" She had a way of pouting her lips exactly like that we have observed in the orangutan."
 --Baron Georges Leopold Cuvier
 
"...and the buttocks of the Hottentot as a somewhat comic sign of the primitive, grotesque nature of the black female." --Charles Darwin

Photo: Joanne Levey

Long ago in a faraway land she was the butt of many jokes and a lightning rod for 19th century scientific scrutiny because of her extraordinary body parts: buttocks, genitals, breasts and lips. Who was she? The Venus Hottentot. Fast forward to the 21st century: The demand for more "junk in yo trunk" increased fivefold in the U.S. and in a crowded plastic surgeons office, today's woman complains to Dr. 902where ever:   "My butt is too flat...."  "My lips are too thin, etc, etc, etc."   These comments should sound familiar as they are commonly spoken by a neighbor, Hollywood starlet, a family member, or perhaps even you!   Could Charles Darwin and Georges Cuvier who had much to say about the Venus Hottentot's body parts have ever imagined that their professional descendants would be performing cosmetic surgery on women in order to re-create them in the image of the Venus Hottentot? She would've laughed her head off.   The Venus Riff blends irony, satire, and social critique in a twisted, "burlesque-y" commentary on the fall and resurrection of womankind. Dance, music, and digital media intermingle in a theatrical exploration that shines an informed light on the past and present perceptions of the female body and the beginnings of what we call the cult of celebrity.

>>Watch the artist interview on HERE's youtube.com 

 

Performed in Culturemart 09 on a shared program with Amazingland.

 

I like being lost sometimes as an artist. The "Hansel and Gretel" approach to storytelling, dropping intellectual bread crumbs all way to a square oven so that I can have my brains cooked in absolute certainty spoils my fun.

As a neo-Gothic griot, storytelling and listening to a story are not that distinct for me.  Both exercises require being alert and prepared for the world that imagination evokes-- one that the subconscious mind can transcend-- beyond linear beginnings, middles, and endings, and labels of past, present, or future. The scaffolding of dance, technology, and narrative flow supported by the body creates new spaces for my imagination to climb high, establish itself, and take off again...

What has a broad, flat tail like a beaver, webbed feet, and a snout resembling a duck’s bill?  A platypus, probably.  Whose choreographic identity is a unique amalgamation of Double Dutch meeting Martha Graham meeting John Coltrane meeting Einstein meeting African dance meeting Edgar Allen Poe? Johari Mayfield, more than likely.  Evolving in an artistic habitat that at any given moment may be a ballet class on 29th street, an audio jam on the Lower East Side, an African dance class in the Alps, a children’s playground, or a long, hot shower after watching “Back to the Future” for the umpteenth time, Johari’s work hatches out of an instinctual need to artistically explore a myriad of environments in order to make sense out of Life’s emotional, spiritual, and physical curve balls. Her dances synergize traits from movement, narrative flow, and technology that leave audiences giggling, crying, or scratching their heads. Her work has been well received in several venues and festivals throughout New York and abroad including P.S. 122, RAW Material at Dance New Amsterdam, Spark Festival for Electronic Music and Art in Minneapolis, and Die Bregenzer Festspiele in Austria.