DANCE FILMS
Black and Blues is a dance adaptation of a prose poem by the same name written by Neustadt Prize-winning author Boubacar Boris Diop.
Diop’s “Black and Blues” paints a vivid picture of place and wrestles with his subject’s complex relationship with the sea as both a life-giving and life-taking entity. What is seemingly a mundane part of a fishing village becomes a great obstacle to cross for safety due to economic hardship. Our small cast and crew uses this conflict as a catalyst for our own Black and Blues.
Through snapshots of life, a couple in a seaside town find themselves in harrowing circumstances of survival. This is the story of many migrants all over the world who are forced to leave their homes.
BLACK AND BLUES, 2022
Commissioned by World Literature Today
This project was made possible, in part, by a grant from the Norman Arts Council and the National Endowment for the Arts.
Directed by Marie Casimir & Jessica Ray
Choreography: Marie Casimir
DP: Jordan Nicks
Score: Ionnis Androitis
Featuring: Vitoria Correia and Nathaniel Tylor
I DREAM OF GREENWOOD, 2021
I Dream of Greenwood is inspired by the personal accounts of survivors of the Tulsa Massacre of 1921, as told to historian and activist Eddie Faye Gates and featured in her book Riot on Greenwood. The dance moves through the dreamscapes of the children who inherited both the rich legacy of a thriving community and the trauma of one of the worst single acts of racial violence in documented American history. Through their eyes, we hope to relive, remember, and restore.
Exhibited: Living Arts Tulsa | Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Project
Additional Screenings: The Depot
Commissioned by World Literature Today for Reflecting on the Past, Facing the Future
University of Oklahoma’s Tulsa Race Massacre Centennial Symposium
Video production by Scissortail Media
Audio and sound engineering by Andriotis Music & Audio
This program was made possible, in part, by the Norman Arts Council Grant Program.
WE REMEMBER, WE RESTORE, 2021
Filmed against the lush backdrop of the Crystal Bridge Conservatory, We Remember, We Restore finds promise in the seed, resilience in the bend, and power in the break.
Film Festival Screenings:
DOSABAMA Film Fest | 2021
Kileen Black Art & Film Festival
Austin Dance Festival | Dance on Film | May 29, 2021
DANCECINEMA | July 2, 2021
Originally created for Sill Here: The Cosmology of Black Resilience
Curated by Ebony Iman Dallas, Afrikantion Artists & Marie Casimir, Djaspora Productions
Choreographed and envisioned by Marie Casimir & J'aime Griffith Directed by Marie Casimir & Mat Miller
Produced by Djaspora Productions, Afrikantion Artists, 1984 Studios
