Moving Our Stories is based on four premises:
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  1. Our personal histories live and move in our bodies;​
  2. Through dancing, observing, writing, and discussing, we can draw on sense perception (what we see, hear, smell, taste, touch, and how we move) to locate and access embodied memory;
  3. By mapping, moving, and sharing our stories, we can more deeply understand ourselves, each other, and the ways in which we operate in the world;
  4. This understanding creates empathic connections that can effect personal and social change - starting at the level of the body.

I embrace storytelling as a radical act, a social justice practice. Sharing, documenting, and archiving personal and collective narratives is vital for communities whose histories have been historically (and continue to be) marginalized, skewed, erased. Dance -- a way of being in, thinking about, and creating change in the world -- allows us to claim agency over out stories, starting with our own bodies. 
Moving Our Stories Workshops:

Moving Our Stories workshops are interactive experiences for participants from all walks of life. Through movement, writing, drawing, observation, and discussion, we explore our own stories, share with them each other, and create new stories together.

Participant-driven activities oscillate from individual to collective explorations. Each participant brings their unique personal history and embodied knowledge. This allows for all who attend to engage deeply - dancers of all skill levels, dance enthusiasts, and anyone ready and willing to move their bodies to best of their ability are welcome to participate!

Workshops are designed in collaboration with community partners -- and structured around a particular theme --  to help explore how dance can address their particular interests, needs, and goals. 
Moving Our Stories as a Choreographic Process:

Moving Our Stories participants generate movement through the communal investigation of embodied memory - exploring, sharing, and moving our stories together. As a choreographer, this process allows me to focus on:

  • Participant-driven movement that values
    • intersubjective exchange and reciprocal relationships where the movement is generated by exploring the ideas and experiences of the people in the room to create a unique and dynamic movement vocabulary
    • Multimodal methods (movement, discussion, writing, drawing, and improvisation)
    • spontaneous and serendipitous connections between participants

  • African Diasporic movement aesthetics as an ever-emerging and evolving practice, informed by history and tradition, propelled by contemporary interests and innovation, shaped by social structures and environments, and driven by daily lived experiences. I believe investigating embodied memories and sharing individual and collective narratives are vital methods towards honoring, contributing to, and building upon the study of African Diaspora movement aesthetics.