February 2021
February, 2021
I am honored to receive a new grant for my Nourish Project! I’m a Cambridge Arts’ 2021 Art for Racial Justice Grant recipient, through the Cambridge Arts and the Massachusetts Cultural Council. With their funding, I will choreograph custom dances for Black mothers, referred by partners from the Cambridge Center for Families. While these private dances made over 8 weeks of group Zoom sessions will not be videotaped, later this summer I will be documenting my experience, and making a body map of our findings in another artistic medium. I will share these findings in a live online interview in the winter of this year.
For Black History Month, I am teaching two new classes through freeskewl’s amazing online platform for movement classes, performances, discussions, and community…
On February 2, 7:30 pm EST, I’m teaching Are We OK? - A Lecture/Demonstration on Decolonizing Our Dancing:
I’m offering practices, questions, and considerations for the socially and equitably conscious choreographer. I will talk about my choreographic approach relative to trauma and internalized racism. I’ll show excerpts of my dances and discuss how we - specifically dancers - desensitize ourselves to our discomforts and grief. We’ll discuss how to find a place in our bodies - and the choreography we create with them - for the unspoken harms in our lives that we all endure. This workshop is open to anyone who is interested in exploring these themes in an authentic way.
The second class, offered February 16 at 6pm EST: Nourish: A Pop Up Class for BIPOC Women:
An introspective approach to centering and healing, Nourish will be a safe space for us to tune in deeply together. While seated, we’ll build awareness towards resourcing our inner states of being, using our own positive memories to fortify our present and imagine the future. there’ll be some talking and writing throughout the class. Designed for folx who want super gentle guidance towards moving from within, or may have not felt secure in their bodies. We’ll practice our use of attention together towards embodied self care. This class will not be physically active as we imagine, talk, write, and make gentle motions. Come, find a cozy spot, a nice beverage, and bring a journal.
Lastly, I choreographed a new art project for North American Choreographers’ Month (NACHMO) Boston 2021 in January. I created a video presentation now titled, “A Dance For You and Your Future, In Your Body”, formerly titled “Oh To Be Human, Here Today: An Exercise to Recognize Bodily Discomforts”. This 5 minute video asks the viewer to attentively examine as they go - What pains do we want? What harms are we unable to avoid? How do we process our discomforts when a pain is intentional? We’re socialized to dismiss so many of our bodily experiences, from grooming a child’s hair and fingernails, to getting our ears pierced. Some pains are medically necessary, while others are social norms that popular culture has adopted as beauty standards. My aim is to have people unlearn what they’ve already accepted as uncomfortable, and to use their awareness to make choices to give themselves agency, empowering them to manage an otherwise uncomfortable experience.