Stations of Black Loss

A 14-part, autoethnographic, interdisciplinary body of work that chronicles my journey of learning to love and embrace Blackness.

What can “embracing Black identity” and “participating in Black culture” look like? Sound like? Feel like? What caused me to want to distance myself from what I perceived Blackness to be, to dissociate from it for the first 20 years of my life? What were the markers of Blackness (pop culture references, adornment and aesthetics, language, etc.) that I rejected in my youth, and what does it mean to adopt them now? These are the initial questions guiding Stations of Black Loss, and each step of the process raises more…

So far, this work has been made possible in part through loveDANCEmore’s Sunday Series Residency (Salt Lake City, Ut); through an NCCAkron Community Commissioning Residency, The University of Akron School of Dance, Theatre, an Art Administration, The University of Akron Foundation, and the Mary Schiller Myers Lecture Series in the Arts (Akron, Oh); and through the Dance Department at University of Illinois, Urbana-Champaign.

The Stations

I’ll Never Be Beyoncé

Juxtaposing Beyoncé's pro-Black lyrics with stories of my anti-Black adolescence, "I'll Never Be Beyoncé" uses monologue and movement to both process my childhood memories of insecurity and self-hatred and celebrate the confidence and self-love I now feel as an adult.

It’s Still Mine

A meditation on the commentary Black women receive about their extensions.

yESteRDaZe*

A playful tribute to my happy memories of playgrounds, church fairs, slumber parties, and middle school dances. A cast of dancers joins me in recalling these embodied memories of my girlhood in Baton Rouge, Louisiana. Several audience members are invited to sit on stage, immersing themselves in the energy and chaos of my adolescent realms.

Curls, Coils, and Kinks

Healing my inner child with the Black Hair Coloring Book.

Thank You, Chakaia

First created for Utah Museum of Fine Arts’ exhibit, Black Refractions: Highlights from the Studio Museum in Harlem, this audio recording-turned-performance piece about Black hair is inspired by Chakaia Booker’s sculpture Repugnant Rapunzel: Let Down Your Hair.