Lena Blou, Bigidi’Art, and the Harmony of Disorder
Dance, Theater, and Performance Studies Working Group
April 14, 2023
3:30 PM - 5:00 PM
Location
Institute for the Humanities
Address
Behavioral Sciences Building, 1007 W Harrison Street, Suite 153, Chicago, IL 60607
Calendar
Download iCal FileAnthropologist, dancer, choreographer, and educator Léna Blou (Guadeloupe, French West Indies) will demonstrate and discuss her engagement with a praxis she calls “Bigidi’art.” It is inspired by Léwòz, one of seven traditional dances found in her island’s sung and danced Gwoka practices. Dr. Blou theorizes and uses Bigidi’art as an everyday philosophy and dance technique centering an asymmetrical Black/Caribbean body in permanent rupture. The body in Bigidi’art is in a permanent imbalance as a mode of self-determination, and sheds light on Caribbeans’ harmonization of disorder especially in times of social, political, and environmental precarities.
Dr. Léna Blou is considered an avant-garde artist for creating “Techni’ka,” a contemporary teaching technique based on Guadeloupe’s Gwoka rhythms and dances. Lēna Blou is the founder of the Center for Dance and Choreographic Studies and the Compagnie Trilogie Léna Blou and the Larel Bigidi’Art, combining training, creation, and research.
To request accessibility accommodations, contact Katie Corboy at kcorboy@uic.edu by April 10.
Date posted
Feb 8, 2023
Date updated
Mar 29, 2023