REVELATIONS: THE AFTERLIVES OF SLAVERY
A RESPONSE TO ALVIN AILEY’S REVELATIONS (1960)
PERFORMERS: Brittany Engel Adams, Thomas F. DeFrantz, Stanley Gambucci, Jae Neal, Nicholas Leichter, and Netta Yerushalmy
TEXT: Thomas F. DeFrantz
RUNNING TIME: 32 minutes
ESSAY: Revelations: The Afterlives of Slavery
COSTUMES: Magdalena Jarkowiec
“How does “the modern” as a conceptual mechanism make space for Blackness and Africanist aesthetics in dance? Can “the modern” be inflected ‘black?’ Or does the contemporary concept of a commons-of –color predict that the inflection of “the modern” towards communities of color would invariably render the modern as a Black object, rather than a modern one? Are these modernities of the body always white? What could a Black modern be, and what work does it do?”
PERFORMANCE HISTORY:
The Watermill Center / Watermill, NY / May 2016
American Dance Festival / Durham, NC / July 2016
Beach Sessions / Far Rockaways, NY / August 27, 2016
LMCC’s River to River Festival National Museum of the American Indian / New York, NY / June 15 & 19, 2017
'62 Center for the Arts @ Williams College / Williamstown, MA / October 27, 2017
Live Artery at New York Live Arts / New York, NY / January 13 + 15, 2018
Hope Mohr's Bridge Project in partnership with ODC and SF MoMA / San Francisco, CA / February 23-24, 2018
Jacob’s Pillow / Becket, MA / August 8-12, 2018
Live Artery at New York Live Arts / New York, NY / January 7, 2019
Wexner Center for the Arts / Columbus, OH / February 7-9, 2019
New York Live Arts / New York, NY / March 14-17, 2019
Bates Dance Festival / Lewiston, ME / July 25-28, 2019
Wesleyan University / Middletown, CT / October 4, 2019
PHOTOGRAPHS: Hayim Heron ( 1 ); Paula Lobo ( 2 , 3 )