MY RESEARCH.
My research in screendance examines the unwritten history of Black moving image arts by analyzing Africanist Aesthetics in American dance, photography, and film. Themes of visibility, ancestral veneration, and Black liberation appear in my works as a means of retelling and reclaiming history. I use found footage of Black performers on screen to kinesthetically empathize with my ancestors. I view my filmmaking as a form of unearthing lost histories and challenging the aesthetic value systems of the arts.
Due to the lack of commitment to preserving Black films, early moving dance images are erased. As a result, there are gaps in the screendance timeline, and researchers are left with descriptions of the missing films. These limitations have prompted me to take an interdisciplinary approach to researching archival footage. I plan to continue developing my research project, Reimagining Screendance: Reclamation of Black Aesthetics in Dance Film History.
My goal is to minimize the representation gap in screendance by challenging current screendance pedagogy. I believe that much of the change we are searching for in the field is held within the past. Just as early Black filmmakers such Spencer Williams and Oscar Michaux re-imaged black representation in film, my research mirrors them by allowing these performers to claim existence in the fields of film and dance. I hope that more researchers will join me in uncovering these pivotal figures by challenging aesthetics and giving credit to Black figures who have been erased.
Due to the lack of commitment to preserving Black films, early moving dance images are erased. As a result, there are gaps in the screendance timeline, and researchers are left with descriptions of the missing films. These limitations have prompted me to take an interdisciplinary approach to researching archival footage. I plan to continue developing my research project, Reimagining Screendance: Reclamation of Black Aesthetics in Dance Film History.
My goal is to minimize the representation gap in screendance by challenging current screendance pedagogy. I believe that much of the change we are searching for in the field is held within the past. Just as early Black filmmakers such Spencer Williams and Oscar Michaux re-imaged black representation in film, my research mirrors them by allowing these performers to claim existence in the fields of film and dance. I hope that more researchers will join me in uncovering these pivotal figures by challenging aesthetics and giving credit to Black figures who have been erased.
“The function of art is to do more than tell it like it is – it's to imagine what is possible.”