LA's BlakTinx choreographers featured in video series

The June 2020 BlakTinx Dance Festival: Dancing on the Edge
was presented online by Bootleg Theater.

At some early (now forgotten) point during the confusion of the past few months of our troubled planet, a thought surfaced. Unbidden and, from that moment on, completely unexplored, it was composed of three simple words:

I miss choreography.

I thought it and...yeah...left it right there.

I think I realized how unpopular it might be in the "new normal" of EXCITEMENT!!! over EVERYTHING THAT DANCE CAN BE!!! now that it can't be what it once was, which--as we all know--was terrible. Absolutely terrible.

I'm not even going to try to argue what about dance might not have been so terrible. Because now that the fact of its terribleness is up in our faces, we can finally do something about it, right? No more procrastination.

All I can tell you is that, of the tons of content emerging online since the pandemic first divided us from one another, I have consumed a lot of virtual theater and music, many thoughtful conversations and informative panels and...a smattering of dance. Of that dance, what I've most enjoyed--although not completely--happened to be recordings of full productions of works from prior months and years. I am still waiting for up-to-the-minute made-for-Zooms to knock me out of my desk chair.

I still love you all, but these virtual solos-in-place; these housebound duets danced safely with your significant other, these whimsical improvs, these trippings of the light fantastic around your backyard are giving me an ache for something I'm apparently not supposed to continue to yearn for because there were, I'm hearing, all these problems with it.

So, come on, Eva. Get happy.

I thought about this I miss choreography thought again when I was watching the YouTube video series Dancing on the Edge, the 2020 edition of Bootleg Theater's BlakTinx Dance Festival that presents work by Los Angeles-based Black and Latinx choreographers, all alumni of the festival from years past. I had accepted Bootleg's request to view and review the four-part series out of curiosity about a dance community largely unfamiliar to me, a New Yorker, and because the brief new and archival works were all by Black and Latinx artists, twenty-five strong, responding to this double-whammy of social distancing and social uprising.

These compilations--a resilient adaptation to the extreme realities of our times--turned out not to be the best way to get to know these artists, the legacies that shaped them, their histories in the field, the contexts in which they regularly work and the meaning they may hold within their respective communities. I'm also wondering if enough time has passed for any artist to deeply process all that has happened since coronavirus began its deadly spread and since George Floyd's death awakened a passionate movement. Have they had time to dive and return with something not obvious but truly incisive and unique to them?

With all that in mind, and after having watched Dancing on the Edge  without sufficient background, I'm not going to review these works--which is to say, I'm not going to white-supremacist this thing.

Catch my drift?

I'll give you the BlakTinx Theater Festivals channel links for your own exploration:

Program 1: https://youtu.be/Le-9yWLPz2o

Program 2: https://youtu.be/CkRS_eIDSzw

Program 3: https://youtu.be/lSJfVjtJWcA

Program 4: https://youtu.be/fdNjj_3BnQE

And let me just point out some items that most captured my imagination. Someday, I might make it out west to learn more--that is, if we're ever safely back to seeing dance in the flesh.

From Program 1:

Add Water & Stir (excerpt from a 2017 performance)
Brigette Dunn-Korpela
B.Dunn Movement/Dance & Theatre Company
www.bdunnmovement.com

Ghostly 1950s white housewives swan around ghostly domiciles and stir bowls of mysterious ingredients, literally sidelined by Dunn-Korpela's bustling troupe. While the white-folks imagery quickly gets relegated to a small oval in one corner of the screen, dancers of color churn through and own the space in a physically-demanding piece that references the deaths of Emmett Till, Tamir Rice and Eric Garner.

Como los Pájaros
Andrea Ordaz
A.Ordaz Dance
http://www.andreaordaz.com/

Super-short, lyrical video featuring the body of a dancer in a flowery blouse and wind-blown hair sliding over a dark grey sky with bright, scattered clouds. In program notes, Ordaz sites Puerto Rican poet Willie Perdomo's The Crazy Bunch:

How to describe that sound when the birds flutter like a deck
         of cards being shuffled? Where to find your uplift &
         hallelujah, hosanna & hero, campana & chorus?

Although severely restricted by narrowed space and limited time, Ordaz manages to convey a flight of freedom.

From Program 2:

Baile de Cuarentena
Briseyda Zárate
https://briseydazarateflamenco.wordpress.com
https://instagram.com/briseydazarate

One of a few festival entries centered in the art of flamenco, Baile de Cuarentena (quarantine dance) approaches pandemic apocalypse with a mask but no filters. Also, no costuming and no heavy footwork that might disturb Zárate's downstairs neighbors. You can feel the energy of frustration along with determination to keep flamenco--and hope--alive.

Time up the River
Alan Pérez
film: Christopher Lopez
@alan.lperez

Shelter-in-place can be unsafe for LGBTQ+ folx forced to share space with homophobic/transphobic families. Choreographer Pérez took that reality as the premise for this duet with Robert Gomez dancing in a tight spot of liminal domestic space with some mirrors for self-reflection and a bit of light from the outside world.

From Program 4:

What the Hell is Going On
Rubí Danielle Morales 
Videography: Crystal Morales 
IG: rubi_so_oh
FB: https://m.facebook.com/rubi.morales.37?ref=bookmarks

Hemmed in by the stark angles of a kitchen space, Morales responds with similar starkness and angularity of movement in this disturbing solo before a restless, intrusive camera.


Dancing on the Edge choreographers:

Anthony Aceves
Bernard Brown
Sofia Carreras
Joshua Estrada-Romero
Regina Ferguson
Kassy Francis
Michelle Funderburk
Primera Generación
Nancy Rivera Gomez
Vannia Ibargüen
Irishia Hubbard
Brigette Dunn-Korpela
Keilah Glover-Lomotey
Amber Morales
Rubi Morales
Andrea Ordaz
Yarrow Perea
Alan Perez
Dorcas Román
Eluza Santos
Stacey Strickland
Maura Townsend
Shantel Ureña
Sadie Yarrington
Briseyda Zárate

For more information about LA's Bootleg Theater, click here.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artists Reach Out: Nelida Tirado

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Nelida Tirado

Nelida Tirado
(photo: Antonio G. Gamboa)

Nelida Tirado hailed  “magnificent and utterly compelling” (The New York Times) began her formal training at Ballet Hispanico of New York at the age of six. Barely out of her teens, she was invited to tour the US with Jose Molina Bailes Espanoles and work as a soloist in Carlota Santana’s Flamenco Vivo, soloist/ dance captain of Compania Maria Pages and  Compania Antonio El Pipa, performing at prestigious flamenco festivals and television in Spain and throughout France, Italy, UK, Germany and Japan. She has performed in Carmen with the Metropolitan Opera of NY, World Music Institute’s Gypsy Caravan 1, Noche Flamenca and was featured flamenco star in Riverdance on Broadway and touring companies.

Ms. Tirado was recipient of the 2007 and 2010 BRIO Award for Artistic Excellence, and opened with her company Summer 2010 for Buena Vista Social Club featuring Omara Portoundo for the Celebrate Brooklyn! Festival.  Some highlights include HarlemStage E-Moves,  Amores Quebrados at the Repertorio Espanol, Valerie Gladstone’s Dance Under the Influence 2011 and 2012 in collaboration with the Flamenco Festival USA and collaboration with jazz great Wynton Marsalis at Harvard University and the 2016 premiere of her solo show Dime Quien Soy in the Flamenco Festival NY. She was currently the recipient of the 2017 Rosario Dawson Muse Fellow through BAAD!, featured in Dance Magazine’s “25 to Watch," 2018/2019 recipient of Gibney’s Dance in Process Residence and will be seen in the Warner Brother’s film adaption of Lin Manuel Miranda’s In The Heights, premiering Summer 2021.

Nelida Tirado
(photo: Chasi Annexy)

Do you have a current or planned project whose proress is affected by the pandemic?
Yes, all of my work has been put on pause which includes performance, teaching, arts-in-education work and one particular project I was excited about. May 2019 I was able to immerse myself into a project (thanks to a generous grant from Gibney as a DIP, Dance in Process artist) that kept presenting itself to me in various ways/places and experiences. The premiere of the work would have been this year.

Initially I was frustrated by what I thought was a standstill of time but, ultimately, it has appeared to be pivotal and given me more fuel to revisit the work and make adjustments. The pandemic has given me the time I wouldn’t normally have to reflect and stay still which has brought immense clarity. Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice. Dance and music was always a normal practice at home with family and in my culture. After a kindergarten graduation show, my teacher was impressed with my ability and suggested that I be enrolled in formal dance classes. That was the beginning of my mom’s journey to find what she thought was important--to learn Bomba/Plena, the traditional dance/music of my country to keep me connected to my cultural roots since I was born in New York City. However, during those years, that wasn’t easy to find. She opted instead to enroll me in a local dance program that offered classical ballet and Spanish dance from Spain. I continued with that program and the following year was bumped into the larger school of what is Ballet Hispánico. I continued my studies there, from 6 to 18 years old, following their curriculum at the time of ballet/Graham/classical Spanish dance/flamenco/Dunham technique, later leading me into the Apprentice Company without fully being aware entirely of what I was learning and its connection to me personally. And though it took me years to find which focus I would choose, Flamenco spoke to me more than any other form.

I loved the rhythms. I loved the feeling of beating my feet on the floor and being loud but was too young to find my voice. Then came an important phase in my life where I underwent significant difficulty on a personal level, and I dived into my art as refuge. I had a lot to say, but I found my power inside and out through Flamenco. As I kept searching, I was also able to make the connections with myself, my culture, my environment to Flamenco, and it has been life to me. In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning? In specific way, I am doing a lot of self-care practice which includes meditation, journaling, yoga/running and flamenco practice but, more so, I’m practicing being still and reflecting. Being still was difficult at first but has been necessary for me to remain grounded and calm amidst this uncertainty. Being still has also helped envision with clarity what I want and need to commit to at this present time. How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about? My practice is essential to who I am in the physical, psychological, and spiritual level. It is who I am as an artist onstage and that wellness is important to be able to continue to create, connect and reach audiences authentically and genuinely. As an artist of Puerto Rican heritage, I also need to keep showing up entirely as a worker and defender of an art form from Spain that is not always fully embraced in the general dance world, even less from a non-Spanish voice because of a lack of information or general misconceptions. Owning my authenticity is me confidently and unapologetically letting go of who the audience thinks I should be, owning my cultural reference/environment and experience of what has shaped me and committing to the art form honestly and wholeheartedly. How does your practice function within the world we have now? That’s a great question, and I’m eager to see how it will play out. There definitely is a need to be connected and see each other just as there is a burning desire to stomp out our quarantine emotion. So, we’ll see. Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now. I’ve always loved slow morning rituals but even more now. Quiet mornings, long coffee, meditating, being outdoors connecting with trees, the greenway where I live, sitting still and just breathing fill my heart and quiet my mind.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Singing with spirits

On Saturday, February 22, 2020, I was joined by Okwui Okpokwasili and David Thomson in leading an opening ritual for Danspace Project's platform, Utterances from the Chorus, conceived and curated by Okwui and Judy Hussie-Taylor.

As the audience settled into seats in St. Mark's Church in-the-Bowery's parish hall, David and Okwui began to hum and vocalize as I read an invitation. It opened with a question derived from Okwui's exploration for the new platform which, regrettably, was interrupted and scrapped as the coronavirus pandemic shut our city down.

Here, I offer a new version of this invitation. As we now struggle with multiple traumas--the pandemic, the economic crisis, the murder of our Black kin--and dedicate our lives to justice, may you find this ritual healing, strengthening and motivating.

I invite you to perform it privately or in groups, as you find it useful.

Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Eva Yaa Asantewaa
(photo: D. Feller)

Okwui asked:

What does it mean to weave a collective song?


And so, let us ask:


What does it mean to weave a spirit song on Lenape land? 

What does it mean to sing with the African souls?


What does it mean to be guided?

What does it mean to be activated?


Today, charge this space with the energy of sound.


Seek and find your name inside your cells,

inside your veins,

inside your bones.


Sit or stand with the energy of your name circling inside you until you hear its song.


Bring that energy out into this space on the flow of breath and flow of melody.


What is your name?

Sing your name.

Sing your true name.


Find a melody that transports your name into this space.


Keep singing your name into the space.

You can get loud with it.

You can get soft.


You may pause if you’d like to rest,

and you may resume at any time.


You may raise your votive candle above your head at any time, and that gesture will mean whatever it wants to mean.


You may extend your votive candle in front of you at any time, and that gesture will mean whatever it wants to mean.


Feel and sing or chant the name of ancestors of your family blood or ancestors of your mind.


Find the melodies that transmit their names into this space--loud or soft.


Keep singing their names into this space.

Keep singing their names into this space.

Keep singing their names into this space.


Return at any time to the song of your own name.


Sing. Sing out.

Sing. Sing it out.

Keep singing.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Artists Reach Out: MurdaMommy

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

MurdaMommy

MurdaMommy
(photo courtesy of the artist)

MurdaMommy is a dancer, musician, actor, and innovator in the film, fashion, and gaming industries. As a lesbian artist and a teen who experienced homelessness, she brings her life experiences into her practice and teaches the dance form Chicago footwork to people who live on the South and West sides of Chicago. In 2019, she was recognized by SWAN Day Chicago, celebrating Black women in dance.

MurdaMommy has performed across the U.S. In Chicago, she mentors and connects with all generations through performance and workshops, including programs within Cook County Juvenile Temporary Detention Center and Stateville Correctional Center.

As a musician, her style complements her choreographic and movement approach. She is currently working on her first official E.P. She recently created the short film I Am Queen, based on the women of Chicago footwork culture. She is also collaborating on Juke Town, an online multiplayer game where characters can practice footwork, socialize, and complete missions.

For more information (including classes and #TakeOffFridays), visit www.murdamommy.com.

IG: murdamommy

FB: www.facebook.com/TheRealMurdaMommy

YouTube: MurdaMommy Chicagofootwork

(photos: Wills Glasspiegel)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

This process and state we are in has affected me and my projects, but on a minimal level. As an independent artist, certain movement classes and workshops that were scheduled have been canceled, along with a residency and even performances. I think with all of the unknowns, it’s all a matter of regrouping and adjusting to society. With times of uncertainty, creativity visits the mind to help regroup old plans and thoughts and reinvent them in today’s time. In a lot of ways this pandemic has evened the playing field within the dance industry; I have been dealing with limited income and opportunities for my entire dance career, and have needed to be creative in reaching people with my art. It’s something I am familiar with.

I am also part of the Dance/USA Fellowships to Artists program and, as a fellow, I have received professional and financial support, which has helped me for the past year and during this time.

Projects that I have curated recently are #TakeOffFridays: a series and giveaway that is meant to get people up and dancing and--even more so--let off pinned-up stress and anger. Each Friday for 5 weeks straight, there will be a song uploaded for the audience to dance to and record to. Each track can be downloaded for free, or a donation of the person's choice will also be accepted. At the end of the 5 weeks, the full album will be available for purchase or free. All donations will go towards food and PPE equipment to be distributed among the local urban community that I am in and that is being affected the most during this time. Another aspect of #TakeOffFridays is the fact the people will also have a chance to win $100 each week just for dancing.

I also have a 4-week movement class series that will be running during the same time as #TakeOffFridays. This class series is called Take Flight, a Chicago footwork beginners movement class that will be aired on Thursdays during the month of June via Zoom. This beginners class will also be FREE with an optional donation. Any donations received through this series will help go towards a food drive and distribution of PPE throughout my community.

Not only did I want to create a fun experience during these times, I want to give a little relief to someone else who might be in need. Musically, I also wanted to create a sound as a backdrop of how this time is feeling and how it can correlate with your vibration and frequency at that time, space, and moment.

Get more information at: www.murdamommy.com

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

I began my love for footworking at a young age, around 6 or 7 years. But my dancing and my love for the arts started even younger than that--from winning local Park District dance competitions or drawing freehanded in my spare time, to writing poetry which later transformed into music, merging poetry into rap. I got my first taste of Chicago footworking from going to the Bud Billiken Parade (the largest and longest running African American Parade in the US), from Elma & Company, a local television show, and from going to juke parties that were in the neighborhood.

As I became older, I had a friend named Lazerick who used to footwork all the time, and he would show me moves from time to time. Unfortunately, he became a casualty and another young African American male slain by police. At that moment, my journey of footworking began. I set out to be an elite Footworker--to become one of the best--and I haven’t put my shoes down since.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

Currently, I’m practicing on how to connect to people many different ways, whether it’s through vibrant music or the silhouette coming from my legs. I do have a greater vision but, as of the moment, I want to take it slow--one step at a time.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about? How does your practice function within the world we have now?

I think my practice of Chicago footwork can help the world by allowing dancers to become free within their movements, due to the form’s aggressive style and up-tempo beats. It is a dance form that shows people how to control and release anger and sorrow, while also having fun doing it.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

A good self-care tip that is meaningful to me is to always care for my health first. Obtain rest. Even though everything in the world is going virtual, take some time away from social media, and get in tune with your roots so your message through dance can be as pure the roots it originated from.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Artists Reach Out: Sydnie L. Mosley

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Sydnie L. Mosley

Sydnie L. Mosley
(photo: Jamie McLean)

Sydnie L. Mosley​ is an award winning artist-activist and educator who is interested in creative work that is both artistically sound and socially aware. ​She produces experiential dance works with her collective SLMDances. Through their choreographic work, the collective works in communities to organize for gender and racial justice. Her evening length dances The Window Sex Project and BodyBusiness, their creative processes and performance experiences are a model for dance-activism. ​​​Her dances have been performed extensively throughout New York City and she was listed by TheRoot.com as one of twenty-five “Up and Coming: Young Minority Artists and Entrepreneurs.”​ Sydnie was recognized by NYC Mayor Bill de Blasio and First Lady Chirlane McCray for using her talents in dance to fuel social change.

Currently, SLMDances is engaged in a multi-year residency through Lincoln Center Education as the Manhattan Community Artists in Residence toward the development of their newest work, PURPLE. They also received LMCC Creative Engagement funding to support The Window Sex Project: Community Workshops (2017 + 2019), and PURPLE (2020).

Other support includes: CUNY Dance Initiative (2016 + 2017 Artist in Residence), Dancing While Black Artist Fellowship (2015-2016), and The Field Leadership Fund (2015-2017). The Performance Project @ University Settlement (Artist in Residence 2015-2016). She is a 2013 alumna of the Create Change Fellowship with The Laundromat Project, and the Gibney Dance Institute for Community Action Training. In 2011, she became the inaugural Barnard Center for Research on Women Alumnae Fellow.

​A versatile dancer, Sydnie is a part of the 2017 Bessie Award winning cast of the skeleton architecture, or the future of our worlds curated by Eva Yaa Asantewaa. Sydnie danced with Christal Brown's ​INSPIRIT, a dance compan​y (2010-2013) and has continued to appear as a guest artist for Brooklyn Ballet since 2009.

​As a dance educator, Sydnie's technique classes pull together orientations from the African diaspora, attention to the architecture of traditional modern dance, and the language of Laban/Bartenieff Fundamentals grounded in the use of breath, voice, and personal choices. She has been an Adjunct Lecturer with the Barnard College Dance Department, led guest artist residencies at colleges across that nation including Oberlin College, Washington University in St. Louis, and in 2012 designed Barnard’s Dance in the City, Pre-College Program which she continues to teach.

She graduated from Barnard College in Dance and Africana Studies and earned an MFA in Dance Choreography from the University of Iowa.​​​​

Sydnie resides in Harlem, New York City. When she isn’t dancing, she is writing, listening to music, and cooking.

SLMDances in Direction from Harriet
(photo: ShocPhoto)

Sydnie L. Mosley in Body Business
(photo: Kearra Gopee)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

Kind of. SLMDances has been in a long term research and development process for PURPLE. PURPLE is a multi-project universe that illuminates the power of “deep sisterhood for social change” through storytelling and movement. Among its projects-in-progress there are: a community-engaged oral history project with elders, a stage work for an intergenerational ensemble of twelve artists, and the development of a series of solos on veteran performers (that language borrowed from you, Eva!).

The thing is, PURPLE is actually a life practice. So although we are no longer able to meet in person with our elder friends or be in a studio movement practice, the way that we continue to work together is practicing the work and moving it forward.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

The first dance I choreographed was to a Langston Hughes poem performed in the center aisle of an AME sanctuary dressed in kente cloth. I was 7. I come from: making up lip synch dances to En Vogue with my sister, cousin, and God-sister; pink tights and sequined tutus in mirrored studios; summers at the American Dance Festival four-week school; choreographing for and running my grade school dance companies; and moving in and out of linoleum community center floors.

At 17, I decided I wanted to run my own dance company. I used my college and graduate school educations--including classroom, work study job, and internship experiences--to learn everything I possibly could about my craft and the field in New York City. From laying the marley to composition to technique to company management.

I also come from formative experiences that affirmed my Blackness, my identity as a woman, my trust in community. That taught me how to lead, organize, and hold space.

By the time I got to making my first evening-length work, I was figuring out how to connect my history advocating and creating space for my communities with choreography and production.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I am practicing stillness. I am practicing surrender. I am practicing listening. I am practicing being cared for. I am practicing writing. I am practicing advising. I am practicing healing. I am practicing wellness. I am practicing joy. I am practicing being who I am becoming.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

Everything I do is in alignment. I care the most about Black people, Black women and girls, artists with marginalized identities, dance as a field--wellness, thriving, and liberation for all. The act of growing the SLMDances collective, dance by dance, organizational iteration by organizational iteration is my practice. We are guided by our core values: Dreaming, Activism, Community, Transparency, Humanity, Learning. This is our framework, compass, and rubric for accountability.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

My practice LOVES the world we have now. My practice is affirmed by the world that we have now. The SLMDances COVID-19 pivot is not really a pivot. Our continued rehearsal ritual, as we call it, has been grounding, with most of us tracking time in the past thirteen weeks by SLMDances Day or non-SLMDances Day. Even though we are meeting virtually, we are still moving together, still breathing together, still checking in, and still creating together.

The collective organized a professional development series with guest facilitators sharing their expertise in topics ranging from theater devising techniques to trauma-informed facilitation to plant medicine to financial wellness. We are tending to our own wellness by being together, acquiring information together, brainstorming together. We are sustaining relationships with our elder community partners by making phone calls and connecting them to resources where and how we can.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

Give yourself permission. This is an idea we have talked a lot about in developing SLMDances’ most recent work PURPLE. As the world has turned upside down, it has become increasingly important to be kind to yourself and give yourself grace. Be gentle and release expectations. We are grieving, we are shocked and upset, we are losing grasp of everything we thought we knew. Give yourself permission to feel your feelings, to not work, to rest, to eat, to dance it out. What we once knew has gone. You have permission to be new.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

Subscribe in a reader

Artists Reach Out: Laurie Berg

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Laurie Berg

Laurie Berg
(photo courtesy of the artist)

Laurie Berg makes work in a variety of forms including dance, performance, collage and jewelry. She is co-organizer of AUNTS, co-curated the Movement Research Spring Festival 2017, was the 2016 recipient of “The Tommy” Award and a 2016-17 LMCC Workspace Artist-In-Residence. Recent works include EZ Pass (Roulette Intermedium), scape: Times Square (co-commission by Times Square Arts and Danspace Project), Ziegfeld Goes Down (as part of Charles Atlas Presents: The Kitchen Follies), Terrifying Times Call For Terrifying Jewelry (Dixon Place) and The Mineralogy of Objects (Danspace Project).

Whether working with dance and performance, collage, or jewelry, Berg draws on her interest in iconography, detail, humor, and absurdity to cultivate a collaborative, creative space that allows for rigorous play. Through complex choreographic structures and collaborations between people and objects, her performances conjure a space that is simultaneously structured and fantastical, layering together past, present, and future; bodies, objects, light, and space; imagination and knowledge; the real and the surreal.

scape: Times Square (2018)
(photo: Ian Douglas)

"Doll Ball," EZ Pass (2018)
(photo: Tony Sisco)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

I have lost a few gigs due to the pandemic, and the hope is these are just postponements and not cancellations, but right now it is hard to tell when we might all be able to gather again in a theater, bar, or gallery space. UPDATE: Between writing these responses and sending this in, George Floyd was murdered by police in Minneapolis. Black Lives Matter activists and BIPOC leaders have led us into the streets in protest. Clear demands have been made. This moment is unprecedented. A revolution within a pandemic.

I’m supposed to have a show next Spring, which seemed far away. Now, it seems unlikely that we will be able to gather in a theater even next Spring. Honestly, the biggest project that was put on hold, was re-emerging from my art hiatus. I never completely stopped making things (jewelry, performance, a baby) and planning projects, but I slowed way down after the birth of my baby, Zelda (who just turned one). It was just two weeks before New York City shut down that I got childcare a couple days a week, so I could think about setting up rehearsals for a new project, and return to work without bringing Zelda along.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

Dance was a way to escape my shyness. Even when I was young, performing felt elevated. Time functioned in a different way. Every detail was important. I started taking classes in a strip mall dance studio in St. Louis, MO when I was 5 or 6. That studio was all I knew about the dance world. It was MY dance world and my dance family.

Finding myself where I am now was a long steady process of questioning what I was looking at, looking for more. It wasn’t until I got to college that I started to use the term “artist” to describe myself. That I was a dancer and an artist. A dance artist. I was also a misfit, and a weirdo, and proud of it. But that realization took time as well. The process of naming things, so I could move past the names and towards embodiment.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I’m practicing patience, compassion, flexibility (not the body kind--I’m so sore these days), and listening. I’m working towards a new project I’m calling :FOMO::DIPTYCH: but, right now, my attention is drawn to the conversations happening in dance and art communities all over the US. UPDATE: “Patience and compassion” also must include endurance and vigilance. “Flexibility” must include changing existing familiar and comfortable structures, de-centering whiteness, and centering BIPOC voices. “Listening” stays just that. I am practicing and learning ally-ship. This is an ongoing practice. I’m envisioning real lasting change. For me, as a white dance artist, maybe my new choreography needs to look something like this: look left, look right, step to the side, step back, and step up.

In mid-March the dance and performance platform I co-organize, AUNTS, decided to do a 15-day online series: AUNTS WPA micro-stimulus (a reference to the Federal Art Project as part of the New Deal). AUNTS WPA would be chain curated, so that we invite 5 artists, then those 5 artists would invite an artist and so on, to create 5 chains of 3 artists. Each artist would take over our Instagram account for one day and would do some kind of live broadcast. Artists choice! In the tradition of AUNTS, the artist could perform/broadcast--for 5 minutes or as long as instagram would allow--whatever they were working on or interested in sharing, and then we would pay them $75 via PayPal. It wasn’t a huge amount of money, but at least it could buy some groceries or pay part of a phone bill. Because of generous donations from individuals, instead of lasting 15 days, it ended up going for over a month with 42 artists participating. I never left my home and I met so many new artists!

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

With AUNTS and my own choreographic work, my focus goes towards collaboration, resource sharing, and creating temporary and often permanent artistic families around each project. There is an opportunity in this particular moment to move towards radical change in how our arts institutions function. On all levels. I’m trying to envision what shape these potentially new structures could take. What should our institutions look like? Should we even have institutions? Trust artists! Can granting organizations fund artists instead of projects (allowing the money to precede the planning process)?

An artist receives a grant and pays their rent. Great!

An artist receives a grant, takes a risk, and fails, but everyone working on the project got paid. Great!

An artist receives a grant and the work receives many awards. Great!

“The system isn’t broken; it was built this way.” The truth is hard to swallow, and the change has to go deep. I’m ready to get out a shovel and dig down below the toxic rhizome that is capitalism and plant something new. This is work I have to do on myself as well as in my community. More content, less profit.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

UPDATE: Honestly, I’m not quite sure at the moment. I’m going to wear comfortable shoes, stay ready, and bring snacks for everyone.

Briefly share one self-care tip that has special meaning to you now.

Enjoying this concentrated time with baby Zelda (who is a joyful, funny kid). I’m taking photography lessons from Zelda, who has a special iPhone photo technique which involves erratic (but also consistent?) hand movements--zooming in and out on the screen--while in panoramic mode to achieve a dual focus within a single photo. One half of the photo is in focus, while the other half is blurry, achieving the diptych form within the confines of a single image. I’m still working on it.

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artist Reach Out: Charmaine Warren

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Charmaine Warren

Charmaine Warren
(photo: Tony Turner)

Charmaine Warren (performer, historian, consultant, and dance writer) is the founder/artistic director for "Dance on the Lawn: Montclair's Dance Festival," and curator of dance at The Wassaic Project. She is the Producer of DanceAfrica, has curated for E-Moves and danced with david roussève/REALITY. Charmaine is on faculty at  Empire State Colleges, and is a former faculty at Ailey/Fordham, Sarah Lawrence College, Hunter College and Kean University. She has been published in Dance Magazine and Amsterdam News and served as a panelist for Robert Battle's New Directions Choreography Lab.

Charmaine holds a Ph.D. in History/Howard University, a Master’s in Dance Research/City College, and Bachelor Degrees (Dance/English)/Montclair State College. She is a 2017 Bessie Award Recipient for Outstanding Performance as a member of Skeleton Architecture Collective.

Charmaine Warren
(photo: Tony Turner)

Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

Sadly, this year, 2020, was to be my first live DanceAfrica as the newly-hired Producer. Like other presenting organizations, BAM was closed, and we were all directed to follow the shelter-in-place directives. With the support of my many colleagues at BAM, most especially Coco Killingsworth, we created and presented Digital DanceAfrica.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

So many years ago, I was introduced to dance as an 8th grader, preparing for high school in Montclair, NJ. The school system was to begin a performing arts program at the high school, and one could take dance instead of gym. I signed up quickly.

It was this introduction to dance in Montclair, at the high school--then Montclair State College, now Montclair State University, just a bus or train ride to New York--that opened up the world of dance to me. I will name Andrew Jannetti with whom I began dancing through my college connections, but later I spent many years as a member of david rousseve/REALITY.

Those were great years of learning, performing and fellowship which I still hold dear. Now, most of my time is spent as an administrator (Founder/Artistic Director, Dance on the Lawn: Montclair's Dance Festival; Producer, DanceAfrica), but I cherish my time as a member of the improvisational group Skeleton Architecture, begun by Eva Yaa Asantewaa.

Four members of Skeleton Architecture Collective
in a 2018 appearance at Danspace Project.
Left to right: Angie Pittman, Melanie Greene,
Charmaine Warren and Jasmine Hearn
(photo: Ian Douglas)

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

I always had a daily practice, but now I'm giving more time to it. I practice Ashtanga yoga. I practice French through the Duolingo app.  I'm also thinking of how best to support African-descended artists beyond check-in phone calls.

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

My yoga practice helps me to stay centered and allows time to truly think about next steps, because I sometimes move too fast. ;-) I highly recommend that some form of self-care is embraced.

I began French in high school and continued in college. As the Producer of DanceAfrica, I want to be as adept in the language as possible for those visits to francophone Africa; I want to be able to speak easily with my brothers and sisters there.

Lastly, it has always been my charge to support African-descended artists, so I am determined to find a way to do so from afar. I'm close to knowing what that thing is...very close.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

My yoga practice (stillness), my French lessons (connecting), and my commitment to African-descended artists is what keeps me strong; it keeps me centered; it helps me to know that there is truth in what we have done, what we do now, and what we will continue to do--MAKE ART!

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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Artists Reach Out: Aszure Barton

Dear friends,

Welcome to Artists Reach Out: reflections in a time of isolation. I dreamed this series of interviews out of grief for my work both as a documenting arts writer and curator of live performance. In this time of social distancing, we are called to responsibly do all we can to safeguard ourselves and our neighbors. It is, literally, a matter of life and death.

But there's no distancing around what we still can share with one another--our experiences, thoughts, wisdom, humor, hearts and spirit. In some ways, there are more opportunities to do so as we pull back from everyday busyness out in the world and have time to honor the call of our inner lives.

So, let me introduce you to some artists I find interesting. I'm glad they're part of our beautiful community, and I'm eager to engage with them again (or for the first time) in years to come.

--Eva Yaa Asantewaa, InfiniteBody

Aszure Barton

Aszure Barton
(photo: Tobin Del Cuore)

Aszure Barton received her formal dance training from Canada’s National Ballet School, where she helped originate the Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase as a student. She has been creating dances for over 25 years and has collaborated with celebrated dance artists and companies including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Teatro alla Scala, English National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Nederlands Dans Theater, National Ballet of Canada, Martha Graham Dance Company, Bayerisches Staatsballett, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Sydney Dance Company, and Houston Ballet, among many others. She has received accolades and honors including the prestigious Arts & Letters Award. She was the first Martha Duffy resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center and is an official ambassador of contemporary dance in Canada. She founded Aszure Barton & Artists in the early 2000s in order to create an autonomous, collaborative platform for process-centered creation. As an educator, Aszure is regularly invited to collaborate with and give workshops at universities and art institutions around the globe. She is currently an artist in residence faculty member at the University of Southern California.


Do you have a current or planned project whose progress is affected by the pandemic?

Yes, like so many other artists, I have had projects cancelled. I was currently scheduled to be working with the glorious dancers of Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company, but unfortunately the project has been cancelled indefinitely. I was also scheduled to work with Houston Ballet last month and had planned to spend the summer creating and touring with my own team (Aszure Barton & Artists) but, again, these events were cancelled.

I am scheduled to work with LA Opera in the fall, though this process and its premier are pending. We shall see what manifests! There are also a couple other stagings pending for the fall and winter season. All this said, I am hopeful that some of these projects, and others, will still happen at some point (in some form) in the future so I’m maximizing this period of time/space to further research and develop the work.

Briefly, tell me about how you got involved in the arts and in your particular practice.

I was born into a dance-loving family. My mother never took lessons herself but she encouraged us; she has always been profoundly moved by dance. My father dances all of the time, not on the stage but from and for his own heart's sake. I am the youngest of three women, and we are all still involved in dance.

I started making dances when I was a child. It was a way of bringing my friends and family together. I saw that it made people feel good, and that brought me joy. Still does.

In a more specific way, what are you practicing? And what are you envisioning?

During the past couple months, I have discovered my own body again. I hadn’t realized the extent of how disconnected from my physical being I had become. I was a stranger to my own body but, thank goodness, this quiet moment of isolation has presented an opportunity for me to go within and to listen. What I am being taught through obstacle is the importance of community and communication. I have been taking online classes and am wallowing in the generosity and skill of my teachers. It’s really awesome to return to the fundamentals and such a treat to listen and receive direction from others!

How does your practice and your visioning align with what you most care about?

Practicing movement again has reminded me to show up for myself as well as for others.

How does your practice function within the world we have now?

In terms of my daily routine, I carve out very clear windows of time to focus on my physical and choreographic practice. I find that creating a precise timeline for myself allows me to be more present and to have more fun. I have been archiving works from the past and have been researching for projects in the future. I also carve out hours to actively practice “making” (whether that’s on paper or in hand or in the kitchen or garden), or online with a dear friend through Zoom or in person with my generous husband. The other day I was so desperate to practice making movement with a live body in space, that my husband volunteered to be the dancer. He is a nurse, not a dancer, but he did his best. :-)

It’s all a work in progress, and change is a constant.

My self care tip/mantra: Make space for stillness. This is an opportunity for pause and to ask ourselves, “What can we do to make things much better?”

******

DISCLAIMER: In addition to my work on InfiniteBody, I serve, at Gibney, as Senior Director of Artist Development and Curation and Editorial Director. The postings on this site are my own and do not necessarily reflect the views, strategies or opinions of Gibney.

******

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