#BrownGirlsSpeaking...#Seriously is a project borne out of a vision of BH founder Mnikesa Whitaker-Haaheim and features 6 BH alums.  It has also included a whole SUPPORT team along the to make this happen.  Plans have been in the works since the beginning of November to produce a short yet compelling dance film  addressing the harm done in this interminable election season...and this piece seeks to be a catalyst in conversation and action towards the uncomfortable, complicated and necessary change that we, the people--ALL of us--need and deserve toward correcting that harm.  Seriously.

And THAT is the beauty of dance. It introduces clarity through that most innately and fundamentally human action--movement. I believe the most prolific dance pieces come about when you (the inspired) are viscerally moved by something that compels you to create movement.  This is what happened to me when I heard Leslie Odom, Jr. and Sara Bareilles's song, "Seriously". (Featured here)

  When I first heard it shortly before the election, I was compelled to put movement to it, with the hope of sharing it widely and doing so immediately. My dancers and I began working together the same week I heard this song---the week before the election.

For those who don't know, I am chronically, terminally ill. And even though I'm recently medically retired from years in the classroom as an English teacher, I still direct BalletHaven (a rigorous dance middle school training organization in the Fair Haven neighborhood of New Haven, CT.) These dancers are my legacy; and 6 of my BalletHaven alums are joining me in this project.  They are empowered young dancers ranging in age from 13 to 17; some are continuing their dance studies while others are pursuing other interests. ALL are forces of nature who immediately co-signed onto my vision of this dance because, like the Reverend Dr. Micheal Waters' says: stakes is high.  These ladies aren't old enough to vote, yet they know their movement through the choreography signifies their power.  Just read their bios.

I believe that these young women telling their story with their brown bodies is profound and needs to be SEEN and HEARD. I believe that this choreography, on these bodies combined with the lyrics and music by the brilliant Sara Bareilles and Leslie Odom, Jr. is necessary art-work as our country goes about the business of deciding who we want want to be...and telling the truth so that we might become that better collective version of "ourselves."

These brown girls are SPEAKING...their message is serious. It is my privilege to be able to speak through them as their choreographer and dance director. Now, in the finished film version (debuting on this page)  we all get to hear them as they move. We get to let brown bodies take center stage--BE the center. Listen as these brown girls are speaking, then ask what are you taking #seriously?