Photograph by Kerime Konur, Keshet MSE 2019
Built from duets, “With grit From, Grace” and “Black Bodies Sonata”, The New Frontier came out of both — a dreamscape of people of color, women, and minorities as pioneers, and a confrontation with how this nation was built. The evening expands these two duets, and includes excerpts and new research from my film “The New Frontier” created in April 2019 at Keshet Maker’s Space Experience.
THE NEW FRONTIER (my dear America) pt. 1
October 17th-19th 2019, 8pm
Created by Kayla Farrish/Decent Structures Arts
DANSPACE Project Inc, 131 East 10th Street New York City 10003
“I’ve got swing low, sweet chariot on my mind
And ancestors breaking their backs creating magic out of hopelessness, turning soil into a nation.
”
Brown and black bodied pioneers…owning land. The Video Hunny. The Wild Woman. The release of rage. The lasting burning image of people. Constantly carrying history forward. An ode to attempted erasure and efforts of martyrs and survivors.
Photo Still by Alexander Diaz
The New Frontier (my dear America) pt.1 has been a collection of experiences, power struggles, and combative questions on race, impacted survival behavior, power, feminism, and lineage. It is a wild, honest, sometimes satirical, sometimes exposed sharing of experiences among people of color and women, through the lens of US history. Ranging from where we are to an imagined explosive fantastical place of developing full agency, we propose what is the form of not holding back.
Perhaps claiming space for rage, for the accommodating person of color in predominantly white spaces, for the empowerment of video hunny archetype and the trust of feeling, for memory, and for honoring lineage in US history. I am undoubtedly African American with erased records of ancestry. This work was created in search of agency, and unlimited capacity . To just finally be.
PROCESS CREDITS
The creation of The New Frontier (my dear America) Pt. 1 was made possible, in part, by the Danspace Project 2019-20 Commissioning Initiative and Production Residency Program, with support from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.
Danspace Project’s 2019-20 Commissioning Initiative is a core component of the Choreographic Center Without Walls (CWÇ). As the framework through which Danspace presents and commissions new work in all of its programs, CWÇ provides context, curatorial support, and space for choreographers and their works.
Made through Danspace Project 2019-20 Commission and Production Residency Program, BAX Summer Space Grant, Petronio Residency Center, Dance Force, Keshet Makers Space Experience Residency. 2019.
Beginnings made through Chez Bushwick Residency 2017, Movement Research at the Judson church 2018, and Stuffed at the Judson Church 2018.
COLLABORATORS:
Emilee Harney, Dorchel Haqq, Kerime Konur, Nik Owens, Kar’mel Small, Mikaila Ware
Original cast of With grit From, Grace: Dominica Greene and Kayla Farrish
Original cast of Black Bodies Sonata Live Work and Film: Nik Owens and Kayla Farrish
The New Frontier Film Cast: Alexander Diaz, Kayla Farrish, Dominica Greene, Kerime Konur, and Rebecca Margolick (Small excerpts and inspired research and live performance sections)
Photograph captured by Emilee Harney