Cordon Dance: A Neolithic Dance in the XXI Century

Unit: Neolithic

Theme: Cordon Dance

 

I

 

Introduction

The Neolithic left its footprints through dance. The areito, an indigenous dance from the Caribbean Neolithic, evolved historically until it emerged as Cordon Spiritism, a practice where dance is used to heal. Today, we will try reenact this practice to experience what this dance was like in the subjuctive mood.

 


II


 Learning Objectives

 

  • Understand the main aspects of the Cordon dance
  • Explain how Cordon dance evolved from its Neolithic origin
  • Discuss the importance of Cordon spiritism for the community in which it has developed
  •  Experience the dynamics of the Cordon dance as a cultural retention from the Neolithic period in the Caribbean

 

III

 

Main Lesson

 

 Read

From the Areíto to the Cordon: indigenous healing dances

 https://www.scielo.br/j/rbep/a/WS5vKQPZPp9D454fj8NkFKx/?format=pdf&lang=en



IV

Discussion Questions

Part I

Group 1: Origin

1.How were Taino people able to keep their practices and believes intact?

2. What is Cordon dance?

3. What is spiritism?

4. What is the meaning of "sacar el muerto" or "remove the dead"?

5. Explain the meaning of "trance."

6. How is the syncretism observable in the dance ritual?

7. What makes their use of their bodies in the dance indigenous?

8. What do their bodies represent?

9. Why is it important for Cordon practitioners to dance?


Group 2: The Circle

1. What do the spiral lines represent?

2. how would you describe storm dances?

What is the importance of dancing counterclockwise?

3. Who is the God Hurakan for Taino people?

4. What happens when the body circles during the dance?

5. Why could we describe Cordon dance as a Neolithic Intangible Cultural Heritage (ICH)?


Group 3: Preparation

1. Which characteristic of Cordon ritual in worth remembering?

2. What are the initial catholicized prayers for?

3. How do the participants purify themselves?

4. What does the phrase "being nature" mean? 

5. What happens when water is magnetized with human bioenergy?


Group 4: The Chants

1. What is problematic about cultural retention, specifically in this case?

2. What is Garrido-Mazorra's definition of Cordon?

3. Who was the tequina?

4. How is the climax of the dance described in this article?

5. Why is trance important in this dance? 


Group 5: Bioenergetic Exchange

1. How is the bioenergetic field achieved?

2. What does the bioenergetic exchange facilitate?

3. What is trance according to Garcia-Molina?

4. How can a Cordon dancer achieve a perfect trance?

5. What validates Cordon as a unique sample of indigenous living culture?


Part II

Group 1: Kardek's Mediumship

1. Define the term perispirit.

2. Define mediumship.

3. Who are the cemis?

4. Why are Kardec's ideas about extra-censorial communication useful to Cordon practitioners?

5. What circumstances turned spiritism into a new faith for modern Cubans?

6. Why cemis considered spirits of the "higher order?"

7. Describe the roles of the behique and the tequina?

8. Why would you say (guess) the centers in Bayamo and Manzanillo developed Cordon dance?


Group 2: First Cordon Center

1. Who was Anita Barrera Fajardo?

2. Who was Salustiano Olivera Sanchez?

3. Why is having a temple important for practitioners?

4. Why there were so many spiritist centers opened all over?

5. What importance do you see in the creation of the Federacion Spirita Cubana?


Group 3: Extra-Sensorial Communication

1. Which are the branches of spiritism?

2. Why is the medium important?

3. What does Cordon's extra-sensorial communication represent?

4. Why can we say that that Cordon dance has no vestiges of Spanish or African influence?

5. What does it mean that Cordon is a dance without "image?"

6. Why is dynamic acceleration important when dancing Cordon?


Group 4: A Dance of Presence

1. Describe the terms: tainidad, taineo and tainia.

2. Describe the term "transculturalism" used by Ortiz?

3. Why was Cuban spiristism a necessary result of the Cuban nation state at a macro level?

4. What happened with spiritism at a micro level?

5. Which are considered periods of adjustement and mal-adjustment?


Group 5: Natural Energetic Transference

1. Explain the process of connecting with disembodied entities.

2. What does Melissa Daggett clarify?

3. Which intervention made by Mesmer added more information about trance?

4. How did modern spritists incorporated these new abilities some had to communicate with the afterlife?

5. What is the relationship between mediums and disembodied entities?

 

 

V

A Note to Remember

 

Describing and reflecting on the process that generates indigenous dance as therapy, resurrects a Taíno dance form believed to be extinct (areíto) and it brings to the forefront a dance that is practically unknown (Cordon), re-framing it as a legitimate healing practice. 

 

VI

Case Study

"Filmed on the occasion of the invitation of the Community of Monte Oscuro to Santiago de Cuba on the occasion of the Festival del Caribe 2011 (Foco de Los Hoyos). This community coming from a sparsely populated and fairly isolated region of the province of Bayamo practices Orilé spiritualism, as Fernando Ortiz called it, or Cordon spiritualism. It was at Monte Oscuro that the Cuban scholar was put in contact with this religious and therapeutic practice linked to trance. In the present case, we observe a self-limitation of the group in relation to the irruption of the trance." D Ritmacuba

 



VII


 Activity

Cordon's Ceremonial Stages

 Students re-enact the Cordon ritual according to their own group's part of the dance.


Group 1: Beginning of the Ceremony / Phase 1 (Cordon for mediums)

                                                                Phase 2 (Knock of work)

Group 2: Opening of the Raft / Phase 1 (Cordon for the invoking)

                                                    Phase 2 (Reception of fluids)

Group 3: The Healing 

Group 4: Closing of the Raft / The knock of work

                                                   The soft transmission

Group 5: End of the Ceremony


VIII

Glossary


IX

Journaling


X

Sources


Morejon, Jorge Luis (2018). From the Areito to the Cordon: Indigenous healing dances. https://www.scielo.br/j/rbep/a/WS5vKQPZPp9D454fj8NkFKx/?format=pdf&lang=en


XI

Students' Work

 

Make Up Work 
 
Jolie Montlick
2/6
 

I chose group 4 questions, The Chants, because I found this topic to be the most interesting.  

1. What is problematic about cultural retention, specifically in this case? 

  • I think the chanting rituals dedicated to the moon and sun before the ceremony can be seen as a way of preserving cultural heritage. This form is also present in the chants sung as part of the Cordon dance vocalized as “orile, olile or oringue […] which have no defined manner of pronunciation and unknown meaning”. Like many oral traditions passed down through generations, these retentions have maintained the vocal form while losing their original literal significance. The original purpose behind their creation has faded into obscurity.

2. What is Garrido-Mazorra's definition of Cordon? 

  • In this film we see Huellas Vivas del Indocubano, Garrido Mazorra who defines Cordon as a ritual of dance and song to the voice of the leader of the rite, a chant begins. 

3. Who was the tequina? 

  • The Tequina, formerly known as the head behique, acted as the primary medium through which spirits communicated and conducted healing. Their responsibility involved singing and dancing to induce a trance state, enabling the connection with spiritual realms.

4. How is the climax of the dance described in this article? 

  • The peak moment is described as the intense mixture of sounds, also known as "a cacophony". Also described as a "collective frenzy". 

5. Why is trance important in this dance? 

  • Trance serves various roles within its cultural and spiritual context. It enables the climactic moment desired by participants, amplifying expressive impact through a state of "collective frenzy." In Cordon Spiritism, trance, dance plays a crucial role in the healing process, allowing mediums to access vital information for aiding others. It acts as a channel for spiritual communication and the transmission of healing energies.

 

 

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