Christine Barrera sec.

Review of Vodou

In many societies, art and religion are integrated elements within the

structure of that society. As in Haiti, the first slave rebellion and independent slave

nation, their culture is largely connected to the religion of Vodou. In fact, It is

believed that the slave rebellion was begun by a Vodou priest. In Haiti, Vodou

permeates various forms of art including images, dance and song. Through the most

recent centuries, Vodou has been largely misunderstood and thus translated to

other Western nations as groups of people conducting evil forms of sorcery. The

Haitian Vodou performance at the University of Michigan, through the theater style

setting, translated Vodou as an entrancing Creole religion but also as a harmless

form of art that unites a group of people with a family of drums, and brings strength

through collective dance and employment of African and Creole words.

The performance is framed by a stage and dark, theater lighting. The color of

the lights creates a dramatic atmosphere. The rhythms, songs and dances seem

symbolic for something in Vodou that I cannot connect it to with my limited

knowledge. The performers are on a stage, but the stage acts as more of a tool that

provides only a means by which the audience may see the artists and not a divide.

The dance and the music are interwoven. The drums are loud and sharp beats, fast

and slow in different time and interlocking rhythms. The dance is made of angled

and cyclically flowing movements. The word ‘interweave’ describes well the dancing

that occurs in Vodou. Dancers take turns in the center or alternate to provide the

feeling of unity. The dancers take turns being in the center, or dance together in a

circular formation. During the performance, this most clearly this happened when
the dancers held hands and weaved themselves as a long train back and forth

through the line they created of their bodies. It is easy to make the connection of

the drumming and dancing as a spiritual act. The only way to describe it is

entrancing, and interlocking and improvised rhythms and patterns do

understandably provoke spirit possession. Singing too, made up only of repeated

words such as “nago” – a Dahomey word, are used in song to evoke power and unity

of the first independent slave nation. The use of African words in Haitian Vodou

song is also directly symbolic for the nation’s connection to Africa. However, as a

Creole nation, words come from other origins such as France. The clothes of the

dancers are also an important part of this musical form and have symbolic

importance too. The skirts allow more flowing movements that could be symbolic

for unity because there is less separation in different steps; and provides ease in a

prayer to a spirit world. Also, embroidery or patterns on clothing are symbolically

connected to the spirits through their own means of expression. Finally, the

clothing, drums and decoration Haitians use in performing Vodou is important

simply through tradition.

The musical Haitian performance is based on religious rituals and traditions.

Things of historic importance of the state, such as a flag, and symbols on the flag

like the words “L’union fait la force” create specific meaning when understanding

what the Haitian Vodou performance is about. Flags and images are important as a

recognized part of the performance because they bring a certain meaning just as

words and movements and rhythms. The family (of drums) is very important in the

culture and make up the basic content of the performance. The drummers wear

straw hats, and scarves on their heads along with plain pants and shirts, maybe

with embroidery or bright colors and patterns. The women wear skirts that are big
and flowy. The dancing is angular, and staccato. Their legs are spread out, and they

move their chest up and down. Movements are big and expressive by the way they

move their hands from the ground to the sky, and swing in big circles around. There

is more feeling and less conformity that comes out in the dance. At this

performance, it was easily observed when teacher and student took turns dancing.

Also when there was multiple dancers on stage, they created interlocking

movements simultaneous to the drums. This complexity is not something that is

seen in a movie about Vodou or Caribbean zombies. Perhaps those initial observers

of Vodou in reality found the complexity of rhythm and dance overwhelming and

thus it was decided upon as a demonic cult.

I initially accepted an ethnocentrically posed view point on Vodou that has

been imposed me as an inhabitant of the Western hemisphere (and is portrayed to

me through video games of my youth such as Clay Fighters 63 1/3 with a Jamaican

Voodoo priest and episodes of Scooby Doo Where are you?). Through this

perspective, the UM performance certainly could appear as stereotypically

“demonic” when noting the repeated, low drum beats and uninhibited dance moves

(as compared to European ballroom dance). Interestingly, it is easy to see the

performance style as closely connected to that of ballroom dances that started in

lower class neighborhoods such as the tango or ragtime dances. Now widely

accepted, these classical dances were first seen by the upper class as vulgar and

sexually captivating. The performance of Vodou’s free movements and entrancing

drum beats in the university context provides a connection to historic African-

American dance and culture. The Haitian religious performance at the University of

Michigan really was not so different from my understanding of it in Murphy and

Thompson’s writing nor was it visually different from my ethnocentric notions.

However, through the university and context provided by the essays, and not

Scooby Doo, my perception of the performance is different. The venue (being on a

theatrical stage with theatrical lighting) completely alters the performance because

it seems simply to be a performance with no further connection than a theatrical

drama. It doesn’t provide the same atmosphere as I ethnocentrically know Vodou

music and dance to be, like performed in a forest clearing around a fire. On a stage,

I am prepared to watch and see a performance to think about critically. The

musicians and the dancers are aware of their position on the stage, but are still

swept up in dance or drumming.

The significance of this performance is primarily to introduce and present

more people to Vodou, to create a better understanding of a misunderstood religion.

In a sense, these musicians are doing the same work as so many missionaries in

non-Christian communities by spreading an understanding through the expression

of Vodou. Personally I see it as a better understanding of a certain culture and that it

will help me understand what the culture of slaves was like and also to understand

Fon African culture better through knowing how they dance and express unity and

spirituality. The fact that Vodou comes from a Creole nation does show that there

are possibilities to unite with other groups. The fusion of these multiple genres from

which Haitian Vodou was created is significant in noting the universality of spiritual

beliefs. Drums are of importance in many different kinds of music all over the world,

the Vodou orishas are believed as being nearly parallel to Christian saints. Perhaps

there is an unobserved international spiritual unity.