This is a game, and the rhythm is key. This is luminous black and smooth brown and hard yellow skin tones. This is an alien, and that is a fairy. This is a movement; we did not start it. This is a stomp through the floor, and a buck across the universe. This is an invitation for you to amplify the respect, curiosity, and love you find in our shared space. This is exquisitely normal. This is so queer, it’s inside out. This is a show for the family, with nudity and sexual themes. This is rigorous beauty. This is a formation.
This Is a Formation is the latest dance performance project in jumatatu m. poe and Jermone Donte Beacham’s Let ‘im Move You series, a collection of performance and visual works centered around the artists’ explorations with the J-Sette form. Formation brings together 7 Black dancers, a DJ, and a lighting designer as performers for the work. Audiences travel within the performance space with relative freedom, sharing the same spaces as performers. Live captured video design elements will focus on close-up capture of the performers for display on hanging panels throughout the space, referencing both hyper-surveillance of Black people’s bodies, and pop-star scale megalomania.
