Capturing kontredans: the transnational exposure of a Haitian dance form

Abstract

ABSTRACT In the rural Haitian community of Ti Rivyè, dancers and musicians perform kontredans, a dance based on 18th-century European social dances and strongly influenced by African musical sensibilities and movement vocabulary. Those who perform it today are the descendants of enslaved persons who overthrew their colonial masters in an unprecedented revolutionary war. This article presents a specific kontredans and accompanies a documentary film that intends to increase the dance’s visibility in Haiti and abroad. While kontredans may not be as present as it once was in Haitians’ lives, it has not entirely disappeared, despite claims to the contrary. I address the tensions between efforts to archive and conserve a cultural practice while remaining mindful of the detrimental premises of salvage anthropology. The fact that kontredans emerged in a context of colonial violence and that its practitioners continue to suffer from the effects of systemic racism raises a number of questions in regard to representation and authenticity.