My family and I journeyed to Accra, Ghana for the first time in 2018. Much of what I had only read about and researched was made real. I tasted the salty air, rolled the red clay between my finger tips and felt both the pain and joy of my ancestors. This is the beginning of a short film developed out of an evening length dance work titled Black Like Me: An Exploration of the Word Nigger. Overlayed throughout this film are videos captured by Arif Gursel while touring BLM from 2018-2020 as well as videos captured while visiting Elmina, a slave dungeon on the coast of Ghana. The words, written by Cristina Orbe serve as a response to the original BLM narrative, Emancipation.
Throughout the creation, development and touring of my past work, Black Like Me: An Exploration of the Word Nigger, I struggled to let go of the traumatic feelings I had absorbed throughout the creative process. This led me to my newest work in progress, Keeper of Sadness. Through KOS I aim to give voice to the genetically recycled pain that lays dormant in the bellies of so many Black Women ignored throughout history--often self-suffocated as a means of survival. This excerpt is captured by cinematographer, Arif Gursel and embodied by dance artist, Alexis “Tilly” Evans-Kreuger.
In the Garden of Sonder stars soprano Ibidunni Ojikutu dramatizing Moments in Sonder (2017), a song cycle by Dr. B.E. Boykin which is set to poetry by Dr. Maya Angelou. With the musical support of pianist Jessica Evotia Andrews-Hall and harpist Mona Terry, Ibidunni guides viewers on an emotional journey as she navigates love, loss and pain. In part two of the film, "A Legacy Continued", Dr. Maxine Mimms and Dr. William Chapman Nyaho reflect on their personal relationships with Dr. Angelou. In the Garden of Sonder highlights the agency and power of Black Womanhood. The film is conceptualized and directed by Texas-born, Seattle-based curator, choreographer, and dance artist Jade Solomon Curtis. The above represents 3 of the 14 scenes/poems.