Black Girls' Rhymes & Foot Stomping Cheers In A 2022 Production of The Play "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When The Eainbow Is Enuf

The Tony Award, May 28, 2022

Black girl magic is reborn on Broadway in this fearlessly new, fiercely now reinvention of Ntozake Shange's iconic work. In this celebration of the power of Black womanhood, seven women share their stories and find strength in each other's humor and passion through a fusion of poetry, dance, music, and song that explodes off the stage and resonates with all."... -snip- According to a comment in this video's discussion thread, this production was nominated for a "Best Choreography award for the 75th Tony Awards (2022) but it wasn't the winner of that award. **** Edited by Azizi Powell

This pancocojams post showcases a video of a 2022 Broadway production of the play "For Colored Girls Who Considered Suicide When The Rainbow Was Enuf". This play was written by Ntozake Shange in 1975. The focus of this post is the clips of one children's rhyme and two foot stomping cheers that were chanted in the beginning of that video.. The content of this post is presented for historical, socio-cultural, folkloric, and aesthetic purposes. All copyrights remain with their owners. Thanks to all those who are featured in this video and thanks to Ntozake Shange for her cultural legacy. Thanks also to the publisher of this video on YouTube. **** INFORMATION ABOUT THIS PRODUCTION

Here's information about this production from the summary of a very brief YouTube video that is found at https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0lqnuUpAI1c "Montage | FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF"

PublicTheaterNY, Oct 25, 2019

Written by Ntozake Shange Directed by Leah C. Gardiner Choreography by Camille A. Brown A groundbreaking work in modern American theater, FOR COLORED GIRLS WHO HAVE CONSIDERED SUICIDE/WHEN THE RAINBOW IS ENUF, returns to The Public for the first time since it premiered in 1976, before its breakthrough run on Broadway. Filled with passion, humor, and raw honesty, legendary playwright/poet Ntozake Shange’s form-changing choreopoem tells the stories of seven women of color using poetry, song, and movement. With unflinching honesty and emotion, each woman voices her survival story of having to exist in a world shaped by sexism and racism."...

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TRANSCRIPTION OF THE BEGINNING RHYME AND CHEERS IN THIS PRODUCTION OF "FOR COLORED GIRLS" Group: Mama's little baby likes shortnin', shortnin'

Mama's little baby likes shortnin' bread.

Mama's little baby likes shortnin', shortnin'

Mama's little baby likes shortnin' bread.

Soloist: My name Sitar
Group-Yeah
Soloist-And I am fly
Group- yeah
Soloist- And when I kick it
Group-Yeah
Soloist-I kick it high

Group- Okay Okay
Jig a low
Jig Jig a low
Jig a low
Jig Jig a low
Jig a low
Jig Jig a low
Jig a low
Jig Jig a low
Soloist- My name is Nita
Group-Yeah
Soloist-And I'm a cutie
Group-Yeah
Soloist-JAnd if you don't so
Group-Yeah
Soloist- Imma shake my bootie
Group-Whoop Thang!
-snip-
This rhyme and cheers aren't included in the auto-generated transcript of this video. This is my unofficial transcription of this portion of this video. Additions and corrections are welcome.

This video shows a few clips of that Broadway production with audio that doesn't match the visuals that are shown. Also, the movements that are shown during the audio and video clips don't match the real life performance activities that Black girls did in real life while they chanted that rhyme and those cheers. 

The rhyme and cheers portion shown in the beginning of this video isn't part of the original "For Colored Girls"... play.

The first vocalization that was shown is the song "Mama's Little Baby"

The second vocalization (beginning with the soloist "My name Sitar") is a form of the foot stomping cheer "Hula Hula".

The third vocalization is a form of the foot stomping cheer "Jig A Low". 
 

Click http://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_40.html for Part II (D- G) of this series for examples of "Gigalow" ("Jigalow").

Click https://pancocojams.blogspot.com/2016/09/foot-stomping-cheers-alphabetical-list_6.html for examples of "Hula Hula" .

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Notice that at .09-010 in the video, three women are shown very briefly signing ASL (American Sign Language) .

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