Dancers-In-Residence Explore Identity, Representation Via Free Conference & Performance 8/12


8/1/2023 • 16 months ago

RootsUprising dancers perform “Who We Say We Are" in Cambridge, June 2023.
RootsUprising performs "Who We Say We Are" in Cambridge, June 2023. (Photo: Greg Cook/Cambridge Arts)

“What does it feel like to be a member of a community? And how do we hold on to our identity and sense of representation?" are questions being explored by choreographer Nailah Randall-Bellinger and the dancers of RootsUprising as part of a new Cambridge Artist Residency Program from Cambridge Arts.

Their artist-in-residency project, “Who We Say We Are,” is being developed as a choreographic, multimedia project on citizenship, identity, and belonging. It aims to expand the conversation of belonging in the City of Cambridge through dance. It employs live performances, filmed performances, audio interviews, and community conversations and workshops to expose the present and lived reality of systemic racism tethering our city.

On Saturday, Aug. 12, RootsUprising will present an evening performance preceded by an afternoon-long conference at the Multicultural Arts Center, 41 Second St., Cambridge. Both events are free and open to all. Register: https://www.eventbrite.com/e/who-we-say-we-are-tickets-663021323627
Tickets will be available at-the-door for the performance. There will be no at-the-door registration for the conference.

Who We Say We Are Performance: Saturday, Aug.12, at 7 p.m.
Who We Say We Are is a choreographic, multimedia project, created by RootsUprising Dance Company's Artistic Director Nailah Randall-Bellinger in collaboration with RootsUprising Dancers, cinematographer Christina Belinksy, spoken word poets Regie Gibson and Janice Lowe, musician Sipho Robert Bellinger, and project moderator Najee Brown. This project aims to explore identity and representation throughout the city of Cambridge, through a multi-dimensional artistic lens. Following the live performances, RootsUprising will hold space for community conversations around what does it mean to belong and how do we embrace diversity in representation?

Who We Say We Are is an original artist creation commissioned by Cambridge Arts. The project is supported with an Art for Social Justice Grant from Cambridge Arts and an Art for Spatial Justice Grant from the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Into the Roots Conference: Saturday, Aug. 12, from noon to 6 p.m.
In concurrence with the choreographic work of Who We Say We Are, Nailah Randall-Bellinger has developed talkback sessions and community workshops, in collaboration with the Cambridge Multicultural Center executive director, Najee Brown, and the RootsUprising dance company, and with support from Cambridge Arts. The Into the Roots workshop gatherings are designed to first and foremost acknowledge BIPOC Cambridge residents and to promote community conversations, to find pathways for reconciliation and transformation within the Cambridge public and dance communities.

Choreographer Nailah Randall-Bellinger (right) of the RootsUprising dance company participates in the company's Into the Roots Conference in Cambridge, June 2023.
Choreographer Nailah Randall-Bellinger (right) of the RootsUprising dance company participates in the company's Into the Roots Conference in Cambridge, June 2023. Photo: Greg Cook/Cambridge Arts)

Conference Agenda

12 pm Drum Call, Sipho Bellinger

Libation pouring, Jenny Oliver

Welcoming and Meet and Greet- Moderator, Najee Brown, Executive Director, Cambridge Multicultural Center

12:30 pm Moving meditation- with Nailah Randall-Bellinger

1:00 pm Break

1:30 pm Fire Starter (panel discussion) with Lace Campbell, Ella Wechsler-Matthaei, Imani Deal, Rev. Irene Monrow, Najee Brown (moderator)

2:45 pm Break

3:00 pm Health and Wellness workshop with - Patricka James and Toni Singleton

4 pm: Workshop sessions with Ella Wechsler-Matthaei and Regie Gibson

5:30 Audience feedback

6:00 Closing