second part of the triad: homemakin on the stage
1
Through their practice of homemakin, Barnes and Soumah expand the meanings of both church and stage. What they create is more akin to village, with an intense focus on legacy.
A movement analysis of Latasha Barnes’ The Jazz Continuum; the particular iteration performed in Washington, DC and in part two, a close look at Sylvia Soumah’s werk with young Black girls through West African dance and drumming.
2
Alvin Ailey’s Revelations is a generative work that established the connections between church and stage in concert dance. Audiences who witness the work are “in the know” and animated by the spirit. The Jazz Continuum, similarly transports audience members from the jook joint to the church pew and back again.
3
The presence of an audience legitimizes Barnes’ and Soumah’s works. Audience members become witnesses, engaging in the movement epistemologies performed. The dancers call and the witnesses through their response add to the weight and meaning of the works.
Author pictured (third from left) backstage during the run of Blue Grass Brown Earth, circa 2006.