Bourguignon 1976; Walker 1972) and helps to indicate their ability to differentiate among several tourist performances. Some touristic dance performances were as authentic as those performed in ritual events. The effect of possession dance performance on tourists is usually vivid and intense. Through the intense display of performers in their attempts to simulate genuine community dance atmosphere, tourists are affected kinesthetically. They are convinced of authenticity by the display of unique instrumentation and costuming, by the foreign languages in ritual chants and songs, but especially by the aesthetic-mainly kinesthetic and visual-power of the distinctive dance performance. Most often, they are convinced that they have gone behind the scenes or backstage to a genuine Vodun, Santeria, or Candomble ceremony (Cohen 1988; MacCannell 1973). After viewing several performances, it could be assumed that audience members may begin to question or be able to differentiate between an act about spirit possession and authentic spirit possession. Performances, however, are generally not scheduled to encourage analysis or repeated viewing by the same tourists. What remains impressive is that both performers and tourists rely on an experiential authenticity that is located within the gestures, dance sequences, and profound affect of dancers in order to determine authenticity in the performance. Authentic Cuban Dance

Touristic performance in Cuba concentrates on cultural accuracy and, therefore, traditional dance is the norm. US tourists have rarely been encouraged to visit Cuba, but Canadians, Europeans, Japanese, and many Central and South Americans have had opportunities to observe and participate in Cuban touristic dance performance. Such visits have

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involved educational conferences, political congresses, healthcare seminars, and music and dance workshops. These are special-interest visits in comparison to recreational, leisure tourism as suggested in the Haitian cases. As a result, fantasized, exotic dance or extravaganza performance has not been emphasized in Cuba until recently. Since the demise of the Soviet Union, the US press has been reporting the severe economic tensions that exist in Cuba (Appleby 1994; Brickel 1994; NBCs Good Morning Special on Cuba in 1992; Rice 1992) and economists have presented analysis of present conditions and future possibilities that impact change in Cuban tourism practices (Levine 1983; Zimbalist 1987). These reports and Cuban fieldwork data indicate that extravaganza dance performance (primarily concerned with entertainment values) has been limited to a few hotels and nightclubs (most importantly, Tropicana in Havana) and an eco-cultural paradigm for the Cuban tourism industry has been used. Now, however, more commercial, economically-oriented tourism is on the rise and traditional dance performance in Cuban tourism settings is in critical competition with extravaganza acts. It may be that the latter will have increased opportunities and that traditional which has been more prevalent and still dance performance, dominant until 1995, will take a less prominent role in the future. For the present analysis, however, many special visitors to Cuba become acquainted with Cuban culture through sabados de la rumba events that entertain, (Rumba Saturdays). Th ese are performance but more importantly, that educate both tourists and Cubans through short lectures and dance/music demonstrations. Every other Saturday in Havana and Matanzas (less frequently in other touristm areas like Santiago de Cuba and Pinar de1 Rio), both international and domestic tourists are invited to participate in Cuban dance. Domestic educational efforts of the Ministry of Culture, which were originally organized to educate Cubans, have been extended to international tourists (Daniel 1991, 1995:61-62, 126-127). Special visitors, tourists or guests in Cuba, experience local dance in an outdoor patio setting with live music and dance specialists. The dance, rumba, is prominent at sabado de la rumba since the word itself means a gathering with music, dance, food, drinks, and socializing; however, other dances such as chancleta, danzon, casino (Cuban salsa), tumbajancesa, and dances from religious communities (e.g., Yoruba, Palo, or Arara) are performed. During rumba events, tourists are invited to participate in the dancing, singing, and, on occasion, drinking and eating. These are efforts to actively engage tourists in genuine Cuban culture as opposed to simply viewing a vivid sense of the authentic (Hanna 1983). But experiential authenticity is even more pronounced, as in the Haitian case, both where Cuban spirit dancing (Yoruba, Bantu, and Arara, or Dahomey traditions) is simulated and where Cuban masked dance performance (Abakua tradition) creates tremendous interest and awe among tourists. Experiential authenticity also occurs within secular dance performance of rumba. After professionals demonstrate one of the three types of rumba, for example, they usually invite non-professionals to dance. First, Cuban audience members begin to dance and challenge

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performance practices, but eventually tourists are encouraged to try. The playful interactions initially between dancers, but inevitably, between tourists and Cubans, overshadow social differences between old and young, highly or barely educated, dark or light-skinned, and even skilled or unskilled. Social interconnectedness grows within the actual movements and sequences of communal dance; diversity diminishes and degrees of stratification temporarily blur in a world that has eliminated everyday realities and tensions. In Handler and Saxtons terms, the world is then experienced as a first-person narrative and the tourist as well as the performer feels a different self-a connected, integrated, and real self. Tourists and performers are immersed in a complex of multiple, simultaneous sensory stimulations in Cuban touristic performances. On occasions, tourists are disinterested and some are offended by the sensual play, but most are attracted and engaged sufficiently to watch until the dance event ends. Many tourists are drawn into participation by the amiable feelings, sociability, and the musical and kinesthetic elements of dance performance. Often, not knowing the rules, they do not wait to be invited to dance, but spontaneously join in. They explore their rhythmic, harmonic, and physical potential and arrive at sensations of well-being, pleasure, joy, or fun, and at times, frustration as well. As tourists associate these sentiments with dancing, the dance performance transforms their reality. For many tourists, the dance becomes their entire world at that particular moment. Time and tensions are suspended. The discrepancies of the real world are postponed. As performing dancers, tourists access the magical world of liminality which offers spiritual and aesthetic nourishment (Daniel 1990; Turner and Bruner 1986; Turner and Turner 1978). Tourism, in moments of dance performance, opens the door to a liminal world that gives relief from day-to-day, ordinary tensions, and, for Cuban dancers and dancing tourists particularly, permits indulgence in near-ecstatic experiences (Graburn 1989). The same experience is described by Cuban performers: It (the dancing) fills me up. I am really full. I cant explain, but something special happens. When I dance in performance with the drums, and the music, something real comes out-something genuine, authentic, more organic and pure than what I know is in the tradition. My gestures are free.... All the possibilities are there, movements are creative, beautiful, corporeal, and enriching the dance.... Someone, some other actor inside me makes those movements-those other things--come out when I really dance. It is experiental authenticity described here, that ignites and within the dance performance, secures authenticity for tourists as well. It is experiential authenticity that is expressed after an act by performers themselves through tears, audible groans, heads nodding no, no, or slapping high lives. Creativity in Touristic Dance Performance can be viewed as somewhat limited at least this is a first assumption.

Touristic dance performance in terms of artistic creativity;

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Creativity is limited by the structure of tourist time and administrative programing, but also by the structuring or manipulation of form. Set traditional, conventional, or formulaic choreography is officially promoted to accommodate the touristic setting and often, performance death. repetition, creates with continuous Experiential authenticity may be difficult to sustain over time. (Again, overlap accompanies the dichotomy between authenticity and creativity.) Spontaneity and creativity keep dance traditions alive and well. They militate against routinization or performance death, which are thought to be more common in touristic settings than in the lively dynamics of both the Haitian and Cuban dance performances described above. With a shift from performance by participants to public show for outsiders (or the routinized performance for tourists), the spontaneity of public involvement and the creativity in communal effort that were seminal to particular dance events are often diminished or transposed. Here, for example, one can compare spectator with participatory forms of Cuban carnival (Evleshin 1989) sinulog (Ness 1992). Touristic alongside versions of Philippine dance performance is often presumed weak in comparison to spontaneous acts for community members. Creative Touristic Dance Performance in Senegal

A distressing case (because it is complicated by other more worrisome issues beyond creativity) is found in reports of dance in Dakar, due to its international Senegal, known as the Paris of Africa ambience within Africa and its potential for profits from tourism. For 1991-92, two dance students from the University of Massachusetts studied and danced professionally with masters and companies for tourists (Ahmed 1992; that regularly perform Greenberg 1993). Both agreed that the touristic setting provided little more than regular employment for young high-school dropouts, moments of exoticized and eroticized entertainment for primarily non-African tourists, and, apparently, prestige, money, and sexual access to company directors and administrators. However, their findings in the Dakar situation indicate more than adequate opportunities and effective results in terms of creativity, and these data are comparable to the Haitian and Cuban cases. There is an eager audience of international tourists and long-term foreign workers in Dakar who desire dance performance and support a range of creative efforts that have been put up for sale as local and national culture. The Dakar setting indicates that European and American dance have little appeal to the mostly European and American tourists. Senegalese dance that conforms to a popular idea of Africanness is what is in demand and what is offered. This means that dance steps and sequences from myriad cultures comprising Senegalese society are more than generalized, being placed together creatively. Multicultural fragments from Senegalese dance traditions are arranged into new choreographic representations, called ballets. All movements are modernized, made bigger

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and less subtle than traditional dance patterns, and staged with a sense of spectacular entertainment. The reports note that young dancers were helping to perpetuate images of wild, uninhibited, sexual, dark-skinned Africans and that young women, particularly, were subjects of eroticized and exoticized dance commoditization (cf. Carty 1993 on Caribbean women as commodities in tourism enterprises). Because the University of Massachusetts students were shocked that real or authentic Senegalese culture was not presented in dance performance, and since the situation in terms of womens rights and survival was even more upsetting, they did not attend fully to the issue of creativity. They knew that the choreographed ballets were essentially intra-traditional mixtures (i.e., combinations of several forms and many traditional movements, steps, and sequences), and that several master dancers were in competition for styling and staging touristic dance performances, and their heightened sensibilities to cultural authenticity reigned. In terms of creativity, however, the dances that they thought to be deteriorated and bastardized were filled also with ingenuity and inventiveness, as is much developed choreography that is based on traditional elements, such as the Haitian and West African patterns (called muyi in Haiti) that are at the base of Alvin Aileys solo choreography for Judith Jamison in Revelations: Wade in the Water; the Russian squat kicks developed within Folkines Petroushka; the abstracted folk steps in Martha Grahams Appalachian Spring; or the waltzs and mazurkas placed directly in Isadora Duncans Classical Duet and The Mazurka. This is also typical of most, if not a great many, staged traditional dance performances of the 80s and 90s that have been presented to US audiences by Hawaiian, Cambodian, Yupik (Eskimo), Congolese, Cuban, Russian, and US Americans (cf. Williams 1994). Creative Touristic Dance in Haiti and Cuba

Other examples of creativity within commoditized dance performance can be found in both Alan Goldbergs (1981) account of staged Vodun performances and in similar performances witnessed by the author during trips to Haiti and Cuba. Haitian tourism enterprises have often utilized dance performance in creative, innovative ways. In the example used earlier of the almost nude version of the Haitian spider dance, zarien, the presentation disregarded the wise and playful character of the folkloric spider in Haitian culture. Instead, the spider dance referenced another equally recognizable and important part of Haitian culture, the Guede family of Vodun spirits. In the eclipse of one cultural aspect for another, an example of Haitian creativity is revealed. It was an original, inventive choreography that accentuated the bare starkness, fluidity, and speed of a spider as Vodun seductress. More current choreographies depict market scenes, inter-relationships in Haitian life, virtuoso displays and connect transitions and choreographic of drumming, etc., concepts with integrity and professionalism. Haitian touristic dance

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performance of years ago represents more of an extravaganza style, while dance performance today, particularly at Hotel Oloffson, seems decidedly creative. The intention, to represent Haitian culture through dance in a more conscious and respectful manner, does not inhibit the creative aspects of the performances. In looking at Cubas tourism environment in terms of creativity, creativity within dance form and creativity within individual dancers must be distinguished. Again, authenticity is emphasized. Usually, structured forms in Cuba (i.e., separate dance traditions like rumba, Yoruba, and Abakua) are replicated in a reduced time frame and in a different space from ordinary performance, and creativity is presumed limited. For example, in the Cuban dance, rumba, improvisation form is its ultimate expression (i.e., the unpredictable movement inventions of a particular dancer, the unrehearsed interactions among dancers and between dancers and musicians, and the spontaneous inspiration from a singer). Improvisational elements such as these that comprise the form are officially limited in the organization of Cuban touristic performance and mixing distinct dance traditions or potentially changing the form is avoided officially. When concentrating on creativity within the dancers themselves as opposed to creativity strictly within the dance form, the Cuban touristic setting illustrates another serious consideration in the analysis of the politico-economic environment of the tourist setting (Silver 1981). For Cuban dancers and musicians, the touristic setting is peculiar and important because in their politico-economic environment, artistic content has been channeled and artistic mediums have been restricted; surprisingly, the tourism environment widens channels of access and releases artists to experience artistic freedom more fully. Cuban artists are appreciative of the regular employment they receive through tourism (although they express frustration when performance becomes too routine). They, like artists everywhere, need regularity of performance for financial security, but also in terms of technique and practice. Much like North American jazz musicians who must play casuals (e.g., in weddings and barmitzvas) to augment their earnings, but who play wholeheartedly in a jazz atmosphere or who are deliriously involved when playing with or singing in an orchestra, Cuban musicians in the tourism environment have opportunities amid many routine performances to become fully involved, fully engaged. They are additionally stimulated (by experiential authenticity) toward purposeful expressiveness as they interact with other dancers, musicians, and the participating public, particularly with foreign tourists. Through sharing and jamming within planned touristic performances, Cuban artists augment their opportunities to experiment and create even when restricted officially. Among dancers, jamming occurs in brief, but often significant, moments of tourist interaction. Officially, Cuban professional dancers are trained to separate dance traditions and to avoid all synthesis of movement materials. Through common

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Cuban touristic settings, such as international workshops, festivals, and concerts, professional dancers are provided with periodic and sometimes extended contact with foreign artistic conceptualization, contemporary trends, and novel ideas. Cuban dancers use these venues as opportunities for conceptual inspiration and development, and for creativity in choreography and performance. In using the freedom afforded as new stimuli, they are drawn into the special world that tourists experience, experiential authenticity, where they suspend the routineness of their work and intimately release themselves in creative performance (cf. Daniel 1990, 1996; Turner and Bruner 1986; cf. liminality and communitas of Turner and Turner 1978). Tourists are also responsible for creativity in the performer; they inadvertently stimulate creativity, For example, because tourists do not usually know the rules thoroughly, they are often indulged when they mistakenly cross boundaries, by dancing their versions or imitations of dance sequences and traditions, by entering a dance form that prohibits certain personnel, and by not following the musical or gestural leads. These mishaps and the responding behavior that attempts to make the guest feel safe and free from embarrassment, allow spontaneity and improvisation to flow, facilitating creativity, When on stage with performing tourists who are simultaneously in process of creating, Cuban dancers can experiment with variation, indulge in mixtures among dance traditions, and ultimately create. Batarumba is one major example of creativity within the touristic setting. But, perhaps more importantly, this dance creation illustrates further the important influence of the social setting, namely the politico-economic environment of the touristic setting. For several years after the Cuban revolution, sacred drum rhythms and dances were avoided in public because of the secular ideology of the Castro government. Touristic settings, however, included the important display (regarded as cultural rather than religious) of Yoruba chants and rhythms, Palo and Arara dances, and Abakua ceremonial re-enactments. Over time, some of the Yoruba religious gestures, chants, and rhythms have been placed in combination with secular rumba songs and drumming and batarumba, a Cuban creation, has emerged (or perhaps has resurfaced as Andy Gonzalez suggests in Boggs 1992:295). Batarumba is a creolization by means of its instrumental and gestural content that combines (plays together) drum rhythms that are usually confined to more sacred contexts with those of more secular contexts. It further combines the corresponding movement patterns from both sacred and secular contexts as well. The meshing of three dance traditions (Yoruba, casino, and rumba) with two music traditions (bath and rumba) creates a novel, fresh dance/music performance. However, it was through the emphasis on touristic dance performance that religious drum rhythms and dances were developed as source materials for the creation of a new form. It was the Cuban tourism of the 80s that provided the time and ambience where artists were freed for expression, where such creativity could

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gain momentum and acceptance, of the social conditions of the creativity. CONCLUSIONS

thus underscoring the importance touristic setting for the analysis of

Touristic settings are ambiguous in terms of dance performance. On the one hand, their goal is the replication or simulation of the set, conventionalized structure of a dance tradition or style. On the other hand, they provide the space and time for that same dance structure to evolve and change. In tourism, time is condensed to fit the economic interests of entrepreneurs as well as the concentration time limits of tourists. Space is decorated with elaborate costumes and designed stage sets that project specific visual Dance forms are condensed structurally and improvised images. sections of accompanying music are shortened or replaced by set or through-composed lyrics. Rather than spontaneous improvisation or short, limited intra-traditional variation, which generally occur in ordinary social settings, specific songs and dances are settings that often generalize myriad programed in touristic cultures within a given society. Differently cultivated voices (voices trained according to different cultural norms) and techniqueoriented bodies (bodies exhibiting training from other cultural milieus) can often accompany electronic and non-traditional The professional arena of the stage or instrumentation. theater-patio limits distractions and crystallizes preferred messages in dramatic, poignant presentations. These images suggest exquisite, elegant, exotic, and sometimes unrealistic visions of life among the carriers of many dance traditions, often deemed unauthentic and not creative. Using the cultural conventions and artistic patterns that are at the core of the social group from which the dance traditions stems, however, both performers and tourists are often able to experience authenticity bodily and thereby, simultaneously express authenticity and creativity. The intensity and energy exhibited in the resulting dance performance secures authenticity and creativity within the touristic setting through the culmination of differing qualities of movement and through the profound experience within the performer while dancing. Therefore, the experience of performing, especially the experience of dancing, is ultimately a route toward genuineness: that space and time where the energy within a dance performance deepens from a routine presentation to a more intense and intensely experienced performance by both the performer and the viewer. This experiential authenticity, as clarified by Handler and Saxton (1988), further explains authenticity and creativity in dance performance for tourists. Both the audience and performers can identify performances that are more genuine, or profoundly experienced, than routine re-enactments of dance traditions. The study of dance in touristic settings restates the power within this multisensory and ephemeral phenomenon called

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dance. It forces a re-examination of definitions of authentic and creative in terms of performers as well as tourists and analysts. It demands the careful consideration of both multiple aspects of dance performance and a balance of the data within the dancing body, the setting, and the larger social circumstances of dance performance. Cl 0 REFERENCES
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