welcome home.
take off your shoes.
cleanse.
Images captured by Tshay Williams, angel edwards and Hanifah Griffith
soft
something
This ritual is expressed through multiple technologies and modalities. Movement, shared stories, seashells, cleansing bowls, songs and games all dig our exploration deeper. Projections, newspapers/magazines, flour, jeans and collage illuminate the moving present of this world, where (gender)fluid waters and non-binary wombs haunt, follow, and mirror one another, visible in everything. Altars hold these precious installations and the movement memories we build together. We multitudinously invite divergent paths to softening, witnessing, being witnessed and simply being. We do not shy away from the multiplicity of this shaping either: there is anger, frustration, mourning, grief, death, tumult, and uncertainty that remind us of our shared humanity. We explore this, too, in relation to our outer world as we peer deeply into our innards.
something soft is a multimodal performance ritual exploring modalities of softness through diverse ideas of technology. Through multiple invitations we invite the audience into rhythmic somatic patterns, sensory exercises and lullabies to reimagine how we hold, suspend and care for ourselves. Afro Presentism speaks of the future as a moving present. We implore these strategies and use technologies from Alexis Pauline Gumbs’ undrowned to imagine ourselves in our softest humanity. The work is inspired, which is to say given breath, by black, neurodivergent, queer, trans and non-binary folk. This work will premiere in the Spring of 2024. Our work is made possible through the support of the Painted Bride, the National Performance Network, the Velocity Fund and the Window of Opportunity Grant from Leeway Foundation. Support our work today and donate, here.
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Saturday March 23, 2024 [12-2:30PM]
Rage Rituals: Dissent & Softness
Facilitated by Mawu Ama Ma’at Gora
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Saturday March 30, 2024 [12-2:30PM]
Facilitated by Jah Elyse Sayers
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Saturday April 13, 2024 [12-2:30PM]
facilitated by Majesty Royale Jackson
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Sunday April 21, 2024 [12-2:30PM]
Foraging the Altar: Play Practices
Facilitated by Mawu, Jah and Majesty
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Our work is collaborative and iterative. Meaning all our workshops and co-creations shape the movement, the music and the score of our ritual.
SATURDAY April 6 @ 8 PM - 9PM
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SUNDAY Apr 21 @ 5PM - 6 PM
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SUNDAY Apr 28 @ 3PM - 4 PM
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Main Collaborator(s)
Jah Elyse Sayers and Majesty Royale Jackson
Movement Artist(s)
Ye’Tsunami Maiolatesi, Amethyst Quint Lattimore, Jasper Brown, Lee Edwards, angel Edwards, Sophiann Mahalia Moore and Maiyah Bass
Past Collaborator(s)
Felisha George and SJ Swilley
Support Team
Jayla Washington and Hanifah Griffith
Learn more about the artist(s)
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Alexis Pauline Gumbs undrowned
Dr. S. Ama Wray’s somatic practice of Embodiology
Altar/Rituals derive from Eedye traditions (originating Senegal)
Collaborators’ and co-conspirators’ real life dreams & aspirations
Merian Soto’s use of modes/movement modalities
angel edward’s chapbook PLUSH
Afro-Prensentism ideas are formed and influenced by Neema Githere’s digital archival methodologies.
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Check out images of our Spring 2024 Residency at The Painted Bride here.
THE PROCESS
something soft is a series of iterative rituals focused on embodied softening through diverse technologies – projection, play, invitation, mirroring, rhythm and shared stories. We build collaboratively and what you witness is the intersection of our collective inquiries. Things we have learned and are learning in doing this work:
+invitation: how many ways can we invite someone? What are we inviting them to? We invite audience through interactive and solo experiences. Our installations help to facilitate this play and excavation. We are inviting people into our studies/research on embodied softness.
+altars: there are three altars (material altar/dreams & portals/the alter space). In this work the altar is both a physical and metaphorical place. We play on the meaning of alter/altar reminding ourselves that this is a place of change.
+workshops: when we create together we learn about our collective possibilities. What ignites our senses and keeps us present in our bodies comes in the form of tactility, togetherness and orientation.
+a series of digital diaries: select movement artists/digital nomads collect, document and create digital softness. Documenting their livelihood, their daily practices and their reflections of softening, is it possible? Or not? Our goal is to share our practices that we discover with each other. We are offering multiple invitations into our worlds and by being in witness to them their intersections are revealed.
+installation: the installations that were separate from the altar supported the environment. The Bed— a place to rest. Looking Glass— a place to get a new view. The River— a place to remember where and why we gather. Collage Corner— a place for reflection and introspection. The Tree — a place where we are reminded of what we are rooted in. These spaces support the softening process.
lead collaborator and direction Mawu Gora
costume Aaron Mack
sound score Majesty Royale Jackson (2024) and Felisha George (2022-2023)
videography and photography by Hanifah Griffith
project coordinator Jayla Washington
collaborators Jah Elyse Sayers, Majesty Royale Jackson, Felisha George, Jasper Brown, Amethyst Lattimore, Graciella Ye’Tsunami, Lee Edwards, Gabrielle Bass, angel edwards and Sophiann Mahalia Moore
The Score
The thematic motifs that each iterative performance offers is a part of a large stew we are collectively creating. The movement score is as follows: Invitation, Mirroring, Ciphering, Constellation Talks, Somatic Seeds, Rock the Boat, Naming is Believing (what’s something soft?), Little Feet and Breathe. This score is not chronological. It is a collage of chance. What is needed is selected during the performance practice. The scaffolding of this work is made possible by queer, trans, immigrant, neuro-divergent and non-binary artists. Our collective seeks to enliven, restore and be in dialogue with our own methods of embodied softness. Questioning what our seed practices are and identifying our ‘dorsal fins’. Utilizing text from undrowned by Alexis Pauline Gumbs and Plush by angel edwards we replicate an aquarium with no dolphins and non-binary wombs. We anchor in not knowing and value affirmations like, ‘fuck around and find out’.
Invitation
The audience is invited to take off their shoes, cleanse at the cleaning bowl and join us for our first movement exercise. In this part of the score we try to retrace our steps, we think about the moments that led up to the present and we go back together.
Mirroring
The audience is offered another invitation: witness or be witnessed. Audience members are invited into a slow dance. Deep listening, following and leading help us to learn each other through movement. ‘Can I match your breath to mine’
Ciphering
‘Put a message into a secret writing; encode’ what messages can we send between us? What messages do we want to be unseen? Gumbs reminds us that we can be seen on our own terms.
Constellation Talks
Stories of orbiting our own galaxies, movement memories and deep self acknowledgment to all the ways we exist.
Somatic Seeds
Become a seed, begin to sprout and grow
Rock the Boat
Rocking in place, rocking in transit, rocking together and the long way
Naming is Believing (what’s something soft?)
Listing
Compiling
Foraging
Little Feet
Play!
Syncopate your steps
Find your collective breath in rhythm
Breathe
Breathe at your own timing until you find an ending together
How can we syncopate our breathing?
Where does our breath meet?
something soft is a study of softening and we invite rage, confusion and curiosity to the feast. Our culminating performances further inform our research and we become more versed in the risk. This spectral and sensory ritual is guided through collage, installation, movement, interactive art making, soundscapes, foraging and sea creatures. This collection of forms will be a queer, sensory experience, a ciphering aquarium meant for brave risk and going places together.
SOUND DESIGN
When we consider the sound design of this work it has always been led by water, amalgamation, percussion, the rhythms of the sea and the rain drops…
Our collaborator Majesty envelopes “the waters of the body”
SWEAT
TEARS
URINE
CUM
SALIVA
The theme of water feels relevant to the capacity we hope to collectively find in performance. Water also speaks to the spiritual implications that exist within this work through altar making. Meaning water can represent malleability, versatility, cleansing, clearing and power in the collective. One drop of rain may seem insignificant but many can cause a flood. These are the fluctuating tides this work operates within.
Majesty shared memories of a broken record player that has become a kind of family heirloom to them. It is also the source of the distorted and warped sounds that inspire the sound score for this work. Collectively we spoke of wailing, moaning and distortion to communicate deeper emotions when we consider becoming soft.
Static popping — blended sound qualities —stretched — low tonal distortions — black country music — the swoop of the voice — Jimi Hendrix — whammy bars — riffs — moaning — crying — undulations of the water — Lay Your Head Down by Lloyd — swallowing — ritual — gospel — Sister Rosetta Tharpe — misunderstandings as a part of understanding
“Didn’t it rain, children
Talk ‘bout rain, oh, my Lord
Didn’t it, didn’t it, didn’t it oh my Lord
Didn’t it rain?”
Iteration three
performed by Mawu Ma’at Gora and Jah Elyse Sayers
soundscore by Felisha George
videography by B
hosted by Cannonball at the Fall 2023 Philadelphia Fringe Festival
Image captured by Jah Elyse Sayers
