About
LET ‘IM MOVE YOU: THIS IS AN INVITATION, a dance film from Makini and Jermone Donte Beacham, juggles between two choreographed duets, both filmed at dawn in outdoor locations in Mississippi (Jackson and Hazlehurst) and Bahia (Salvador and Itaparica), respectively. The two duets — Sebastião Abreu and Uostton Di Alcântara in Bahia, then Makini and Donte in Mississippi — are both performed and auto-documented by the respective pairs, each intentionally framing self and environment as a means to create the terms for being seen. Invitation is the latest project in Makini and Donte’s decade-spanning Let ‘im Move You series of performance and visual projects. Since 2009, Makini and Donte — with an extensive squad of collaborators — have centered their explorations of J-Sette movement and culture to explore recurring themes of intimacy, spectacle, belonging, organization, tenderness, and happiness. These performance and visual projects source J-Sette’s legacy of formatting call-and-response choreographies, social hierarchies, sensual and spectacular movement choreographies, and ornate rhythmic structures in order to activate playful and complex images of Black femininity and queer affection.
Project Credits
produced and choreographed by Jermone Donte Beacham & Makini
directed and edited by Makini
performed by Jermone Donte Beacham, Makini, Sebastião Abreu, and Uostton Alcântara
score composed and performed by Diego Moraes
music production by Diego Moraes with Rafael Beibi
sound design by Makini
poetry by Anderson Feliciano
translated by Janaína Silva
choreographic consultation by Davi Pontes
production management by Marýa Wethers
Creation Budget
What it takes to make it happen
Funding Credits
THIS IS AN INVITATION was commissioned by Dance Place and Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (Wesleyan University)
About the series Let ‘im Move You
Let ‘im Move You is a series born from the artistic relationship between artists jumatatu m. poe and Jermone “Donte” Beacham. The series centralizes J-Sette performance form and culture to address the artists’ search for satisfaction and subversion within J-Sette’s team-oriented call-and-response structure. While the artists see performance as an opportunity to communicate across various cultural distinctions, they see their work as chiefly in conversation with other Black queer alien artists.
