The dance to sublimate the body
In an effervescent Johannesburg, the 17-year-old South African dancer Leroy Mokgatle followed classical dance steps: arabesque, fifth position and whipped spins. This is followed by movements borrowed from the Voguing - dance appeared in the 1970s in the gay clubs frequented by African-Americans - and Hip-Hop.
Later, two dancers with more muscular bodies and dressed in tight-fitting underwear decorated with rhinestones begin a pole dance number. To the feminine sensuality of the undulations of these virile bodies is mixed a hoarse but hot male voice and some piano notes. Thighs contracted and powerful arms shake the codes of a dance usually practiced by archetypes of femininity.
Suddenly, as an incantation, the murmur "masculine body" is superimposed on the music composed by Devonté Hynes and clashes with the aerial movements of the body of ephebe by Leroy Mokgatle contortionne in a jacket of black velvet with sleeves embroidered with crystals.
Filmed at the Kodak 16mm, Practice, Harley Weir's latest film for Grace Wales Bonner, participates in the construction of a new masculinity. There is latent eroticism, the rawity of the documentary but above all the fascination certain for the body dear to Harley Weir, a fascination already evident in Meet the Wrestlers of the Pink Lake , his previous film for Wales Bonner shot him in Senegal.
In this experimental film, the male body is an obsession. Androgynous bodies, juvenile bodies, athletic bodies: the beauty of the masculine black silhouette is celebrated in its multiplicity.
Grace Wales Bonner transcends genres. More than clothes considered masculine, his creations are men's clothing. They seem to have been thought of to dress up the body of man as a structure and not to spread the codes of a conventional male locker room. Like other labels like Palomo Spain, Grace Wales Bonner questions norms in reality arbitrary and contradicts the invented clichés of manhood. This gentler masculinity, which she creates, herself prefers to describe her in a Guardian article as "gentler" rather than "softer." One way to signify that this masculinity is redefined mainly by temperament rather than by texture. A "gentler" look, softer and more lovable.
Multiculturalism at the heart of its work
A graduate of Central Saint Martins in 2014, Grace Wales Bonner won the LVMH award in 2016. Born of a Jamaican father and an English mother, multiculturalism is intrinsic to her. She defines her work as " a crossroads, a collision of cultures ". And Practice , as well as its collections, is the point of impact.
As a result of a hybridization, Practice opens the boundaries between cultures by mixing styles of music - djembes, electro, piano - and dances recalling their importance in African cultures. The garment also emphasizes the plurality of black identities. The creations of Grace Wales Bonner mix the Caribbean and African clothes to the universe of tailor. In the film , a do-rag - a kind of nylon mesh cap originally worn by black slaves to absorb sweat - is added to the leotard. Formerly made from feminine tights, the do-rag became in the years 90-2000 one of the dress codes of rappers with the exacerbated virility.
Grace Wales Bonner designs clothing in a more global fashion than fashion. She intellectualizes it with literary references that she shares in her parades through bibliographies referring to works such as James Baldwin's The House of Giovanni .
Short film Practice by Harley Weir for Grace Wales Bonner
A total art work, this 11-minute film combines fashion, dance, music and cinema. An intentionally polysemous title, Practice leaves the choice of interpretation. It certainly deals with the training of the body to the dance but also and especially of the training of the man facing his own masculinity. "Practice", in English, is also the custom. A theme that recalls the dances of groups similar to traditional African dances.
This film is the result of a collective effort. It gathers together in that it assembles several cultures between them that they are clothing, musical or choreographic. Practice is a mosaic, it shares a new culture made common.
