Edited by Azizi Powell
This is Part III of a three part pancocojams series that explores how Petit Afro's YouTube dance videos express being Afro-Dutch & promote African culture.
Part III presents selected comments about certain facial expressions that Petit Afro's dancers make as part of their dance performances.
The YouTube videos where these comments are found are embedded in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos.html for Part I of this series.Part I includes quotes from the journal article that was featured in this pancocojams post: https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/excerpt-from-2014-journal-article.html "Excerpt From 2014 Journal Article "Styling Africanness in Amsterdam" By Marleen de Witte".
Part I also includes my editorial statement and a list of ways I believe Afro Petit's videos express being Afro-Dutch and promote African culture. Selected comments from five of Petit Afro's YouTube videos are also included in this post.
Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/how-petit-afros-youtube-dance-videos_22.html for Part II of this series. Part II features five Petit Afro YouTube videos. Selected comments from these videos were featured in Part I of this series.
Also, click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2018/10/facial-expressions-other-aspects-of.html for a related pancocojams post entitled "Facial Expressions & Other Aspects of "Attitude" In Some African American Contemporary Group Movement Arts".
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The content of this post is presented for cultural purposes.
All copyrights remain with their owners.
Thanks to Petit Afro and Petit Afro's dancers for their cultural legacy. Thanks also to all those who are quoted in this post and thanks to Orokana for filming this video.
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SHOWCASE VIDEOS
Example #1: Petit Afro - Afro Dance || Prod By. IFvckChris & Moris Beat
Petit Afro Official, Published on Oct 26, 2017
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Example #2: Petit Afro & Reis Fernando || Jozo - Erin Eruit (Shinna's Afro Mix) Orokana Film
Petit Afro Official, Published on Nov 3, 2017
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Example #3: Petit Afro Presents - #PetitAfroChallenge || Afro Dance || Video By HRN
Petit Afro Official, Published on Sep 1, 2018
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A related pancocojams post entitled "Attitude And Facial Expressions In Certain African American Contemporary Movement Arts" will be published ASAP and that link will be included in this post.
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SELECTED COMMENTS ABOUT FACIAL EXPRESSIONS AS PART OF DANCE PERFORMANCES
These comments are gleaned from some of Petit Afro's YouTube videos, including the two that are showcased above. I've added numbers for referencing purposes only.
Selected Comments #1
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sueuOezi8FQ
Petit Afro - Afro Dance || Prod By. IFvckChris & Moris Beat, published by Petit Afro Official on Oct 26, 2017 [This is the video given as #1 above.]
1. Tacio daSilva, September 2018
"I Love to see how afrikan dance is not only about dancing but interpretation and facial expressions are so important as body movements."
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2. Ana Teran, September 2018
"Tacio daSilva Totally agree with you this is spectacular dance and the facial expressions and a lot of talent 👍"
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3. TheSallylulu, September 2018
"I love love love Nyah. The facial expressions (especially smile) and her dancing killed it. These kids Mayne. The girl in the green dashiki suit, these girls all killed it @petit"
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Selected Comment #2
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nTAw03texKU "Petit Afro & Reis Fernando || Jozo - Erin Eruit (Shinna's Afro Mix) Orokana Film" published by Petit Afro Official on Nov 3, 2017 [This is the video given as #2 above.]
July Marks, November 2017
"someone please tell me, what is the black girl with the jersey ‘Pretty 93’ instagram?? i love how she dances and her face expressions 😭🔥🔥
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The dancer referenced in this comment is shown with another dancer at 2:55 to 3:38 in this video.
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Selected Comments #3
From https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qepmhyQAMMU
"Petit Afro Presents - #PetitAfroChallenge || Afro Dance || Video By HRN" published by Petit Afro Official on Sep 1, 2018
[This is the video given as #3 above. All of these comments are from September 2018 and October 2018]
1. Charlene Gyasi
"2:59 me when my mum makes says she is making jollof"
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2. Fabienne Blaise
"My cousin says your funny"
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3. abena poundz
"The girl in the African wear green at 3:001 she nailed it"
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4. TheSallylulu
"True"
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5. Solène G
"Her facial expressions 😂😂"
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6. Biola Bey
"She was the worst because of her face"
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7. Amel Al-Dousary
"What's even better than their amazing dancing ars the facial expressions of those little ones. Talk about confidence. Love"
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8. Baby bre's life
"The white girl in the green was killing it😂"
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9. Majda Zyani
"Yeahhh attitude"
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10. Melanin Mad3
"No she was not she just had facial expressions"
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11. Grace #FUNNY VIDEOS
"The girl wearing all green she just killed it just a Woow 🔥🔥🔥🔥"
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12. Soothing Voice of Reason
"Yes, she did. She was all into it!!"
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13. Grace #FUNNY VIDEOS
"🔥🔥🔥Her moves dou"
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14. Quasia Jackson
"She had the perfect attitude for the dance 😍😍😍"
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15. Imani Monay
"I notice a lot in these kinds of videos ppl mainly hype up the white ppl in the comments. The white girls did good BUT definitely wasn’t the best out of all the girls."
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16. Keep The Change
"Imani Monay I often read the comments first. I clearly knew this would be the case, as always. As you stated, this is so annoying, when someone with less melanin is ALWAYS given more glory than they deserve. There is no way this child was any any better than the others. As a matter of fact, she has LESS CONTROL, and was all over the place. This is a prime example of self loathing. NO ONE can do it better than those who originate the art! The younger girls at the beginning and the young lady in the red shorts, clearly have a clue of body control, as well as eye and ear coordination. We must cease to give others more applause and praise than they deserve!"
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17. Jennie Ragans
"The girl in the green did too much facial expression, she need to learn when to use it and when not. The girl in the Nike did it all good."
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18. Erica O'Neil
"Who is the young lady in the 4th group.....wearing the green outfit?!? All that sass and dance came from HER soul💚💚💚💚"
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This concludes Part III of this three part series on Petit Afro's dancers.
Thanks for visiting pancocojams.
Visitor comments are welcome.
Here's my comment that I posted in the comment section for Part I of this series:
ReplyDeleteI had initially decided to publish a post in this on comments about White people (in Petit Afro's group and otherwise) performing African dances.
However, I changed my mind as that there are so many comments on that subject with so many aspects that I felt that I couldn't do that subject justice.
Those comments in the discussion threads for the Petit Afro videos that are showcased in this series run the gamut from those highly praising individual White dancers in these videos to severely criticizing those same performances. Some commenters loved the fact that White people in Holland and elsewhere were interested in African dancing, while others wrote that they considered that a form of cultural appropriation.
Furthermore, some people wrote that Black commenters were too effusive about White dancers in Petit Afro's videos just because the dancers are White.
These are just a small portion of the comments on that subject.
I decided to include some comments about White people performing African dances in the selected comment compilation from the Video discussion thread given as #5 above.
Additional comments on that subject will be included in Part III of this series on Petit Afro's dancers facial expressions.