Is Jes Grew Still Growing? Dance/Music of Today
On the night that we finished the novel Mumbo Jumbo, Mr. Mitchell asked us to answer this question in our notebooks: What is the current state of Jes Grew and the Wallflower Order? In class, we touched on the history of Jes Grew in the form of jazz. Jazz is now seen as a form of “classical music”, and is now performed in fancy concert halls rather than in bars and out on the streets as it was in the 1920s. As a music genre, it isn’t seen as radical anymore, and though it definitely is not “dead”, it has become institutionalized - namely, by white commercialization. However, a music genre that still is perceived as black dominated thrives today. Both rap and hip hop are two of the most popular styles of music listened to in the modern day, and the most notable rappers/hip hoppers are African-American. When Mr. Mitchell mentioned the incident when Macklemore won 4 Grammys for Best Rap Album, Best Rap Song, Best Rap Performance, and Best New Artist, while Kendrick Lamar won none, although they were both breakthrough artists of that year (2014) and were nominated for the same number of Grammys. Because rap is known as a black dominated musical genre, the fact that a white artist was recognized for his work in rap rather than a black artist who excelled at the same time and to the same extent does not sit comfortably with many of us.
After hearing stories in which white artists took the reins of black dominated music genres, my mind started thinking about Jes Grew/Atonism in the hidden layers of race within certain popular dance styles of today. Although both ballet and hip hop are much different from the flamboyant movement of the flappers in the 1920s, the histories and current comparisons of the two dance styles are quite interesting. As hip hop started around the late 1970s in the Bronx, it is deeply rooted in the culture of young, working class African Americans, celebrating black culture with rap, DJing, breakdancing, and graffiti art - thus, a celebration and persistence of Jes Grew. In contrast, classical ballet has been around since the Italian Renaissance in the 1400s, as ballerinas performed in front of royalty as a source of entertainment. Embedded within the histories of both dance styles are the roots of African American pride and persistence, or European sophistication and regality, respectively.
In the present day, the “hip hop vs ballet” argument is always present within the dance world. Hip hop is primarily seen as “less proper” and not as technical as ballet - similar to how the liberating movement of the Flapper in the 1920s was looked at, compared to the prim-and-properness of the Gibson Girl of the 1910s. Because ballet has been a white-dominated style of dance since the 15th century, ballerinas such as Misty Copeland (first African-American principal ballerina of ABT) are looked at as inspirations for young aspiring ballet dancers of color. However, some have criticized Copeland as a dancer who is embracing the white ballerina culture, working within the system instead of against the system. Therefore, in terms of Mumbo Jumbo - Copeland can be seen as a black Atonist as she allows Jes Grew to disappear as she steps into the white culture of ballet without bringing in and celebrating her own black culture.
However, Copeland can be looked at as an extreme case. I truly believe that hip hop as a dance genre accompanied with rap as a music genre is growing and thriving as each day goes on, becoming more and more accepted and encouraged within the mainstream, outside of just the intimate dance world. Hip Hop is seen and celebrated across multiple television shows like America's Got Talent, and is a major dance style in World of Dance (the internationally broadcasted dance competition) - as Papa Labas said, “Jes Grew has no end and no beginning”.
What do you guys think? Have you seen Jes Grew thrive or die in popular culture, particularly in performances or videos that you have seen online of dances/music videos?
This is an interesting connection. I feel like the involvement of Jes Grew in many aspects of popular culture is something that has definitely improved over the past years, but I feel like it is also something that still needs to be worked on. This proves hard to manifest, as you say, as there are differences in opinion of how involved Jes Grew is/should be: for example, that Copeland is both an inspiration for young black ballerinas and is also criticized for fitting into white ballerina culture, instead of creating her own version of ballerina culture.
ReplyDeleteWonderful connection! I completely understand where this is going. To build on to the African vs. Western, new vs. old debate that you relate to hip hop and ballet, I think that although hip hop is generally recognized as 'less proper' than ballet, it is considered 'cooler' and 'more in' than ballet. The cool kids learn hip hop, the white Atonist brats do ballet. This would also connect to something we briefly touched on in class (5th hour), about how these art forms with African/African American roots (before: jazz, ragtime; now: hip hop, rap) are always considered the in, the culture of the young people. You're cool if you listen to Kendrick Lamar. Not so much if your playlist is all Chopin, Brahms, and Bach.
ReplyDeleteI don't pretend to know a lot about dance, but the discourse between ballet and hip hop makes me think of a thing I found out about a few months ago called "hiplet". Apparently there was a group of classically-trained black ballerinas in Chicago who wanted to expand the genre, so they started to dance to hip hop music with hip hop moves, but on pointe shoes. I thought it was an interesting point of fusion for attonism and jes grew - perhaps a reclamation of attonist culture by jes grew? Anyways, here's a video of them dancing that I thought was cool, if you want to check them out: https://youtu.be/4PhuCLix--0?t=307
ReplyDeleteI think what's interesting about Jes Grew in a modern culture is how African cultural ideas eventually become widely accepted, but only after they've been "bleached" so to speak. It also often "lags behind" a decent amount. Take for example Jazz. I don't think anybody has any issues with modern jazz in the same way some parents have issues with rap, but in many ways that's because jazz was taken out of its original context and "whiteified". Perhaps in 20 years we will see the same thing happen with hip hop and rap music, where rap and hip hop are widely appreciated amongst the masses, but it will be stripped of the significance it had when it initially emerged into pop culture.
ReplyDeleteNice post! I don't know much about Misty Copeland, so I haven't heard about the criticism of her working within the Atonist system rather than against it. I think that point is interesting though, as there really wasn't a black character in "Mumbo Jumbo" that works in the Atonist system other than Woodrow Wilson Jefferson who is forced into it. I wonder if Reed would even characterize her as Atonist because is it even possible for black people to be Atonists? Papa LaBas said that Jes Grew was deep in the souls of black people, so I'm wondering if it's even possible for black people to be Atonists.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great post. Reading through Mumbo Jumbo I would constantly think of parallels of the story and things in our society today. I think one of my favorite examples was Beyonce's superbowl performance which we watched in class, the perfect example of Jes Grew infiltrating society. I know very little about Misty Copeland so I think your information about her is really interesting, I would definitely characterize her as a continuation of Jes Grew in today's society.
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