wellness because I feel so full and elated after the dancer takes a bow. I never thought that just seeing the movements of a dancer could provide a connection. But that is what dance is about. Movement. Expression. Performance.
A catharsis for the dancer. A revelation to the watcher. Even though you the seer are not physically dancing, you are indeed a partner.
So now. I am retired and I want to dance. Gotta dance. Oh, I’ll do my thing in the living room to my Pandora music or my retro CDs.
But I want to take a class. No ballroom for me. Maybe a few steps like Mad Dog but I’d prefer to slow it down, to channel Judith Jamison in one moment or Janet Jackson and Beyoncé in another. Just to start. To enroll and engage. For relaxation, for expression, for purpose, power and pleasure toward a commitment to explore something new.
To my health, to our health. Be well.
[by Mad Dog] My mother used to take me to house parties and have me dance for her friends. A lot of them were also dancers who would teach me moves. In Chicago, during the ‘90s, there were dance groups everywhere. We had “dance downs” every Saturday at different parks across the city. This is how youth from all over the city were able to build community and establish healthy relationships. Boogie Wonderland is my favorite song from the disco era, and the name of my current dance film project. The video will not only showcase my love for the era and highlight the moment when footwork/urban dance met disco. But also allow me to highlight some of Chicago’s black women and LGBTQ dance choreographers who are overlooked. The footwork dance battle scene is dominated by straight men. This leaves little room for women and LGBTQ folks. My hope is that Boogie Wonderland will lead to some healthy conver- sations within Chicago dance communities about the need for inclusive safe space for dance regardless race, sexual orientation, gender, and age. Today we have a new wave of simple dances that are similar to some of the dances Brenda spoke about. TikTok has created a space for everyone to partic- ipate in dance and urban culture. What’s funny is that I have a very hard time learning the simple TikTok dances, but my son Travon is killing it! And yet, the TikTok space isn’t enough. How do you get your spiritual heal- ing, your wellness–with your community and people who are outside of your community–when there’s no equitable space to be well? I feel the fight for equity has to come from us. My Juke For Liberation Proj- ect is centered around educating dance and DJ leaders to use movement and music to create social change. In Chicago we are going through a lot of rede- velopment that is having a major impact on black and brown dance commu- nities. We all need a safe space to dance and express ourselves. But are we as a community willing to fight to provide dance and wellness for those black and brown youth who don’t have a space to get free?
BRENDA BUTLER is a three-term president of NABJ (National Association of Black Journal- ists)-Chicago and an experienced journalist with 35+ years in newspapers and magazines. At the Chicago Tribune she was involved in the concep- tion and development of newspaper sections and magazines and co-managed a staff of over 100 reporters, editors and support staff. In the late 1990s, Butler also wrote, produced and moderat- ed a series for Chicago cable TV titled “Playback: Views from an African-American Perspective.” For 7 ½ years, she was executive director and a high school journalism educator for the Columbia Links program at Columbia College Chicago. For the past 17 years CHRISTOPHER “MAD DOG” THOMAS has been the program manager and creative director for Kuumba Lynx, a Hip Hop and performing arts organization. His artistic inquiry is deeply rooted in social liberation through artistic expression, and footwork is his primary dance form to convey that message. He is KL’s head dance choreographer, and he creates theater productions with youth from across Chicago covering social and economic issues in the city and around the world. Mad Dog received a 2020 Chicago Dancemak- er award and a 2022 Johnson Fellows for Artists Transforming Communities award from Americans For the Arts.
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In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org
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