When I discovered one of the best ways to communicate with my soul was through dance, I decided my first order of business would be to reconnect with the Valley Boys Junkanoo* group and officially become a Valley Dancer. Mission accomplished: my first performance was last week in the Youth March rush out.
Dancing was the easy part. The hard part was getting over my hang-ups about our outfit. The basic profile was a simple razor back t-shirt (I had no idea what that was), a short balloon skirt (they were apparently in style, but I was completely out of the loop), with tights underneath, and a thick coloured belt, with matching shoes and accessories.
When the girls first started to discuss the options, they threw around colours like yellow, green and pink. From the colours I observed the girls wear to practice, I knew they were not talking about any restrained tones. Being the conservative non-fashionista that I am, I created pictures in my mind of a gaudy getup that I would have to muster the confidence to step out in. When the white fishnet stockings were added to the mix, I really started to get scared.
Bear in mind, colour is central to Junkanoo, and being a form of street performance, loud, even exaggerated colours, are called for. But this was just a little off-parade, not the real deal, so that concept did not sink in for me. And we were not wearing real Junkanoo costumes for this parade: our uniform was essentially a decked out party-outfit. The fact that my soul could care less about what I was wearing did not initially register to me.
I diligently went about ignoring the little voice in my head and put together my outfit. Thankfully the final decision for the group was a skittles look, so everyone could choose their own colours, as long as all of the appropriate items – shoes, belt, accessories, tights – matched. I opted for gold. Naturally, the girls who turned up in their bright colours with matching makeup to boot looked much better and appropriately adorned for a Junkanoo parade. And when you look at the pictures, you will see all the drama inside my head was over nothing.
At the next practice our group leader said we would have a professional makeup artist painting our faces for the main parades on Boxing Day and New Years. I figured that was a special hint to me that the brown earth-tone eye makeup I wore for the Youth March would not cut it on Bay Street.
Hang-ups-aside, rushing was everything I wanted it to be: liberating. When the goatskin drums started to lick up, and the brass band started to play, and I really got into my groove, I disappeared. I still have a long way to go to fully unleash my lioness, since sometimes I would slip into a reserved mode: that may have just been exhaustion though. I know I only reached the inner surface of my creativity, so I am really looking forward to the big days, when I can really free up myself and feel alive.
*Junkanoo is a major street-performance festival in the Bahamas that incorporates music, dance and pantomime. It is the main grassroots movement in the country, having its origins in the colonial era, when enslaved Africans marched the streets in celebration of their African heritage and in protest of their captivity. It shares a likeness to Jonkonnu in Jamaica, Jankunu in Belize, and other regional cultural celebrations.
Modern Junkanoo consists of two main parades during the Christmas season. Different groups rush down Bay Street to compete against each other in costuming, choreographed dance, free dance, music and other categories for annual bragging rights and cash prizes.