Australian Aborigines Object to portrayal of their dances by DomShabs

[dorispulaski]

However, the guidelines for the OD are specific: the dance is supposed to be from a specific country or culture, not a mythical culture.

One of the articles said that the specific cultural milieu they were creating was Bedrock & the Flintstones. Could be it.

Of course then they should have danced to The Car Hop Song

Here we come on the run
With a burger on a bun
And a dab of coleslaw on the side,
Oh your taste we will tickle
With a great dill pickle
And all of our potatoes are french fried, fried, fried,
Our burgers can't be beat,
'Cause we grind our own meat,
Grind, grind, grind, grind, grind,

and Meet the Flintstones.

 

[jcoates]

Regarding making comparisons of this situation to bad impersonations of British accents, there is one point being conveniently forgotten. Australian Aborigines were almost wiped off the face of the planet. They are rightly sensitive, even hyper-sensitive, because they are trying to preserve as much of their culture as possible after centuries of forced assimilation where their cultural worth was devalued. Last time I checked, Brits are in no danger of losing their culture to the sands of time. Brits have had control over the expression and exporting of their culture. Australian Aboriginal people, by and large, have not. I think that is where a large part of the offense comes from and why some non-Australians may tend to agree with them.

 

[Mathman]

If Aborigines are crying racism, Dom/Shabs hit it home. How more authentic can you be?

An astonishing argument! Let me make sure I understand what you are saying.

1. The aboriginal peoples of Australia have been and continue to be the victims of racism.

2. Domnina and Shabalin's dance is racist.

3. Therefore it is authentic.

In other words, although it is not authentic to the Aboriginal culture, it does authentically represent the racist and insulting manner in which this culture is usually presented, in degrading caricature, by others. (!)

 

[mishieru07]

I think Oksana has a point, virtually every culture or nationality could object to their portrayal in an ice dance OD, because they can never be 100% authentic. So we now know the Aboriginal community (or at least part of it) doesn't like this dance. Ok, fine. DomShab should explain that it is not supposed to be an authentic expression of Aboriginal culture, nor a parody. It is an incorporation of Aboriginal stylistic elements into an ice dance routine. But if they change their OD due to this kind of pressure I will loose a lot of respect for them.

That's true. But I don't see the Indians up in arms crying foul over Davis/ White's Indian OD. In fact, they've received tremendous support from India. Evidently, it IS possible to have a good OD that doesn't offend the masses (there will always be a few dissidents so we'll ignore that). I mean, I don't recall the Aboriginies being offended by the Aussie dancers' portrayal no? (Have the Spanish ever complained about poor Flamencos though? I know there's a mixed reaction on forums about this year's flamencos. Just curious.)

I would be highly gratified if anyone aside from the Chinese dancers decided to do a Chinese dance. Really, I'd be flattered that you actually take interest in my culture. But if all you do is a caricature which does not resemble the real deal at all, I'd be extremely annoyed and insulted. It just goes to show how little respect you have for my culture and traditions. If you want to do it, do it properly. Same goes for the Tangos, Kalinkas, Flamencos etc.

Thanks Doris for clarifying the requirements for this year's OD! (You're seriously a dance goddess )

Wow Mathman. Truly astonishing.

 

[Big Deal]

The problem is NOT that they are dancing an Aboriginal Dance (caricature...).
The problem is that, Dom/Shab. does it in a tasteless way. THAT is what hurts.

Even the costume... The whole thing is horrendous, got some 8,80 points!!!!!! (sighhhh)

 

[Tonichelle]

it annoys and angers me when hollywood represents Alaska incorrectly in their films, I can only imagine the frustration "first people" feel when they see someone not make a serious effort to represent them correctly.

 

[Dodhiyel]

Thank you, Doris, you have given it the college try; I am so grateful to you.

I just worked on a looong post that did not register, due to a sign-in glitch, so I take that as a sign that I should not post it lol. This whole affair has me down in the dumps. I think it will take me a while to shake it off.

"There is none so blind as those who will not see"--John Heywood 1546.

 

[prettykeys]

"It's wasn't our purpose that it be especially Australian just a dance from many thousands of years ago."

I agree with those posters (and also with Dom/Shabs as quoted above) who are saying, well, this isn't really supposed to be specifically Australian, but it just represents the generic backward savage junglebunny -- you know, the Australians, Africans, Native Americans, Wild Men From Borneo,...

lol.

If the Aboriginies, the very people whom DomShabs is trying to present on the world stage, are offended, isn't this ironic and frankly an insult to the Aboriginal culture? Like Doris said, we can't really control what offends others but refusing to accept that others are offended strikes me as being high-handed to the point that no one else's opinions matter except yours. It is one thing to respect the views of others and another to agree with them (In this case, DomShabs are of course perfectly allowed to disagree if they wish to)

mishieru, your whole first post struck me as astute. I do have some sympathy for DomShabs (I don't even follow Ice Dance because I'm racist against Ice Dancers) and I don't believe their intentions were negative. But what itches me the most is how some people reacted to the Aboriginals' being offended.

"Hey, look at the Argentinians, unlike those Australian Aboriginals, they are mature/dignified enough not to be offended by all the butchered skating of their Tangos!"

"They should stop being oversensitive ninnies and get over it!"

I would hope that the opinion that matters the most is not how outsiders view the (in)significance of a bad portrayal, but that of the people/culture who are supposedly being portrayed.

A lot of other posters are saying that the biggest problem is the costumes. I disagree. The costumes are only a symptom of a deeper tangle.

Here's how I look at it:
1) No one who is at least a little aware of what the Aboriginals have been through (and continue to face), as well as having some understanding of the significance of their dances would have done what DomShabs did.
2) No one who is all the above and who has a smidgen of empathy would easily dismiss (or implicitly mock) the Aboriginals' taking offense.

And then there's the converse...

I'm not here being outraged and offended and holier-than-thou on the Aboriginals' behalf; it takes a lot to personally offend me. But when someone says they are offended by how you've appropriated and present their culture, I'd hope we could all back off. I'd say that's the least anyone could do for a group that's struggled for a long time.

 

[Medusa]

So I guess Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" should be a banned book and the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was somehow justified?

 

[prettykeys]

So I guess Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" should be a banned book and the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was somehow justified?

...

 

[prettykeys]

So I guess Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" should be a banned book and the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini was somehow justified?

I suppose you could say that, if you can admit that you supposedly made that same argument, too, when you were up in arms about a certain article someone wrote about Fat People...

And you were offended because it was oh-so-insensitive and picking on people who were already in a disadvantaged position for reasons that may include things that are beyond their control.

Yes.

You're right, that's exactly what I was getting at. Go fatwas.

http://www.goldenskate.com/forum/showthread.php?t=29199

I have no problems with articles giving good advice...but this article was just nasty, the author took some extreme examples, put them together in a judgmental and patronising opinion piece, that seemed to have a near demagoguing effect on it's readers.

 

[Medusa]

Yeah, but I didn't want to ban anyone from the Olympics for it, nor did I demand apologies or anything.

Don't get me wrong, I am incredibly disappointed that DomShab seem to have done a really bad job in researching their dance. Especially since he enjoys presenting himself as an intellectual. In addition, I don't find the dance very creative or appealing.

But demanding apologies? Demanding them to change the dance? Demanding that they'll be banned from the Olympics? Talking to the Russian ambassador?

This falls under freedom of expression, just like the article I vented about. You can find offensive stuff everywhere, in lots of articles, movies etc. You cannot ban everything that is offensive to some portion of the population. Because then Rushdie would have to be banned. Their were lots of critical voices about "Slumdog Millionaire" when the movie came out (complains about blasphemy, about the distorted presentation of India), it still got a worldwide release, a couple of Golden Globes and basically every Oscar.

DomShab digged their own hole here, they admitted very superficial and limited research, they chose random music, apparently they also didn't even follow the rules that the dance has to be specific to a certain country (when they said that it's not "Australian Aboriginal" but simply "Aboriginal") - it is not in any way close to the culture etc.

So the judges should deduct for the wrong concept, the laughable choreography, the horrific costumes and really dump them in the OD. That is the right course of action, in my opinion. Just don't give them more attention, because they are thriving on it (just read a Russian newspaper article about it this morning).

 

[prettykeys]

Then I agree with you Medusa, I don't believe that trying to ban DomShabs was the best way to go about it.

I do wonder what would have happened, though, if someone did a Dance routine portraying the Pope and a nun...

 

[Ptichka]

I do wonder what would have happened, though, if someone did a Dance routine portraying the Pope and a nun...

 

[colleen o'neill]

Gee , let's not get carried away. It's beyond ridiculous to equate this juvenile program (How long is it? How much thought went into it?) with "The Satanic Verses".

I agree entirely with Medusa...it would be best for the judges to just dump it. However , the judges don't have a good record in this respect. In the past , they've often shown a sad propensity for swallowing spin whole. (I'm always hoping for improvement.)

I do think the Aboriginal Council is entitled to object to whatever authority they choose . ( They're not making threats to life and limb. ) And sadly, in the past , it's taken threats of ..or at least noise about ..Ice Dance being excluded from the Olympics to effect any change. It's taken people outside the sport to stand up and say "There's too much nudity..", or "Enough of couples lying on the ice rolling over each other and practically making out ! This is not the Indoor Sport " ..before any heed was taken.

If the actions of the Aboriginal Council result in coaches making sure their programs are properly researched and making honest attempts to portray the character of a given dance.. Thank You , Aboriginal Council !

Anyway, I doubt this would result in D/S being banned..but they wouldn't be the first couple to have to make last minute changes to a program. I know they thrive on the attention, but don't you think they'd try to create it anyway ? Don't you think the program itself is largely an attempt to provoke controversy..so that much can be made of ART! and IT'S DIFFERENT! hoping to deflect attention from the excellence of their competition ?

 

[kiz_4Ever]

I agree with medusa too...

 

[Wicked]

DomShabs OD is the top story today on Yahoo.com.

 

[DesertRoad]

Does this mean there won't be a fatwah against D/S? :disapp:

 

[viv]

This thread asks to be closed.
hwell:

 

[bigsisjiejie]

<snip>
...it would be best for the judges to just dump it. However , the judges don't have a good record in this respect. In the past , they've often shown a sad propensity for swallowing spin whole. (I'm always hoping for improvement.)

I do think the Aboriginal Council is entitled to object to whatever authority they choose . ( They're not making threats to life and limb. ) And sadly, in the past , it's taken threats of ..or at least noise about ..Ice Dance being excluded from the Olympics to effect any change. It's taken people outside the sport to stand up and say "There's too much nudity..", or "Enough of couples lying on the ice rolling over each other and practically making out ! This is not the Indoor Sport " ..before any heed was taken.
<snip>

"...sad propensity for swallowing RUSSIAN spin whole..." (fixed it for ya!)

As to Ice Dance being dumped from the Olympics as a discipline, didn't Canadian IOC rep and bigwig Dick Pound come out very strongly in favor of this awhile back? Wonder if he is following this growing controversy?