Let's start with a standing figure from the Montol peoples of northern Nigeria. This figure sums up the whole show, the whole book and in a sense it is position 1 of the Afro-Atlantic classic ballet. Feet flat on the ground, knees deeply inclined and bent. Torso forward. Butt back, hands disposition often in a position of aggression.
Here her hands on her hips meaning she will fight for us forever. This is an aggression pose this is a pose of wrestlers, and athletes. This is a pose which is so strongly ingrained in African-American cultural memory of the body line of Africa that children are told by their grandmothers to this day- "don't stand with your arms akimbo in front of your elders," it is a sign of disrespect. Because it is the prerogative of elder women. And here she is.
Not only that, but you feel a kind of miming of spirituality in that she's
not only in position 1. But her legs are faceted in the strongest way so the
lines come down like lightning.
