Sacred Migration to the Feminine Body
***UPDATE*** November 29, 2021
I recently have been invited to join the Alkemist Artist Residency happening in Cairo, Egypt for 2 weeks starting December 16th. I will be a part of a collective of movement-based artist from around the world as we come together to create work that bridges ritual and performance. The flight that I booked has been cancelled! With my refund due to process 4 weeks from now, I am in serious immediate financial need so that I can book my flight ASAP.
I have already exhausted so many funds to get me to this point but I will not let this set back deter me from this opportunity. It is such a rare and important part of the research and documentation for my film. I am looking to the support of my community, loved ones and strangers to help make this happen!
Location: New York- Cairo, Egypt
Airlines: Turkish Airline, Tap Portugal, Aeroflot
Price: $650-900
(due to the holidays prices are increasing at a high pace, so the sooner I can reach my goal the better!)
Sacred Migration to the Feminine Body: Indigenous movements of the Upper Nubia and the Nile, the New Orleans second line, the Afro Guinean and Mayan jaguar dance style of Yucatan Peninsula.
ABOUT THIS FILM:
This short documentary is about a dance performer, Chipo Kandake, whose journey of self-transformation and spiritual aspiration leads her on search for the origins of indigenous dance traditions starting from her lineage in Louisiana and throughout the diaspora, rooted in the Funk
I launched this crowdfunding project one year ago at the beginning of the pandemic, researching the connections between Afro Diaspora dance traditions in the southern United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean for a documentary film series. While Covid raged out of control in the US, with initial funding and support I was able to safely travel throughout the southern regions of Mexico investigating Mayan indigenous dance style in Quintana Roo, Oaxaca, Chiapas, and Veracruz.
I quickly became immersed into communities of artists in Mexico, performing, training, and teaching dance with locals throughout the country from Quintana Roo to Chiapas. This experience provided me with valuable connections to multiple living traditions as well as those historical references that inform dance practices in the southernmost parts of North America, experiences I could never have accessed without this direct and extended immersion.
Throughout this same period, I continued to build my Femme Funk platform, teaching “Sacral Shock” healing dance classes to Femmes and making major discoveries in my own family ancestry.
It wasn't until I returned to the States that I realized how everything I have been experiencing in the past year has all been intertwined, and that my personal narrative is integral to these practices and this history. This passage is a part of who I am, my ancestry, my art, my life. As a Black Femme artist, it is important for me to not only share the visual information of indigenous dance in Louisiana and Mexico but it is imperative that I tell my story. Future stages of research have already begun to lead me to Egypt.
September 1, 2020
Hey all! My name is Chipo Kandake. I am a musicologist, dancer, and cultural historian. I have been presented with a tremendous opportunity to begin my research for my Afro Latin documentary in Mexico, beginning at the end of October (next month!).
Unfortunately, I lost both my job and home in New Orleans due to COVID-19, so I have continued to pursue opportunities to do my independent work. I am seeking support for my travel and living expenses, materials and film costs (detailed below) associated with the documentary research.
I am researching the connections between Afro Diaspora dance traditions in the southern United States, Latin America, and the Caribbean for a documentary film series I am developing. I plan to use the time in Mexico to expand my research into traditional dances such as Cumbia Wepa, Mayan ceremonial dance traditions, the Afro Guinean street styles, and their connection to Diaspora performance. All while diving deeper into the history of Mexico, its slave-owning past, and its cultural connections to Southern, indigenous, and Creole cultures.
I started this project three years ago while completing my undergraduate studies at Dillard University in New Orleans, Louisiana, where I earned my degree in Filmmaking. While there, I received a study-abroad scholarship to begin my research in Cuba, Dominican Republic, and Haiti where I learned the origins and cultural significance of dances such as rumba, palo and merengue throughout the Afro-Latin community. This research led me to draw comparisons between those styles and the traditional Louisiana-based dances I grew up with and have performed including Zydeco and Second-Line parading.
As an independent, self-funded scholar, I would appreciate any amount of support you can offer to assist with expenses. This once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to be immersed in a Black Diaspora community within Mexico would be an extraordinary benefit for both my filmmaking and dance practice and one that I cannot afford to miss!
ABOUT CHIPO KANDAKE
ARTIST BIO
Chipo Kandake is a filmmaker and live performing artist whose work explores the histories of the Femme Funk music genre, Afro Indigenous dance traditions of Latin America, and other cultural practices of the African Diaspora. Since 2016, Kandake has primarily studied traditional dances throughout the Caribbean such as merengue of Dominican Republic, salsa of Cuba, and cumbia of Mexico.
After receiving her BA in Film Studies from Dillard University in 2018, Kandake worked alongside food historian and author Zella Palmer on the documentary “Black Hand in the Pot: The Story of Louisiana Creole Cooking.” This film identifies the influences of West Africa and Indigenous American cooking traditions that have greatly shaped Louisiana cuisine. Additionally, Kandake served as the editor assistant at New Orleans Tribune, the first African American daily newspaper in the United States.
In 2019, Chipo curated “Femme Funk,” a music and live performance series that highlights black femmes contribution to the Funk genre in collaboration with artists Carla Williams and Mickalene Thomas and the Contemporary Arts Center of New Orleans.
Kandake created the “Sacral Shock,” a virtual dancing healing series that utilizes Afro Indigenous dance traditions with a focus in primitive movement. Following in the footsteps of pioneers such as Katherine Dunham and Pearl Primus, Kandake is currently filming a short that connects the communal dance traditions of the New Orleans and Guinea dance style throughout Mexico.
October 1-December 31, 2020
Housing & utilities: $1800
rent: $1500 (3 months)
utilities: $300 (3months)
Travel costs: $1690
Equipment and materials: $1309
Total: $5000
