What the Tide Brought In
Inspired by artists like Josephine Baker, Louis Armstrong, and Hughie Lee Smith, What the Tide Brought In is a live collage that tells an autobiographical story about a young Black woman who likes other women. What the Tide Brought In is an interdisciplinary performance about nuances in how one understands their own identity. Performing to a series of voiceovers reciting poetic monologues, each one with a voice representing the characters shown on stage, I employ costumes, music, and movement to tell a story about recognizing intersections of gender, sexuality, race, and social class in my identity. What the Tide Brought In has been performed at venues across the US and France, morphing each time to address the site specificity of the venue and moment in time.
In Deep is the reprise of What the Tide Brought In. Commissioned for the exhibition, Story, Word, Sound, Sway as a virtual performance in 2021, In Deep revisits the themes of identity highlighted in What the Tide Brought In, with a renewed perspective reflecting the 6 years passed since the creation of the original work. With In Deep, I expand on the notion of self reflection pertaining to self identity, while also experimenting with newfound interest in meditative practice as a choreographic component. The soundscape is a mashup of the voiceovers from What the Tide Brought In, reworked in collaboration with Carl Bledsoe-Jr, to create a sonic ambiance that alludes to space travel and intergalactic communication. In Deep takes the physical and social analysis of identity in What the Tide Brought In and considers what is possible when one connects with an understanding of self that supersedes the form of a human body and man made society.