Our Philosophy, Aims & Objectives
Our Philosophy
JÁNUKA dancers share fond childhood memories of observing our fore-parents dancing the quadrille, as a central feature of village fairs, concerts and family gatherings. We are committed to the continuation of that trend.
We believe quadrille dancing is an affirmation of the free-spiritedness and passionate love of music and dance that our ancestors (represented by the Doctor Bird in our logo), demonstrated in the 18th and 19th centuries during and after enslavement in the Caribbean.
Although aggrieved by the wide scale injustice and inhumane treatment they received, we endeavor to focus on the moral, ethical and spiritual elements of their lived experiences that are triumphant, awe -inspiring, uplifting, encouraging, and thus worthy of praise. One astounding example is their inherent belief in the enduring strength of the human spirit to overcome pain and suffering through the creative process of dance.
We believe their wisdom, inner strength, strong moral, ethical and socio-cultural values, as well as unfailing hope for freedom, justice and a better life, influenced the strong sense of purpose that underpinned their resilient, defiant, courageous, fearless and sometimes dangerous activities.
We are convinced that their risk-taking behaviours, including quadrille dancing, were juxtaposed by compassion, tolerance, patience, versatility and a loving and forgiving attitude, as many of them outwardly conformed and complied with plantation rules and regulations, whilst unifying and building their new plantation communities.
We believe our ancestors danced the quadrille in defiance, because they were forbidden to dance their own African dances, sing their songs or speak in their different languages.
We perceive quadrille dancing as a cunning empowerment strategy and not a betrayal of their cultural identities, strong ethical values, or succumbing to white supremacy and domination. We believe it became a unifying force amongst them as they laughed, learned and danced it together. Their actions reveal a powerful force that “slavery” could not dominate, diminish or destroy.
We strongly believe that knowledge of our cultural past is important to build our present and future lives.
Our Aim
In accordance with our culture’s oral tradition; in which our history and culture are transmitted through the mediums of storytelling, proverbs, images, art, music and dance; we use creative license to tell a celebratory story of our ancestors’ endurance, courage, resilience, strength and determination to survive enslavement, and their triumph over oppression. Our Objectives
We will use this historical dance to:
- Entertain and inspire positive awareness of our Jamaican cultural heritage, across diverse cultural groups, age range, and communities in the UK.
- Celebrate our ancestors’ freedom of mind, free-spiritedness, passionate love of music and dance, resilience and triumph over oppression.
- Educate and empower individuals with knowledge of who they are, where they are coming from and the potential impact of past events on their current and future lives.
- Acknowledge the moral, ethical and spiritual elements of our ancestors’ lived experiences that are awe –inspiring, uplifting, encouraging, and worthy of praise.
- Raise awareness of the enduring strength of the human spirit to overcome pain and suffering through the creative process of dance.
- Recapture the discipline of collective expressions, unique interpretation of self, camaraderie, creative merry-making and frivolity, embedded in our ancestors’ quadrille dancing.
- Attribute each of our dance figures with symbolic meanings, relating to our ancestors lived experiences and their long and arduous journey to emancipation and self-determination. “They never gave up”