chi dance

Hey Process Fam!   Here we are volume3, episode 3. Y'all. today's episode is full of those good good vibes because my homie Nora Sharp is here.  

Nora's work spans dance, storytelling, comedy, and film, sometimes through solo performance and sometimes through directed collaborations.  Personally, I like to say they are a movement comedian and truth teller.  I’ve been lucky enough to work with Nora on several projects on and off the stage and Nora is invested in Chicago dance.  I appreciate that they are not afraid of digging deep and doing the work to address whatever fuckery is happening.  

I’m so excited to talk with them about their latest work The Real Dance: A Micro Reality TV Show.  If you haven’t watched- pause this podcast right now, go to their website, watch and come back and listen to this episode. It's 20 minutes of pure dance and movement bliss.  Nora had lots of reasons to create this work but my favorite is “My excitement about forms of entertainment (such as reality TV) that can frame experimental or process-based work in a way that changes the tone, lowers the stakes, and expands the ways we’re invited to get invested in the work.”  I told, Nora is not afraid to ask the hard questions and do the work to find out the hard answers.  

Our co-host for this episode is my good Sis, Tia Greer.  Tia is one of the most realest and kindest humans that I know.  She is close Fam and I’m thankful for the Black dance connection that brought us together many years ago.  Tia moves and speaks from true honesty and always with true clarity.  It’s beautiful to witness and also experience on stage with her.

Welcome back and happy Volume 3 Process Fam! 

We start our volume off with the multidisciplinary artist, Mitsu Salmon.  I first saw Mitsu perform at Links Hall back in 2017. The best way I can describe Mitsu’s work is that it’s patient.  Mitsu will make you listen.  There is both honesty and bravery in her movement.  My brain and my body were connected in a really beautiful and unique way as an audience member.   Mitsu makes you slow down and really digest the gift that she's giving you on stage.  

Today, we'll be talking about her latest work Orchid: Dormancy and Becoming, which weaves together motifs of mythology, heritage, imperialism, botany, sexuality, racism, and more.  Mitsu performed this work publicly right in the middle of the pandemic at the Ragdale Foundation and in today's co-host, Sara Zalek’s backyard in Humboldt Park.  I’m really looking forward to talking to them both about the process of making this live performance during the pandemic.  

My co-host is  interdisciplinary artist Sara Zalek.  She's invested and curious about every piece and square inch of Chicago dance.  Their work is “Rooted in physical investigations of trauma, resilience, and transformation, their work is intimate, raw, poetic.”  Sara is also one of my favorite people to see in an audience during a performance.  They have this contagious joy when it comes to movement.  

Volume 3 episode 2. Welcome, welcome y'all.  Today's episode is with one of the legendary members of the The Era Footwork Crew,  Sterling Lofton aka ‘Steelo’.  Steelo is a 2020 CDF Lab Artist and has been developing “Sterling Publishing Company (SPC),” a new performance at the intersections of fashion and dance across Black history.  Like many other artists the pandemic has been challenging for Steelo’s creative process.  We will also be chatting about The Era’s performance of In the Wurkz at Links Hall in 2019.  The group says their Links Hall performance “represents their “community debut” of the group and the long developed project.  

I was fortunate enough to see this performance and remember walking away thinking that The Era is here to educate and also get you hyped. They're going to deliver a message and be always true to themselves. They are the shit. 

Our Episode 2 co-host is Christopher “Mad Dog” Thomas.  Mad Dog is also a footworker as well as an extremely motivated dancer, activist, and youth mentor.  Mad Dog is the Program Manager for Kuumba Lynx and teaches a footwork program at the juvenile temporary detention center as part of a social/emotional learning program. Mad Dog is also a 2020 CDF Lab Artist and is spending his lab year codifying his style of Chicago Footwork while developing new choreographies that tell the stories of how bodies react to certain traumas, including his own.