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Alvin Ailey Perform Revelations in Celebration of Black History Month | ELLE

February 15, 2018

“In honor of Black History Month, we spoke with Alvin Ailey stars Constance Stamatiou and Jamar Roberts on what it means to be performers of color in the dance world. Hear about their upbringing, obstacles they've faced in the industry, and what being part of a renowned African American dance company means to them.”

All performed over a riveting rendition of "Fix Me Jesus" from Alvin Ailey's Revelations.

#dance #video #alvin ailey #constance stamatiou #jamar roberts

WE. DANCE. || Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater

“When our hearts break, WE Dance.”

Featuring Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater Text written and performed by Hope Boykin Music: "The Sky Is No Limit" by At the End, Nothing Video by Danica Paulos

#dance #video #alvin ailey #alvin ailey american dance theater

Legendary dance artist Katherine Dunham on Overcoming 1940s Racism

#katherine dunham #video #dance #dancer

Power

BY AUDRE LORDE

The difference between poetry and rhetoric is being ready to kill yourself instead of your children. I am trapped on a desert of raw gunshot wounds and a dead child dragging his shattered black face off the edge of my sleep blood from his punctured cheeks and shoulders is the only liquid for miles and my stomach churns at the imagined taste while my mouth splits into dry lips without loyalty or reason thirsting for the wetness of his blood as it sinks into the whiteness of the desert where I am lost without imagery or magic trying to make power out of hatred and destruction trying to heal my dying son with kisses only the sun will bleach his bones quicker. A policeman who shot down a ten year old in Queens stood over the boy with his cop shoes in childish blood and a voice said “Die you little motherfucker” and there are tapes to prove it. At his trial this policeman said in his own defense “I didn't notice the size nor nothing else only the color”. And there are tapes to prove that, too. Today that 37 year old white man with 13 years of police forcing was set free by eleven white men who said they were satisfied justice had been done and one Black Woman who said “They convinced me” meaning they had dragged her 4'10'' black Woman's frame over the hot coals of four centuries of white male approval until she let go the first real power she ever had and lined her own womb with cement to make a graveyard for our children. I have not been able to touch the destruction within me. But unless I learn to use the difference between poetry and rhetoric my power too will run corrupt as poisonous mold or lie limp and useless as an unconnected wire and one day I will take my teenaged plug and connect it to the nearest socket raping an 85 year old white woman who is somebody's mother and as I beat her senseless and set a torch to her bed a greek chorus will be singing in 3/4 time “Poor thing. She never hurt a soul. What beasts they are.”

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/53918/power-56d233adafeb3

#audre lorde #power #poet #poetry #poem

For Malcom X

BY MARGARET WALKER

All you violated ones with gentle hearts; You violent dreamers whose cries shout heartbreak; Whose voices echo clamors of our cool capers, And whose black faces have hollowed pits for eyes. All you gambling sons and hooked children and bowery bums Hating white devils and black bourgeoisie, Thumbing your noses at your burning red suns, Gather round this coffin and mourn your dying swan. Snow-white moslem head-dress around a dead black face! Beautiful were your sand-papering words against our skins! Our blood and water pour from your flowing wounds. You have cut open our breasts and dug scalpels in our brains. When and Where will another come to take your holy place? Old man mumbling in his dotage, crying child, unborn?

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/52730/for-malcolm-x

#for malcom x #margaret walker #poet #poem #poetry

Ballad of Birmingham

By Dudley Randall

"Mother dear, may I go downtown Instead of out to play, And march the streets of Birmingham In a Freedom March today?" "No, baby, no, you may not go, For the dogs are fierce and wild, And clubs and hoses, guns and jails Aren't good for a little child." "But, mother, I won't be alone. Other children will go with me, And march the streets of Birmingham To make our country free." "No baby, no, you may not go For I fear those guns will fire. But you may go to church instead And sing in the children's choir." She has combed and brushed her night-dark hair, And bathed rose petal sweet, And drawn white gloves on her small brown hands, And white shoes on her feet. The mother smiled to know that her child Was in the sacred place, But that smile was the last smile To come upon her face. For when she heard the explosion, Her eyes grew wet and wild. She raced through the streets of Birmingham Calling for her child. She clawed through bits of glass and brick, Then lifted out a shoe. "O, here's the shoe my baby wore, But, baby, where are you?"

Source: https://allpoetry.com/Ballad-Of-Birmingham

#ballad of birmingham #poetry #poet #poem #dudley randall

Riot

by Gwendolyn Brooks

Source: https://www.poetryfoundation.org/poems/51835/riot

#riot #poet #poetry #poem #gwendolyn brooks

I, Too

By Langston Hughes

I, too, sing America.

I am the darker brother. They send me to eat in the kitchen When company comes, But I laugh, And eat well, And grow strong.

Tomorrow, I'll be at the table When company comes. Nobody'll dare Say to me, “Eat in the kitchen,” Then.

Besides, They'll see how beautiful I am And be ashamed—

I, too, am America.

Source: https://poets.org/poem/i-too

#poet #poem #langston hughes #i too #poetry

Dance Class Fundraisers

Fundraising classes are a win-win experience: you get to train with master teachers and choreographers, and your donation goes to furthering causes that help propel Black artists. Here are a few options:

Peridance Capezio Center will host a full week of online classes starting June 6, with funds raised going to organizations that fight against racial inequality.

Gibney Dance will donate all online class revenue through the end of June to organizations on the front lines of the effort.

Former Nederlands Dans Theater dancer Spenser Theberge will teach three ballet classes this week, and all proceeds will go to the organization Color of Change.

Martha Graham Dance Company is offering all revenue from this week's online classes to the Minnesota Freedom Fund.

Instagram account Movement for Hope is hosting classes all week, with the proceeds going to a different organization fighting for equality each day.

Next week, the "Cindies Ballet Class" (with ABT principals Isabella Boylston and James Whiteside) will be collecting donations for @fairfightaction and @aclu_nationwide.

Source: https://www.dancespirit.com/support-black-dance-community-2646147157.html?rebelltitem=3#rebelltitem3

#dance #resource

Fundraising classes are a win-win experience: you get to train with master teachers and choreographers, and your donation goes to furthering causes that help propel Black artists. Here are a few options:Dancer and choreographer Nathaniel Hunt's RISE. REFLECT. RESTORE virtual fundraiser, running June...

How to Support the Black Dance Community, Beyond Social Media

#resource #dance

Kristen Merritt, Category: Artist, Singles: Never Again, Thyme, Ending, Weird Weather, Spectrum, Top Tracks: Ending, Weird Weather, Never Again, Thyme, Float, Biography: Simple, Silly, Soulful., Monthly Listeners: 429, Where People Listen: Los Angeles, Atlanta, San Francisco, Johannesburg, New York City

Kristen Merritt

Simple, Silly, Soulful.

A Detroit native raised a little bit of everywhere else, Kristen Merritt has played everything from intimate coffee, bar, and lounge settings, to larger festival-style events, and has delighted crowds no matter the room capacity.

As a solo artist, Kristen has found her sound in the neo-soul genre, and spices up her set with the occasional funk or soulful pop song, telling a new story with every original and cover she gives her unique flavor to.

#musician #kristen merritt

Throwing my body because my mama taught me not to throw hands | Jaxon Willard

TEDxSaltLakeCity

#jaxon willard #dance #dancer #video

Michael Brown, Same Story by Prince Ea

“A poem about Michael Brown. Love should always prevail even in our darkest times.”

#prince ea #poetry #poet #spoken word #video

Why This Will Keep Happening by Prince Ea

#prince ea #video #spoken word #poetry #poet

Precious Puritans, a song by Propaganda, KO on Spotify

Precious Puritans by Propaganda and KO

This song is likely the most controversial track on Propaganda’s “Excellent”.

It tackles the time-honored tradition, observed by many evangelist pastors and preachers since the 1800s, of quoting Puritans and puritanical writings as though they were nearly on par with Scripture. Though Prop doesn’t seem to take issue with the practice per se, he does question why, if the Puritans were as godly as modern Christian leaders would have us believe, did their godliness not spur them toward taking action against the rampant slavery at the time?

He describes his emotions as Puritans are quoted, before widening the scope of the song and examining the very nature of quoting imperfect people, himself included. A simple search will reveal response after response by Christian leaders across the spectrum, even those with little to no experience with rap or hip-hop, to this track due to its overt subject matter and frank discussion.

An excellent write up can be found at Marty Duren’s Blog.

Source: https://genius.com/Propaganda-precious-puritans-lyrics

#propaganda #ko #music #musician

Beyonce’s Performance of Freedom at the 2016 BET Awards

I wish there was a good quality video of this performance, because watching it live on TV was breathtaking. It was so strong and powerful, and left goosebumps all over.

Here is a youtube video of the performance, but the low quality truly does not give justice to this performance.

#beyonce

Formation by Beyonce

Beyonce’s celebration of her formation—her heritage, her fine form, her politics—is a tapestry of black women’s colorful, textured lives, which refuse to become the living deaths that feminist foremother Audre Lorde warned us about. While some activists call on African Americans to get militant in response to injustice, Beyonce asks ladies to get in formation, to stand side by side and show everyone we’re still here and 'we gon’ slay, slay.’“

Source: https://time.com/4211888/beyonce-formation-activism/

#beyonce #video #music video #music #musician

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