Cia de Dança Afro Euwá-Dandaras: um estudo sobre a (re)significação identitária e étnica em jovens negras na cidade de Santa Maria/RS

Abstract

This study is the result of an ethnographic research realized with the women dancers, all of them black people, of the Afro Dance Company Euwá-Dandaras , in Santa Maria city of Rio Grande do Sul - Brazil. The study have with mainly aimed to show how the participation of young black women in this group, that is dedicated to the exaltation and appreciation of the African-Brazilian culture through an artistic-cultural expression, in other words, the african dance influences in the process of identity and ethnical (re)signification among these young women. Through this research was possible to understand that this process is very dynamic and, in this universe mediated by a several number of factors, as the friendship and/or kinship relations are very present in the group, and the strong influence of the religion of African roots and the carnival, because they represent a space of much sociability in the lives of the ballerinas and their families. This participation also enables the Dandaras new experiences and learning enabled by interaction of the group, a process that can be understood as an initiation rite, since that this young women, when they leave the group, leave different than when they entered, showing a transformation particularly related to her self-esteem and sense of blackness, to understanding of what is be a women black. In other words, these young women perceive themselves as black and are position themselves as black, leaving to see the ethnic and racial issues as negative, seeing this issue as a reason of pride.