curation n.
a curing of disease, restoration to health, a taking care, attention.
Photo by Robbie Sweeny
[ID: A light-skinned black woman in sequins is seated in front of a sequiny film still. Her hair is down, she is leaning forward, joyous, laughing.]
I am grateful to Dancers’ Group for the opportunity to guest edit this fall 2024 edition of In Dance; it feels like a beautiful convergence of many facets of my life that I love: curating, writing, and editing. As guest editor, I of course worked with and edited the articles of the writers you are about to read, but more importantly, I curated the voices I wanted to hear more from, voices I feel we, as a community, need to listen to. Just as I consider my work as ODC Theater’s Resident Curator to be political, I consider it a political act (and a privilege) to gather these twelve writers, together, at this time. I am, and always will be, committed to centering and normalizing racially minoritized voices, to offer them care and attention in an effort to restore ALL of us.
The alternative high school I attended in Seattle allowed me a lot of agency in my education; when I proposed that I not read or study any literature from the white male canon, my teachers agreed. While I’m sure those writings have value, as a fifteen-year-old black girl, I felt I needed to take that stance to protect my imagination, my hope for what could be. I knew, even then, that I’d experienced more than enough white supremacist patriarchy. And here we are today.
Will this curated assemblage ‘cure’ anyone or anything?
Probably not, but it is one of the ways I know to protest, one of my praxes of resistance.
To all the writers who contributed, thank you—for your vulnerability, your trust, the work you are doing in the world.
Sarah Chou and Stella Jacobs share about the ongoing racism they experienced during their dance training; Alex Ketley on his important work with Bill Clark (currently incarcerated on San Quentin’s Death Row); Emile Suotonye DeWeaver, a brilliant activist (who was formerly incarcerated), on the horrors of another Trump presidency and the concomitant necessity of, in our two-party reality, voting for Harris; Sima Belmar and Leila Mire on the cruciality of the Boycott, Divestment, Sanctions (BDS) movement and backlash to Mire’s activism; Randee Paufve on her latest work, Sisters, driven in part by a great aunt without access to safe abortion—women dying just because they’re women; Shruti Abhishek on her upcoming premiere and dance-diverse experience in Pauvfe’s process; Gregory King on the detriment wrought by racist, culturally ignorant dance critics; Eric Garcia & Kat Gorospe Cole, co-directors of Detour Productions, on their shift to immersive theater; and Lisa Giannone (who has helped me rehab all of my injuries/surgeries for the last 18+ years) on how to keep our bodies strong.
Oppressive entities count on our overwhelm and apathy. Please don’t relent—VOTE. Believe in ‘the what could be.’ Boycott companies profiting from the genocides in Palestine, and Congo, Sudan, Haiti…
Let’s get ready.
Offering all of us a taking care, of ourselves and our communities, near and far—
Maurya
This article appeared in the Fall 2024 issue of In Dance.
