Journal Article

The Odyssey Project: A Martial Arts Journey Toward Recovery and Liberation

Price, Zachary

2014

Overview

The choreography and aikido-based exercises that I introduced during the rehearsal process offered a vehicle through which the ensemble was able to explore movement as a form of storytelling, discipline, relaxation, concentration, and conflict resolution. Because the final performance took place at a professional venue that was neither LPBC nor UCSB and included a post-performance discussion with the audience and cast, the final performance was an opportunity to transgress racial, social, and economic borders, allowing the cast to gleam, if only for a moment, a world of opportunities beyond the walls of carceral systems, be they the school or the prison. Unlike traditional forms of writing, in the United States, these vernacular forms of knowledge-production ignited the evolution of hip-hop aesthetics starting in the late 1960s and early '70s, coinciding with the popularization of the kung fu cultural revolution in cinema (Kato 179). [...]martial arts, along with graffiti and break dancing, became a part of America's city landscapes against the backdrop of broken writing on broken walls, breaking racialized borders through soundscapes and visual inscriptions. [...]the aikido-based movement and choreography, in conjunction with dance, mask-making, and construction of the actual script, were vehicles through which company members could recover their voices and own the stories of their own odysseys. According to the \"Executive Summary\" in the January 2012 \"South Coast Task Force on Youth Gangs Annual Report,\" there were approximately 32,655 youths ages 5-19 years living in Santa Barbara County.

• Publisher: Johns Hopkins University Press
• Subject: Caribbean literature / Children & youth / Choreography / Collaboration / Colloquial language / Community Relations / Conflict Resolution / Correctional Institutions / Correctional Rehabilitation / Counties / Dance / Educational Opportunities / Epic literature / Essays / Ethnography / Graffiti / Imprisonment / Juvenile Courts / Kinetics / Males / Martial arts / Motion picture directors & producers / Motion pictures / Paleography / Parole & probation / Qualitative research / Storytelling / Teacher education / Theater / Undergraduate Students / Walcott, Derek / Writing / Writing Exercises