Page 62 - Aesthetic Formations Media, religion, and the Sense

“Don’t Ask Questions, Just Observe!” 47

they are subjected to a tough regime of training and rehearsal. There is
never a shortage of candidates, Balé Folclórico da Bahia is an international
success, and travels all over the world. On Pelourinho, the historic center
of Salvador, they have a show every night in Teatro Miguel de Santana,
where, next to such dances as samba de roda, maculêlê, and capoeira, they
give a demonstration of sacred dances from Candomblé. Dressed in the
sacred attire of the orixá, the dancers perform the dances of the possessed
in a spectacularized way. Another production, called The Court of Oxalá,
tells the stories of the orixás, and has a central role for the trickster god
Exú, here presented in the figure of a madman.
In Candomblé circles, these programs are highly controversial. Time
and again, Mãe Stella attacked the Balé Folclórico in the strongest terms

There are these folklore show that exploit what is most serious in Candomblé:
the manifestation of the orixá in his sons and daughters. So the tourist will
see the show, sees the youngster “dressed as the orixá,” imitating the battle
cries [of the warrior spirits], dancing the sacred dances. Then this tourist
will decide to go visit a ceremony, and who knows, will find that same
handsome lad truly transformed in Xangô, Oxossi or Ogum. What will he
think? If he has a bit of good sense, he will conclude that Candomblé is
nothing serious, that it belongs to such things as the samba de roda, that it
is folklore. (1989, 20)
Candomblé is a religion. It has nothing to do with the folklore shows that
can be seen in nightclubs, where they put on the orixá’s dance, as if the
dancer were a filho-de-santo . . . .These shows are vulgar imitations. Having
to witness how the sacred is profaned on stage, how these dances are per-
formed in a sequence that includes maculelê, capoeira, or samba de roda is
saddening to all serious people, regardless of whether they are priests or lay-
men. (1993, 34–35)

Twenty years later, she hasn’t moved her position on these productions.

This folklorization is a lack of knowledge and understanding! I once talked
to one who dances (or danced) in the Balé Folclórico da Bahia. I said: “You
dress like Iansã?” and she: “But Mãe Stella, this is only to pay tribute to my
santo.” Little does she know, does she? Goes there dressed as Iansã, to dance
on stage, and afterwards goes out to have a beer . . . daughter of Iansã! Drinks
whiskey, sleeps around . . . its folklore, but it is also a lack of respect. If she
who thinks that she is paying tribute speaks like this, just think what a lay-
person would say! (Mãe Stella, in Pretto and Serpa 2002, 39)
Mãe Stella is not the only one to show indignation. In an interview,
Antoniel Ataide Bispo, priest of Candomblé, and for 23 years secretary