Carefree Black Girl Spotlight: Khaleya Graham (Dancer)

"And the soul shall dance" as they say. This post... is about getting your life from dance. Phil Wright is a pretty solid choreographer. His vocabulary and musicality is interesting and textured. He creates routines that support the music and music that elevates his dance. He makes the kind of choreo that I love because it allows enigmatic dancers to put their own brand of stank on it without feeling clunky. Kendrick Lamar ain't too bad either. I think we can all agree that the song "Humble" is FIRE! 

But let me be clear, the only thing I really care about in the video below is Khaleya Graham, the resident #CarefreeBlackGirl dancing in the first group,  and how triflin' she is by basically annihilating this choreography and putting all the other dancers to shame. I mean... why keep watching? (You can because people are artists and they worked their butts off dancing.)

But she kiltttttt it.

 I mean, I threw my shoe at my computer while watching it.  

I was yelling at the computer screen. Yes, yelling "yaaaasss!" The digital age is really fascinating.

Then I felt shame that I was literally getting my life while sitting at a laptop so I did a shimmy real quick so that God knew that I appreciated having a body. Then I hit replay. And screamed again. I've watched this video so many times I've lost count and I was having a particular kind of day where I needed to encourage myself and low and behold, Youtube and all of it's algorithmic stalker tendencies said "I gotchu boo" and dropped the video into my suggestions. (What, youtube doesn't talk like that to you?) Here's a clip that features just her bit.

Enjoy.

#lifegot #humble #humbled #wheresmydanceclass #thelordknowsmyheart

Culture Points: 1000

Even watching it now I'm like.....

The Token Dancer from the Ghetto Story...

It's at the core of American identity and yet, so often, our country is afraid to face it: race. I know, if it were me, I'd hit the back button in a second, but bear with me. As a woman of color I deal with race all the time, I mean all the damn time. Add to that, I'm performing in Milwaukee Repertory Theater's current production of "Ragtime," analyzing race gets exhausting. But during a recent lunch break, I had the chance to watch an episode of my favorite shows called "Breaking Pointe" about the inner workings of a BalletWest, one of the nations premier ballet companies.

In this particular episode, the cast list for Cinderella is to be revealed. There is steep competition for one role in particular, Napoleon, for whom two dancers are in the running for. One, Zachary Prentice, is young, gossip-hungry dancer from the Ballet 2 Apprentice Company and the other is Joshua Whitehead, a young dancer from the ghetto who is in the primary company Corps. The first white, the latter black. (Must we always have a dancer from the ghetto story... I digress). The role requires someone with amazing comedic timing, characters skills, and ability to be the butt of everyone's jokes. It goes to the white guy. No biggie... EXCEPT... when there is.

Josh bravely approaches the Artistic Director, Adam Sklute, about the casting and asks "Is it because I'm black?" Adam reveals that he chose not to cast this young man because he cared very deeply for the dancer and didn't want to make a joke of the only African-American male in the entire company. Conversely, this young dancer wanted to be seen only for this talent, not his race (a rather naive standpoint, but perhaps I'm much more of a realist than I realize).  If an audience member read something into the performance, it was on them.

Center - Josh Whitehead

I felt a wealth of complex emotions for the both men. The Artistic Director wanted to respect this young dancer. But in doing so, he has limited this young man's chance to perform because of his race. In one moment, this dance company highlighted the subtlety of race and injustice in America but also the generational transformations that are occurring over time. The Artistic Director, by all accounts (and assumptions) is an open-minded and educated individual. He made a decision from a point of power based on race. The dancer lost an opportunity due to the fear of how his skin would add/change the story.

I was heartbroken and reminded again of the reality of my race. I am always the other with weighted meaning, and white is the litmus test of neutrality. As an actress, among other things, I found it a wonderful insight into race politics for America, but largely, race politics in the performance world. Hopefully, I will not always be relegated to roles that only a black person could play, but rather I will be given the opportunity to perform.

-EazeWaySays

What Creative Types (Should) Do At Night

I find myself sitting through a bout of insomnia and arriving officially at the morning and realizing I have spent the entire night watching inspirational videos from people I admire. People like Ellen Degeneres, Oprah Winfrey and yes, Chelsea Handler. But, I also spent a LOT of time watching choreography videos on youtube. Granted, I doubt I'll ever dance behind to Beyonce on stage in a corps of female dancers (although... hey girl, I'm from H-Town, let's meet up!) But I still LOVE to dance. I really do! Something about music and movement coming together frees. It's amazing to see these people craft work for themselves that has the ability to transform someone's mood and inspire them. It's exciting and rather humbling to know that perhaps one day I can do that for another.

Of course, perhaps I should have spent the evening.... morning... twilight... whatever, writing or doing something more produc... active, I think it jumpstarted my day... or my all-nighter... whatever, you know what I mean. And since I'm prone to sharing these golden nuggets, here's a video I found particularly enjoyable. The dancers seem so happy, so talented, AND the editing for the clip was amazing. Looks like something gooberish that I would do. I'm gonna still something from it. I also need to take more editing classes or shadow more projects.

Signed
Goober or EazeWaySays

PS. These video is still a reminder that I need to go out and purchase... have a friend gift me Rosetta Stone : The French Edition.

Guillaume Lorentz - Beautiful People (Chris Brown) Exclusively Fun Time