Josephine Baker, 18 years old.

If there were ever a body accustomed to having images projected on it, it's hers.

And also...

"As it emerges transformed from this intellectual contact zone, American studies has addressed how collective and impersonal forms of political agency are routinely embodied in propertied, white men, whose political privilege depends on the association of other genders, races, and classes with corporealized identities. The circulation of such 'overembodied' identities as public icons and spectacle has been crucial to the protection of established political privilege." - Eva Cherniavsky, Keywords for American Cultural Studies, ed. Bruce Burgett & Glenn Hendler, 2007

...There is something crucial in this word, "overembodied." Can one ever be too much in their body, too physical, too corporeally defined? Yes, in caricature, in exaggeration, in stereotype. And since the image (all kinds of media, "moving pictures," celebrities on pedestals, etc.) is such a driving force in society, this "overembodiment" of certain identities naturally (perhaps an unhappy choice of words) comes to be expected and assumed (in both senses of the word). As Cherniavsky writes, to reveal and perhaps alter these iconic, corporealized identities, we must examine "the physical body as a social text rather than a given form...there are no bodies without culture, since the body as a kind of material composition requires a cultural grammar of embodiment." Within that format, perhaps, the politically powerful, white men she points to can gain an embodied, socially iconic identity, and those of the marginalized identities won't be hyper-visible, overembodied, too corporeal.

And at the same time, as a mover, a dancer, and dance-maker, why is it a negative to be overembodied? I strive to become more within my body every day as a performer, but to escape stereotypes and expectations that I assume are made every day based on my body and image.

Do these conflict?

On my mind...

"...I will carve black women's bodies and heads

from reddish stone and black stone.

Some will be massive and the work will make me sweat.

The black woman's head is a massive weight.

The black woman's head holds the black woman's brain.

The black woman's body supports the black woman's head.

The black woman's work is the work of this world."

-Elizabeth Alexander

AOMC update

Exciting edited footage of the A.O. Movement Collective in rehearsal...be patient, I'm in there!

Welcome to the AOMC's New Work! from the A.O. Movement Collective on Vimeo.

Upcoming with Sydnie Mosley

See Sydnie Mosley's beautiful blog, lovestutter, for the official info about the studio showing and a radio talk show (!!??!!) that I'm taking part in with her:

January Happenings

"Slight Rupture," revisited: perhaps a "Show?"

I am performing a more finalized version of my solo project, "Slight Rupture" (title tentative), which was first presented as a study in DNA's October Works-In-Progress showcase, in Green Space Studio's Fertile Ground series in February! This project has been in development and has plagued my fascination since September of 2009 when I began working on it through Dance Theater Workshop's Van Lier Fellowship. I'm very excited to finally present a more finished version of it! I hope you'll trek to Queens to enjoy the show (there are several other choreographers), and a post-show talk with wine and snackies! Here's the info:

Fertile Ground Series

February 13th, 2011 @ 7pm

Tickets $10, includes wine and cheese!

Purchase tickets at the door or online at www.GreenSpaceStudio.org

Green Space Studio

Long Island City, Queens

37-24 24th St. (btw. 37th and 38th Aves.) Buzzer #301

National Choreography Month

Check out the blog for National Choreography Month (NACHMO)! I'll be performing a solo by fellow Barnard dance department alumna, Sydnie Mosley, dealing with womanhood, lady parts in limbo, and other things of that nature in one of their culminating studio showings:

5:45pm Saturday February 5th
PMT Dance Studio: 69 W 14th St @ 6th Ave
Tickets $10

Here's the link: http://www.nachmo2011.blogspot.com.

Fancy Freelance...

So...I have officially become a freelance copywriter/editor. It's a real thing and it's been a long time coming (I did some copyediting my senior year of college for ESL students' graduate applications, but have wanted to do it as a part time job since then). Thanks to the reinvigoration of Sarah Rosner's A.O. Pro(+ductions), a collective of freelancers who work mainly to help emerging artists with marketing materials, web design, consulting, management, etc., and Elance, an online freelancers website, I've finally got a couple of projects underway. Check out the website, http://aopro.info/, which should be getting updated for the reinvigoration soon! And my Elance profile (still under development), http://creativelanguage.elance.com.