SPECTER OF SUNLIGHT //PREMIERES MAR. 5 IN VIRTUAL PERFORMANCE FESTIVAL
Dance in Revolt(ing) Times (D.I.R.T.) Festival 2021: Harriet’s Gun, Shapeshifting Towards a Radically Imagined Black Future
About This Event
Dance in Revolt(ing) Times (D.I.R.T.) Festival 2021: Harriet’s Gun, Shapeshifting Towards a Radically Imagined Black Future is a ritual of black joy, possibility, and healing. As we reckon with the 30 years between Rodney King and Breonna Taylor, Black artists from across the country tell their stories, uplift creative medicine, and conjure hope. Virtual performances March 5 & 13. Two distinct programs featuring 18 artists. Presented by Dance Mission Theater and curated by Sarah Crowell and Adia Tamar Whitaker with Rhodessa Jones as the Mistress of Ceremonies.
Program A: Friday, March 5th at 5pm PST / 8pm PST
Alex Jones (Tampa); André Zachery (Brooklyn); Betty’s Daughter Arts Collaborative (Houston/Harlem); Embodiment Project (San Francisco); Molodi (Las Vegas); Sydnie L. Mosley (Harlem); UFly Mothership (Brooklyn); Kamille King (Newark)
About SPECTER OF SUNLIGHT// FOR ELANDRIA WILLIAMS
Choreographer’s Notes: Some of us no longer fight with guns. We are children of the sun. With revolution in mind, this is a visual ceremony. Here, I ask what it means for the hunted to haunt. I ask how the ghosted ghost with unavoidable light. Perplexing and obtuse. On purpose and never on cue. SPECTER OF SUNLIGHT// is a telling and a witnessing of how Black women multiply themselves to be many in the collective work and ritual of liberation. In intimate and impactful ways. Waking the earth beneath them. You hear? They are working on this side and the others. This work is a work that invites the “allness” of us. Legions of light-bringers that surround. Teeth glinted. A miracle in their eyes. This moment, I dedicate to my dear, too soon departed, sister of the heart Elandria Williams who took her last breath strategizing Black liberation. May the ancestors in us rise up and shine. Conjurings of this work were generously supported by: National Black Theatre, Harlem, NY, Dancing Futures: Artist Mentor Collaborative Residency in collaboration with BAAD! in Bronx, NY Texas Equal Access Fund (Tour Producer/Presenter) in Dallas, TX.
Filmmakers Notes: This piece is a visual meditation on the forever middle place of existence. The liminal nowness of being. The continuum in all. For there really is no death. No death really--Cause in the grand design of all things. It's all sent back to be sent back. Recycled. Incycled. Upcycled. There is no death really, all things, everything is used up into infinitude. The sound wave, the seed, the star. The blood. The breath the bone. All echo on into the eternal. The following should be clearly noted: Where you see the blue baby, elder church ladies, and water all came from Jenn Nkiru and their work Black Star: Rebirth Is Necessary. Viewable here: https://youtu.be/vemJFbayDrM in totality. Director Jenn Nkiru authors a personal and powerful exploration of blackness through piecing together dreamlike portraits with stunning archival footage that includes Afrofuturism pioneer Sun Ra and revolutionary organization the Black Panther Party. Read more on NOWNESS - http://bit.ly/2xpDzvZ.
Cast and Creative Team
Featuring: Jaimé Yawa Dzandu, Brooklyn, NY Vesta Kenyadah Walker, Queens, NY Audrey Elaine Hailes, Brooklyn, NYSanchel Brown, Baltimore, Maryland Sound Design: Petra Valoma, Berkeley CaliforniaVideography: Forever Photography, Ft. Worth, TexasAdditional Videography, Vir-Amicus, Bronx, NY
Photography, Marisol Diaz Gordon, NY, NY
Photography, Brandy Glover Fuller, Dallas, TX
Costume Designer: Dee Dee’s Street Boutique, Miami, Florida Dresses:Tara Daniels, Brooklyn, NYWardrobe Assistant: Mshairi Siyanda, Atlanta, GeorgiaChoreography Mentor: Maria BaumanAssociate Choreographer: Jaimé Yawa DzanduTour/Production/Stage Manager: Sará Abdullah, Brooklyn NYFilmmaker/Creative Consultant: Southern Android Productions//Viktor. L Ewing Givens, Crockett, Texas Concept/Creator/Choreographer/Text: Ebony Noelle Golden