Born in Detroit, Michigan, Vendetta Mathea has directed La Manufacture, a professional dance school, in Aurillac since 1992. At the dawn of the American election, she explains, with hindsight and sensitivity, her support for Kamala Harris.
Author of around fifty dance pieces, presented in the United States and France, Vendetta Mathea, based in Aurillac since 1985, founder of the Manufacture, takes a sensitive look at the countryside. The way Americans form their political opinions is a central question. But it also evokes the story of belonging, of the identity of her native country, the United States. “I never considered that the history taught in books touched all realities. I feel inside that history is opinions that people have stuck together. In there, there is what we think and what it is appropriate to think. »
This election is extremely heavy for me. There is, in every culture, a mentality of superiority. There is, always, a small group who are worried about “the continuation” of their blood, their language and their way of doing things. Me, I am African, American. My roots have been completely erased. I was born in the United States and grew up in a culture that considered that real Americans were not native Americans: Africans, Asians… Not all people of color were, in mentality, “real Americans”. The “real Americans” were only white people
At the time she was born, in 1953, “all cultures were separate”. “We were forced to find a way, with our intelligence and creativity, to integrate into a society that says no to almost everything. And I feel like [Donald] Trump wants to return to this moment in American history and that scares me. »
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Between 1954 and 1968, Vendetta Mathea witnessed the height of the American civil rights movement. “We were then able to take part better in society and feel more at ease in our daily lives. So many people have suffered to arrive at the present moment, where different cultures, thanks to an enormous effort, merge, manage to function together, while keeping their own roots…”
If Americans are so divided today, it is, for her, because of an intrinsic feeling common to all. “There is, in every human being, a fear of losing. Lose your culture, your religion, your way of life. I understand this fear, I understand the doubts, because we are just animals. Since fear is linked to evil, it is always possible to find it somewhere. It doesn't matter whether there is danger or not, ahead, behind or next to it, we are programmed to seek safety. And the best way to feel safe is to feel like you can identify evil. »
The offense of blasphemy does not exist
A fear that guides “people’s reactions and actions” and leads to extreme political views. “I don’t like feeling angry. I don't feel good at all when I hurt someone. But I can understand if someone's inner fear is so great that their response is to destroy what they think is evil. The problem is that it's infinite: after this destruction, something replaces what it thinks is evil, so it annihilates again…”
The challenge for Vendetta Mathea is to find and maintain balance without denying human nature. “Our democracy in the United States is not perfect. But it fights, powerfully, against the human desire to let our fear control our heart, our personality and our future. »
If she takes a calm look at human nature, it is also because she understood, at a young age, that things would never be ideal. “During the civil rights movement, I realized that race could never be erased. The tensions, the desire to hurt someone else to protect yourself, it's impossible to erase. It is something inscribed in our human mentality, which is part of our DNA. »
To live together, we are, at every moment, listening to our bodies, controlling our level of stress and anxiety to ensure we maintain a minimum level of flexibility and tolerance, acceptance of the differences of others
The US Constitution, under freedom of speech (1st Amendment), makes all speech possible. The offense of blasphemy does not exist, the declamation of lies is possible, sometimes to the point of threatening democracy. “I find that Trump has a lot of freedom to reveal his dark personality. He shows his anger, his anguish to the maximum. And people follow this freedom. In our human history, it's a cycle, there is always someone who is pushed forward, who guides people in this direction. It explodes and disappears, then it comes back, it explodes, it disappears… Each time, it's a little different. »
So, humbly, Vendetta Mathea believes in “desire” and “the desire to keep things in peace for as long as possible”. For her, that is democracy. “That’s why I’m behind Kamala. » And if Trump is elected, she hopes that “we will be able, in the United States, to experience this stage with as little violence as possible. And I feel in my heart that this is just a short moment in our existence. Soon this moment will become our past. Behind, in front of the dark things in life, there is always light. I do a big throw to the other side, I live at the point of light. I cover my body and mind with gratitude, love and respect for others.”
Anna Modolo
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