Image courtesy of Opal Palmer Adisa.
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“The best way to preserve culture is to live it.”
– Willard John, educator and master Moko Jumbie, co-founder of the Moko Jumbie Academy on St. Croix.
Opal Palmer Adisa: In 2005, you spearheaded an art show on Moko Jumbie and here you are at it again. Why Moko Jumbie?
Willard John: Because my mission is to keep this art form alive and spread it to all areas of the world. I am a performing artist, but I love to include other artists in what I do and here is a wonderful opportunity to include visual artists.
OPA: It is truly magnificent to see how the visual artists have incorporated this icon as part of their repertoire. This must make you feel excited.
WJ: As you know, Moko Jumbie is my passion. I’ve spent the last 36 years of my life totally immersed in this art form, so whenever I have the opportunity to display it and inform the general public — anything that has to do with Moko Jumbie — I am always excited. This exhibition is an opportunity for local artists to display their talents and interpretation about this important cultural art form visa via their respective mediums. This show is a tribute to our local culture and artists and to our ancestors who blazed the trail before us.
OPA: Why do you think the Moko Jumbie tradition is a mainstay in St. Croix?
WJ: Well, you know, Moko Jumbie was a mainstay throughout the entire Caribbean. It started to die out and was about to become extinct, but the Virgin Islands has always kept it alive and well. Because of that, we are looked at as the root of this tree in the Caribbean.
OPA: But the root of Moko Jumbie comes from Africa.
WJ: Again, historically, Moko Jumbie was carried out of Africa with our enslaved ancestors as the spiritual guardian. The art form has survived with some changes, but the roots of it have been maintained, and many of us, selected people who preserve it, have made sure to remind others of its roots.
OPA: People are thrilled by the stilt dancing and costumes, but do you think the average Crucian knows of or understands the historical connection with Africa.
WJ: Yes and no. There are those who do and those who don’t. However, all Crucians feel it.
OPA: What is this feeling? What do you mean?
WJ: Not sure I can explain it in words, but when you see this tall entity approaching, you are overwhelmed by its largeness, its force, its dominance — all mixed in one being; it’s spiritual.
OPA: I want to get back to the spiritual aspect of Moko Jumbie, but, first, speak about your objective in teaching this art form.
WJ: I teach this art form willingly to anyone and everyone who cares to learn. I teach them the craft of it. I show them the art of balancing, manipulating the stilts, then I teach them the spiritual aspect of it, but it’s not all the time that everyone understands this. I often give a deep explanation, but not all are able to process this element at first. Some do it for money, some for the deep spiritual meaning, and others just for the fun of it. But it doesn’t matter to me the specific reason; that is life. In this art form, I, as a teacher, am akin to a farmer. I plant seeds: I water them, I fertilize, I provide nurturing. Some grow and some are slow to show.
As I mentioned before, this tall entity on stilts has always been the spiritual guardian of the village: protecting the village from evil spirits as well as playing the role of the medium between the ancestors and those still living — being able to communicate with the ancestors and relaying messages. Moko Jumbies also played a role in the transition process from childhood to adulthood. Their role was to frighten those individuals, those children, to the other side – to adulthood.
OPA: So one of the functions was rites-of-passage?
WJ: Aaah. Exactly. So every time I strap on my stilts, I feel that spiritual energy. The excitement I had when I first started in 1975 is still with me today. That’s why I know this is something special. When a person masters anything, it becomes their duty to share and teach others; that’s what I am doing and have been doing for over 30 years.
OPA: How did you come to this art form? What is the genesis?
WJ: I grew up in St. Thomas, VI, and went to Catholic schools for 13 years. However, the curriculum and the efforts in Catholic school, never, never dealt with culture, at least not Virgin Island culture, so I never knew anything about my culture, except what I learned from my family. After Catholic school I attended Lincoln University in Pennsylvania, the first historical Black university that was also very international. There were students from all over the Caribbean, Africa as well as the USA, and we would sit at nights and talk about our culture. I would feel very bad, ashamed, because I realized I knew almost nothing about my culture. And it was there that I pledged to myself that when I return to the Virgin Islands, I would search out and learn about my culture so I could feel confident in the future to share it with others. I didn’t know what that was going to be, but I knew I had to do the work.
OPA: So many of us in the Caribbean of your generation were not taught about ourselves. So you return home, and what?
WJ: I come back home and a cousin of mine, John McCleverty Jr., is a Moko Jumbie dancer, and he says I should come and dance with him. At first, I was indifferent, maybe even a little scared. But my cousin insisted. He bought me my first stilts and taught me. I did it for three years, and then I moved to St Croix. When I moved here there were no Moko Jumbies, so I started a group and it got rolling. That served as an opening; it forced me to begin to really research this tradition. I recognized that I did not know much about this art form so I was forced to do my homework. As a result, I had the opportunity to take this art form and develop and direct it. Perhaps, if I had not done that it would have died out, but here I am 30 odd years later. Now there are a few other groups that are spin-offs from former students.
OPA: What is the first thing you say to someone who comes to you to learn this art form?
WJ: Why do you want to learn? And then I dig deeper to determine their intent. Some people are just interested in the commercial aspect but that is not my interest — although that is what we do and that is how we stay alive as a group. But as I said earlier, I am always interested in keeping alive what our ancestors have done and the primary purpose in my eyes is spiritual. So I listen to what a potential student says; I tend to want to hear, feel and see what their true intention is.
OPA: On average, how long does it take to master the basics of this art form?
WJ: It’s hard to say; it depends on the practitioners level of skill and interest.
OPA: Let’s say a ten year old girl who is very coordinated.
WJ: I want to know about her parents and why they are bringing her. I test them in my own way to see if they are truly ready, then I ask them to come and watch our rehearsal. And at some point, if I feel they are worthy, I make them a pair of stilts myself. It really depends on the individual and the time and effort they put into learning the art, and whether they are physiologically and spiritually ready. When you join my group, you become a member. All my kids get stilts and lessons free; they get a brand new costume every year, and they own these things. Once they become a professional, they make money as well.
OPA: What are the heights of the stilts and how do you determine what the tallest one will be?
WJ: All of my students, when they get pretty good, want to go taller and taller. Part of it is their ego, but the reality is that the taller the stilts get the less control you have over them. Having said that, we look at a height that makes us look very tall and able to impress people, and that is not always expressed in inches and feet.
OPA: At the performances there is choreographed dancing? Who choreographs and how does this relate to the spiritual aspect?
WJ: There are several choreographers. I do some as does my wife, who is a professional dancer. Then we get input from the actual students who are performing, and combine all of our ideas to create any given dance. Many of the groups that have come up after us make every effort to imitate us.
OPA: Thirty-five years later you are still dancing? How does that feel?
WJ: It feels fantastic. I tell you what’s really interesting to me. Right now, I am dancing every Tuesday night at hotels, but what makes it very special is that I am now dancing with my son; that makes it very special. We do this thing together.
OPA: And of course you taught him.
WJ: I taught him when he was five years old.
OPA: I notice there is an absence of girls? Are girls barred from this tradition?
WJ: Absolutely not. They were in the African tradition, but that has changed. Often times, I get girls as beginners from the time when they are about ten years old, but when they become teenagers and they have other interests, many of them do other things.
OPA: So you have not been able to retain girls at the professional level?
WJ: That is an interesting supposition that I have not been able to retain girls. I will give you a story about a female I taught. She was with the group from the age of twelve and stuck with us the whole time until she graduated high school and was accepted at Fort Valley State University in Georgia. While she was up there at Fort, she put the stilts on and the director of the marching band saw her and thought it was a good idea for her to join the marching band on stilts. They made her costumes the colors of the schools, and she would come out at the football games. As a result of that they gave her a four-year scholarship. She has graduated, and now resides in the Atlanta area where she still performs. She keeps in touch with me; she calls me her second father. She is still performing.
OPA: What can you do to encourage more girls and females to participate?
WJ: Make it available, which is what I always do. I don’t solicit; I let people know it is available.
You have to be athletic, which precludes certain females. In the past, I had more females, but I don’t make any efforts to recruit anyone. I want people to ask me to join then I know that they are really interested. I am not interested in having a group for the sake of having a group, and not interested in just having girls to say I have a girl troupe.
Let me tell you about the psychology and mechanics of learning. When you start, in most cases and for most people, it is one of the most frightening experiences when you tie up for the first time; I have seen people wet their pants. And this might give you an idea why some females don’t learn. Your desire to learn has to be stronger than your fear. It is scary the first several times. Of course, the more you do it, the less fear you have, the more control you have, like any other art. I think the difference in this art form is that there is not much room for mistakes. Major mistakes could cause serious injuries.
OPA: I imagine, some parents might be reluctant to enroll their children in this art form for obvious risk factors. What can you say to parents that might abate their fears?
WJ: We try to be as safe as possible. My approach to this is with safety in mind, but nonetheless it is still risky. So I can make no guarantees that accidents won’t happen. I can make every assurance that I will do my best to make sure accidents don’t happen.
OPA: You have been doing this for 35 years so have you had many accidents? And, if so, what forms do they take.
WJ: I am always asked this question. That is often the first question people ask. The goal is to balance, so I don’t discuss falling; it is not a topic for me. But facing reality, I always teach my children how to fall as safely as possible. We practice falling.
OPA: How young, what age do you think is safe for children to begin this art form?
WJ: We start them at the age of ten for two reasons. 1) I want to make sure their bone structure is pretty strong as it can be stressful on your joints, and 2) I am not a baby-sitting service. What has made things easier for me now is that I have a set of younger Moko Jumbies that I have taught to be teachers, so they assume those duties while I supervise.
So what I am doing now, I am looking down the road, I am dancing less. I am teaching with the goal of young people taking over to continue this art form, because I am not invincible. My next big project is to write a book. This is going to be a handbook about everything I know about this art form. I will begin with its history, its evolution, to practical issues such as how do you make the stilts, how do you make the costumes, how do you teach this art form, etc. I will provide lesson plans and all.
OPA: When are you going to embark on this project or have you begun?
WJ: I have indirectly begun, but when I retire from education, which is soon, I will work on it full time, whatever that means. So that any individual who wants to know what I know, and who wants to continue this tradition, can pick this book up and find invaluable knowledge about this art form. I have already decided that David Berg will be my photographer, as he used to be with the troupe, and we will do this handbook. And my wife’s input is invaluable to the book as I don’t make costumes, she does, and costumes are an important part of the ritual.
OPA: What do you think are some of the ideas and feelings visitors take away from this cultural icon?
WJ: It depends on who is looking at it. Sometimes, I get some very interesting questions about it depending on one’s outlook. Many people feel the spiritual aspects of it and have questions about it because they see and feel it, but they don’t understand it. Others are simply fascinated and don’t know why.
There are certain things that I do with movement, with costuming, with images, that are apart of tradition, to help remind people of its spiritual, African origin. For example, you might see mirrors imbedded into costumes, which is a part of African folklore: evil spirits will never look at a mirror for they don’t want to see the reflection of themselves. Another element is that we may have whips in our hands, and, for some reason, the evil spirits don’t like the cracking sound of the whip. This is all African folklore. We may blow whistles because they don’t like the shrieking, high pitch sound of the whistle. Our faces are always covered because the Jumbie is spiritual and represents the power of the Creator.
OPA: What is the future of this art form? Should it be taught in schools throughout VI?
WJ: I can see it being a part of an after-school program but not an integral part of teaching for several reasons. 1) High risk, insurance issues, liability, and, 2) It is a very very special and unique art form; it is not common and it shouldn’t be common.
OPA: Moko Jumbies perform at seemingly all events throughout St. Croix: at hotels for tourists, in carnivals, and for other cultural events. How do these often disparate venues change the art form?
WJ: To some degree, it commercializes it, but at the same time, it is necessary in order to maintain a group. To support the group, we have to maintain this feature of commercialism.
OPA: Does its “entertainment” side take precedence over the spiritual aspect of this art form in these various venues?
WJ: Not for me, not for Willard John. I always try to maintain this balance. When I look closely, I could see the Moko Jumbie taking the turn more towards commericialism and less towards the spiritual aspect. But my purpose, my mission is to expose this art form to many people and still remind them of its roots, physically and spiritually.
OPA: Sometimes, small children, local as well as visitors, are scared by the costumes and tallness of the Moko Jumbie. How do you feel about it?
WJ: Aren’t we all fearful of powerful beings who tower over us? Shouldn’t we be? Part of our problem in our society today is that children fear nothing or very little.
OPA: Who designs the costumes and what is the concept behind them?
WJ: My wife Curliss designs the majority of the costumes, most of the time. However, sometimes I have something in mind and it just has to be this way. For instance, a few years ago I had in mind the idea of having the Adinkra symbols on the costumes. So I stayed up until 2 a.m. three nights a week for several weeks to hand spray the Adinkra symbols on all of the costumes. Another time, I wanted to pay tribute to Shango, one of the Orishas, so I insisted on red and white. This year, I paid homage to Gedde (Haitian Loa of the dead) so I had Moko Jumbies dressed in black on one side and white on the other. Then last year, I wanted to pay tribute to the Chinese culture so we went searching for fabric that represents that culture. My wife is the one who does the trimming and accenting. Sometimes, she has a vision for a costume, and I can’t really see it and visa versa — I can’t really see what she sees. We don’t have too much disagreement; we trust each other that our respective vision will unfold.
OPA: Culture embodies all the characteristics of a people, which includes its language, religion, food, music and other social habits. Culture is what allows a people to survive. What do you think it is about St. Croix that has allowed Moko Jumbie to be so strongly rooted here; and secondly, how does this tradition exemplify the “soul” of the people? In other words, how does the Moko Jumbie tradition speak to the cosmology of St. Croix?
WJ: First, it’s location – St. Croix is African, Caribbean and the United States. Location is a key element. Why St. Croix? I don’t know. All I know is that I am here and I have to make the best of being here. I don’t know the answer, but I am doing what I can. If I knew the answer to this question…. I just have to make the best of my situation based on what my tools and equipment I have. This art form comes through me and not from me. So I have to humble myself and submit. What’s interesting is that historically, St. Croix had had quite a struggle in terms of slavery and freedom, particularly because of the seven colonial powers and the Cruicians struggle for self-identity and liberation. I think this art form, being here, is a result of the strength of our people.
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Opal Palmer Adisa is a Jamaican-born writer with seven books to her credit. Her book of poetry, Tamarind and Mango Women, won the 1992 American Book Award. Adisa is also a renowned educator in the area of diversity work, and her workshops examine racism, sexism, homophobia and internalized oppression using literature as a springboard to explore and probe these learned behaviors. Dr. Adisa has two masters degrees from San Francisco State University and a Ph.D. from the University of California at Berkeley. She has previously taught undergraduate and graduate courses at California College of the Arts, Stanford University, University of California at Berkeley, San Francisco State University, and The University of the Virgin Islands, where she also served as editor of The Caribbean Writer.