Reasons to be thankful!

I have many things to be thankful for--among them, being so often surrounded by gifted, accomplished artists. This season, I had the great pleasure of moderating BRIC Arts Media's post-show Q&A with choreographer Ronald K. Brown (celebrating his troupes's 30th anniversary) and poet Cheryl Boyce-Taylor. For Ronald K. Brown/Evidence's season at BRIC, Brown and Boyce-Taylor presented a revival of Water, their 1999 collaboration. 

The Q&A followed the performance on Friday, November 13 as New Yorkers were just hearing and struggling to process the horrific news from Paris. All through our conversation, I felt the unshakable force of Ron and Cheryl's groundedness and focus. I was happy that they both emphasized how important it is for young, innovating artists to value and tap the experience of arts elders as they move forward in a field--and a world--presenting numerous challenges.

Movers and Shakers: Dance Activists in NYC
a panel at Brooklyn Historical Society
(photo: Tyrone Z. McCants)

L to r: Jason Samuels Smith, Eva Yaa Asantewaa, AntBoogie,
Tamia Santana, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar and Camille A. Brown
(photo: Tyrone Z. McCants)

I also had the honor of being invited, by Meredith Duncan, Programs and Communication Manager of Brooklyn Historical Society, and Tamia Santana, Executive Director of the Brooklyn Dance Festival, to moderate their panel on dance and activism at BHS. The panelists? Knockouts, all: Camille A. Brown, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, AntBoogie and Jason Samuels Smith, distinguished in their respective genres of dance and deeply engaged with community, education and social justice.

(photo: Tyrone Z. McCants)

(photo: Tyrone Z. McCants)

Despite a late-fall downpour that kept some people home, we had a good gathering and a rich, wide-ranging discussion touching on the power of the arts to shift the way we think and imagine, the fundamental importance of technical discipline, the role of the body in political action, and the perennial challenge posed by mainstream media and conventional tastemakers and gatekeepers. So often, our talk returned to the imperative that progressive artists just go for it, find their own truths, control their own spaces, creating alternatives in an end run around these barriers. I greatly appreciate the example these artists continue to set for us all.

Finally, I want to thank all of you for your nourishing support over the years. InfiniteBody continues to be here for you, and I hope you will continue to enjoy it and send your friends and colleagues my way.

Have a great Thanksgiving!

Love,
Eva :-)

Brooklyn reading series launches season in new home

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, founder and host,
Calypso Muse and The Glitter Pomegranate Reading Series
(photo: Peter Dressel)

On Friday, September 25 (6:30pm), join award-winning poet Cheryl Boyce-Taylor for the Fall 2015 season of Calypso Muse and The Glitter Pomegranate Reading Series.

Featured readers will be Patricia Spears Jones, Lynne Procope, Eugenia Leigh and Gregory Pardlo.

A Q&A will be followed with an open mike hosted by Boyce-Taylor.

The series kicks off this season in a new venue:

Bedford Stuyvesant YMCA
1121 Bedford Avenue, Brooklyn
(map/directions)

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor is the recipient of the 2015 Barnes & Noble Writers For Writers Award. The founder of Calypso Muse and The Glitter Pomegranate Reading Series, she is a VONA fellow, and co-editor of The Wide Shore: A journal of Global Women's Poetry. A graduate of Stonecoast MFA Program, Cheryl is the author of three poetry collections, Raw Air, Night When Moon Follows and Convincing the Body. her poems are published in numerous publications including: Prairie Schooner, Callaloo, The Mom Egg Review, The Killens Review of Arts & Letters, and Aloud:Voices from the Nuyorican Poets Cafe. Cheryl lives in Bedford Stuyvesant, Brooklyn, she has just completed her fourth collection of poetry titled Arrival, a memoir in verse on migration and family life.

Live to Tell: Black queer writers speak out [AUDIO]

Stanley Bennett Clay

Imani Henry

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor

Our voices are important to the fabric of who we are and to America.

-- Terrance Dean

If you happened to miss last evening's exciting and motivating panel, Live to Tell: The Life and Legacy of Black Queer Literature, never fear: I've got it for you right here.

Presented by the Black Gay & Lesbian Archive of the Schomburg Center for Research in Black Culture in conjunction with author Terrance Dean, the panel addressed issues of access to mainstream publication, the unique value and struggles of independent Black LGBT publishers, the uses and abuses of social media, the inspiration of trailblazers and hell-raisers--from James Baldwin to Staceyann Chin--and much, much more.

Steven G. Fullwood, Project Director of the Schomburg's Black Gay & Lesbian Archive, introduced the program and moderated a panel that included (in the order first heard on this recording):

Stanley Bennett Clay

Cheryl Boyce-Taylor

Terrance Dean

James Earl Hardy

Imani Henry

G. Winston James

To download an mp3 of Live to Tell, click here. [2:32:38]

For information on future programs of the Black Gay & Lesbian Archive--including Ordinary People, a film and book club series running from October 2012 to June 2013--follow the Schomburg Center on Facebook, Twitter @SchomburgCenter or Tumblr.

Giving it to you, word for word

Word for Word Poetry Reading

at Bryant Park

Trinidadian poets Cheryl Boyce-Taylor, Lynne Procope, and Mervyn Taylor share new work at Bryant Park's Word for Word Poetry series, presented by Poets & Writers.

Tuesday, July 12, 7-8:30pm

Bryant Park Reading Room
42nd Street between Fifth and Sixth Avenues, Manhattan
(map and directions)
Look for the burgundy and white umbrellas.

Rain Venue:
The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen
20 West 44th Street, between 5th and 6th Avenues, Manhattan

(Not all rooms in The General Society of Mechanics and Tradesmen are handicapped accessible. We are sorry for the inconvenience.)

For more information about Word for Word, please visit Bryant Park's Web site.