Year of Graduation
2024
Level of Access
Open Access Thesis
Embargo Period
5-16-2029
Department or Program
Theater and Dance
First Advisor
Dr. Adanna Kai Jones
Abstract
I Am Bearing Myself in the Mouth of the Sun is an evening-length performance designed, choreographed, and performed by Dylan Austin Richmond. This work is an exploration of dance’s ability to interrogate the structural and interpersonal violence that bleaches the Black, male, American body in order to access community, liberation, and most fruitfully, joy. Based on personal, historical, theoretical, and embodied research, I Am Bearing Myself in the Mouth of the Sun uses Ntozake Shange’s choreopoetic methodology to circumvent Eurocentric limitations and express feelings and knowledge outside of and beyond the “reasonable” notions of this world. Richmond’s work reimagines embodied expression, weaving video-projection and fabric work with dance, poetry, and music. In doing so, this work invites tense engagements with the audience and intimate conversations about willow trees, peach tea, and the universe. Ultimately, Richmond conjures up a kind of magic that transcends time and space.