Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective, the esteemed street dance company founded by Michele Byrd-McPhee in 2004, presented The Black Dancing Bodies Project: SpeakMyMind at the Orpheum Performing Arts Center in Tannersville on March 30 direct from its premiere at Works & Process, the performing arts series affiliated with the Guggenheim Museum in New York City. Works & Process supported the Ladies of Hip Hop with five LaunchPAD residencies. The Catskill Mountain Foundation partners with Works & Process.
An ongoing look at Black women in street and club dance culture, the 10 dancers are specialists in a wide range of dance styles, from the rhythmic traditions of African dance to waacking, vogue, hip hop, and house. Directed by Byrd-McPhee, SpeakMyMind, is a collective effort that includes ensemble work and the dancers’ specific street dance genres of movement. The genres represent Black diasporic regionality. “Black people are not a monolith in this history,” says Byrd-McPhee, “It has a lot to do with how we were brought here and spread out all over this country, who we are as Black people, where we’ve lived and where we’ve traveled… that influences what we do. These are social dances done and born in community.”
For instance, “If I want a Breaker, I have to bring in someone from that community. We show a level of respect for what they’ve spent their lives training to do. Breaking, for instance, (as all street genres), is a very specific thing. It’s not something you can fake. These (dancers) are brought in for their specialty.”
An intergenerational and international company of younger women, one little girl, and two experienced veterans, Ladies of Hip-Hop kept the audience engaged with their captivating individuality, effervescence, and precise rhythmic foot work to sounds ranging from Va Te Lave Afro Dj to Bakwa Leh. A charming exchange on film between three veterans of the field – Michele Byrd-McPhee, LaTasha Barnes and Tweet Boogie, three-way clapped Miss Mary Mack, that referenced a later danced section for the company in which Double Dutch, hopscotch, and hand games were featured. An exhilarating hand clapping rhythmic section followed.
Central to Speak My Mind are choreopoems written and choreographed by the dancers. (The choreopoem was introduced in 1975 by playwright Ntozake Shange in her Broadway play for colored girls who have considered suicide/when the rainbow is enuf). Each dancer answered the question, “If I could speak my mind, what would I say?” For women who, in Byrd-McPhee words, were “told for so long to zip it, stay in your lane, stay in your space” this opportunity reveals the raw power of the women’s voices.
“Our toughest residency was at Catskill Mountain Foundation. The dancers are so good at the steps; they’re so incredible. These are super intelligent, brilliant young women. They’ve traveled the world. They’re very vocal, and they fight for the things that they find important. They post on Instagram. This was very challenging for them, and I was perplexed. Just write it down and literally speak your mind. It ended up being absolutely amazing.” The shows are shaped by rotating the choreopoems.
The four choreopoems included in this performance, central to the message of the dance, express the hurt, hope, strength, and coming into womanhood of each writer. Most discuss the adult male gaze, and often touch, on their very young bodies. Reyna Núñez, whose arresting dancing and words were a standout, soliloquized, “I’ve got more curves than I can account for… I’m learning it’s okay not to be okay… (I have experienced) breakdowns but someone told me they are break throughs.” A tall woman with a full halo of hair, her unabashed persona was unstoppable.
“Women have always been a part of hip hop culture. We have a story to tell…We take (the audience) on a journey. We share our voices, share our work, share our talent…We hope that people are touched by (the performance).” The audience, up on their feet, was.
Catherine Tharin danced with the Erick Hawkins Dance Company. She teaches dance studies and technique, is an independent dance and performance curator, choreographs, writes about dance for Side of Culture, and is a reviewer and editor for The Dance Enthusiast. She also writes for The Boston Globe. Catherine lives in Pine Plains, New York and New York City.
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