Content Warning: This program contains explicit language.
Experience the virtual celebration and special performance in honor of Anastacia-Reneé’s solo exhibition (Don’t Be Absurd) Alice in Parts.
The program includes a virtual tour of the exhibition, followed by the presentation of a choreopoem co-presented in partnership with the Central District Forum for Arts & Ideas. Following the performance, Dani Tirrell, Programming Curator at CD Forum, moderates a conversation with the artists on the themes of the exhibition and performance.
Inspired by the exhibition’s central character Alice Metropolis as well as the spirit and work of Audre Lorde, the choreopoem is read by a chorus of seven artists and poets selected by Anastacia-Reneé: librecht baker, Kamari Bright , Randy Ford, Reagan Jackson, Jessica Rycheal, Imani Sims, and Storme Webber.
The choreopoem is written by Anastacia-Reneé and incorporates many of the poems included in the exhibition. The choreopoem also includes brief excerpts from and was inspired by Audre Lorde’s Need! A Chorale for Black Woman Voices, a poetic text written by Lorde in 1979 that was meant to be read aloud as a discussion and organizing tool among Black men and women.
The term choreopoem was first coined in 1975 by American writer Ntozake Shange in a description of her work, For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide / When the Rainbow Is Enuf, which also serves as a touchstone for the artist and this exhibition.
Time stamps:
Virtual Exhibition Tour: 22:20
Choreopoem: 31:05
Moderated Conversation with Dani Tirrell: 43:42
