In 2009, jumatatu m. poe and Jermone “Donte” Beacham began an artistic relationship, initiated by jumatatu’s interest in Donte’s sharply rhythmic approach to J-Sette. J-Sette is a call-and-response dance form originated in the early 80’s by Black southern US majorette lines at various historically Black colleges. Leagues of Black q***r men, prohibited from trying out as majorettes, would create competitive teams to practice the form in gay clubs and pride parades. Choreographic phrases are extremely set, confidential until they publicly premiere, and strategically “call”ed by a captain to be “respond”ed to by their squad. Searching for satisfaction and subversion within J-Sette’s team-oriented call-and-response structure, the Let ‘im Move You series houses jumatatu and Jermone’s projects together. While the artists see performance as an opportunity to communicate across various cultural distinctions, they see their work as chiefly in conversation with other Black q***r alien artists.
A Study is the first performance work created for the series. The artists used J-Sette movement and performance structures as jumping-off points for experimentation with the role of strategy in dance making and social design. Major interests for these explorations included rhythm, pattern, and attention. In addition to research within studios and domestic spaces within the German city of Neuss, where the artists were in residence, Jumatatu and Donte also used movement as a way to agitate social codes in gay bars and clubs in Köln.
This is a Success is the second performance work created for the series. This work explores notions of African-American exceptionalism as expressed through middle class, Black American values reiterated within the J-Sette form. It explores the performers’ respective relationships to Blackness, gender and q***rness through movement and living experiences. Performers jumatatu and William Robinson have had a working relationship since 2010, and their team dynamic is also at the forefront of the formal explorations of this work.
Let ‘im Move You: Intervention (2016 - )
Intervention is the third performance work created for the series. In this work, jumatatu and William Robinson formatted their work in This Is a Success into a street intervention, first performed three times in three separate locations in Philadelphia on Sunday, June 26, 2016. The three locations were: 5th & Luzerne Streets, Germantown Avenue & Haines Street, and 52nd Street & Baltimore Avenue (documented here). On June 12, 2016, 49 people were murdered, 50 injured at Pulse NightClub in Orlando, FL. Pulse is a q***r night club and the night of the murders was their Latin night, highlighting area drag and transgender performers. The spilling of water (symbolic alcohol) during the performance was a theatrical libation (a drink poured in offering) for those murdered. The performance continues to grow modularly alongside the series, most recently formatting itself into a densely populated procession performed on sidewalks and in alleyways in historically and/or predominantly Black neighborhoods.
Let ‘im Move You – Installation (2013 - )
Installation is an open-ended collection of installation works that are often presented alongside performance works in the series. Works are so far of a combination of media including video projection, audio, and plastic sculpture. Installation works include Momentary, Strait or Straight Tagged or Branded or A Brief Moment of Recognition Amidst a Longer Finity of Disruption, and Intervention.
Let ‘im Move You: This is a Formation (2019)
This is a move. This is a deep spinal curve on top of a high b***y. This is a game, and the rhythm is key. This is luminous black and smooth brown and hard yellow skin tones. This is an alien, and that is a fairy. This is a movement; we did not start it. This is a stomp through the floor, and a buck across the universe. This is an invitation for you to amplify the respect, curiosity, and love you find in our shared space. This is exquisitely normal. This is so q***r, it’s inside out. This is a show for the family, with nudity and sexual themes. This is rigorous beauty. This is a formation.
This is a Formation is the latest project in the series and is a performance work being designed to tour to sidewalk and alleyway sites within historically Black neighborhoods, institutional art spaces, and q***r niteclub spaces. The project is the only larger group project in the current series, bringing together 7 Black dancers, a DJ, and a lighting designer as performers for the work. Audiences travel within performance spaces with relative freedom, sharing the same spaces as performers. Live captured video design elements will focus on close-up capture of the performers to reference both hyper-surveillance of Black people’s bodies, and pop-star scale megalomania.
The creation of Let ‘im Move You: This is a Formation was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage; The MAP Fund, supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; National Performance Network/Visual Artists Network (NPN/VAN) Creation & Development Fund co-commissioned by Painted Bride Art Center in partnership with Bates Dance Festival, Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre DBA BAAD! Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Abrons Arts Center/Henry Street Settlement, Contemporary Arts Center Cincinnati, Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago, Dance Place, PICA (Portland Institute for Contemporary Art), and NPN/VAN; Independence Foundation; and the Sacatar Foundation.
The development of Let ‘im Move You: This is a Formation was made possible, in part, by the Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. Production residency funded by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional production support and residency provided by EMPAC / Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center, Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute, Troy, NY. Additional residency support provided by South Dallas Cultural Center.
