foreign [Music] my name is edisa weeks my role in the project action songs protest dances is a choreographer director and it was my concept action songs protest dances emerge from the murder of Brianna Taylor and George Floyd I was really looking for a way that as a choreographer to bring awareness to social justice issues in America in 2010 the college acquired James Foreman's personal papers foreign [Music] [Music] I've been wanting to find a way to really uplift who James Foreman was in terms
of the Civil Rights era and as a leader of the student non-violent Coordinating Committee snake it's not just about the big speeches it's about the day-to-day work which can be very tedious we pulled quotes from several of his writings and then just compiling this dossier that everyone in the project had access to that became the source material James performance phenomenal man and this project is about how his movement really build a community throughout love and just acceptance for all Americ
an traditions hits the streets contradictions [Applause] take them out hit the streets hit the streets take the boat take the boat we were rehearsing the project and having our initial sort of dreamstorming discussions virtually on Zoom partially because we were in a pandemic and also because of location Spirit McIntyre is based in Louisiana in New Orleans taina silly is in Choi New York Martha's constantly touring also with the dancers one of them had moved and so then it was figuring out okay
we can't be in person but we can meet virtually foreign the first time that the composers the musicians and the dancers were together we literally had two and a half days to like figure all that out and then perform the work it was a tremendous amount of trust and amazingly talented group of people who are in the room which is why we were able to make it come together shame it's too heavy to carry ageism I'll say it's too heavy to carry anti-blackness I say it's too heavy to carry is black power
was originally not necessarily about individual power but about the collective power and Community not just the black power of self I think it's all connected and it's a nugget I think I should leave behind [Music] foreign on reparations there's this whole kind of chant that's happened Joy it's ours Joy it's ours Joy it's ours and so as part of that taina invited the audience to stand up and sing with us and for me that was joyous there are also three other songs that I would love to add to the
performance the project is still evolving it's a it's definitely a big dream we've realized the first stage of the dream and now we're working on the second stage the songs are about planting seeds and for creating social betterment how do we atone for hundreds of years of enslavement also how do we practice well-being and what does that actually really look like how Joy is a revolutionary act so that you have the strength to uphold life liberty and happiness how can we have those for everybody
[Music] it's time [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] [Music] foreign foreign [Music] Big Ideas at Queens College is a queen's College production [Music]
Comments