Àṣẹ Dance Theatre Collective
What ancestral promises are Black bodies/lives fulfilling in these moments of converging crisis? How do we continue to shape hope-filled futures whilst battling daily for life, for breath, for dignity? In what ways do we infuse critical joy into horrific space and place, and plant dignity and wholeness into the present?
These young dancers are bring deep critical thought and joy to this moment of intersecting pandemics. I pray they are being well cared for, kept safe, and nurtured. Thank you Norah, Yayra and Rose, you are writing the future into being with your dancing bodies!
“Edisa Weeks is a choreographer, educator, videographer, and director of DELIRIOUS DANCES, which merges theater with dance to explore the beauty and complexity of life. In her work she seeks to create intimate environments in which to experience and interact with contemporary dance. The New York Times described Weeks’ work as having “A lot of imagination and a gift for simple but striking visual effects.””
What questions are Black Dancers/Dance-Makers asking? How do Black Dancer/Dance-Makers articulate their lives and experiences of Being Black in the twenty-first century? What is essential/important to bring into public conversation? Which publics are imagined? What is the role of history, future imagining, and/or present experimentation?
“My focus to some degree is autobiographical, thinking about certain desires and freedoms I wished for myself growing up in Georgia, in nature and the landscape of the South in general, places that can be, on the outside, inviting, but have a complex history where folk that look like me feel rejected,” Mr. Mitchell said. His practice functions as a kind of corrective. Nearly every image in “I Can Make You Feel Good” is set outdoors, a gambit of visibility and a declaration of fearlessness.” Read more HERE.
One of the biggest ideas that came from the Cuban Revolution was that everyone, as a human right, should have access to healthcare and should have access to education. So Cuba has prided itself in making sure that these are very much pillars of its revolution, and that their people would always have access to that.
Dr. Melissa Barber, author of Melissa’s Thanks, continues her GREAT work! Read more here.
“In the South Bronx, Dr. Melissa Barber is putting into practice lessons she learned more than a decade ago from her training as a medical student in Cuba at the Latin American School of Medicine, or ELAM as it’s known by its Spanish initials. For Barber, healthcare doesn’t start with an ambulance ride to the hospital but with community organizing and a deep familiarity with the needs of one’s neighbors. Barber is also the coordinator for the U.S.-Cuba scholarship program that provides free medical school training in Cuba for aspiring doctors who commit to return and serve in their communities.”
With the current state of our world, it is easy to lose sight of personal and community health and well-being. While acknowledging the problematics of the holiday season (a list too numerous), I hope we all find places/spaces to engage in the life saving practice of collective Joy. The below article was published more than 2 years ago in the Harvard Gazette , offers a scientific perspective on the role of joy to human health and wellbeing-being.
“Those who kept warm relationships got to live longer and happier, said Waldinger, and the loners often died earlier. “Loneliness kills,” he said. “It’s as powerful as smoking or alcoholism.”
According to the study, those who lived longer and enjoyed sound health avoided smoking and alcohol in excess. Researchers also found that those with strong social support experienced less mental deterioration as they aged.
“In Ntozake Shange’s celebrated feminist choreopoem, through Dec. 8 at the Public, seven women of color, named after and dressed in different hues of the rainbow, explore trauma and resilience through movement and text. Ms. Wailes’s performance is captivating for the ease in which she weaves Camille A. Brown’s choreography with American Sign Language.”
Meet Bri, she aspires to transform the world by working at the intersection of chemistry and computer science. Click on her picture or the go-fund-me link below to read Bri’s story and contribute.
“A particularly evil thing about racism is its ability to make Black women feel alone.”
Because of Them, I Am Not Alone: Radical Black Women of Harlem
Caster Semenya was defiant in every way at what very well could be her last 800 meter race. Her raised fist at the start. Her unstoppable victory. And with her reply Friday to the big question of whether she will now submit to new testosterone regulations in track and field and take hormone-reducing medication. “Hell…
via Caster Semenya, Defiant After Race Win, Says She Won’t Take Hormone Reducing Drugs — TIME
I love this woman and her dynamic spirit in a time that tries to unhindered her from who she knows herself to be in this world
“I am a woman and I am fast”: what Caster Semenya’s story says about gender and race in sports
https://www.vox.com/identities/2019/5/3/18526723/caster-semenya-800-gender-race-intersex-athletes
