Circle of Love performed at the Bates Dance Festival Finale (2016)
Circle of Love was a choreographic work I created at Bates Dance Festival in 2016. The work was a circle of love, strength, truth, and resilience. Built through the lens of Street and Club dance traditions, the piece honored the expressive power of Locking, Popping, Breakin’, 90’s party dances, House, and New School social dance styles. Woven with spoken word and hip-hop music, Circle of Love became a space where the dancers could channel their full selves, and where movement spoke what words couldn’t. We reflected on the pain, struggle, joy, and endurance of the Black experience from the 1960s to now, all while holding each other in community through the process.
The “circle” in this work wasn’t just a formation, it was the foundation. The circle is rooted in African traditions as a space for gathering, storytelling, and spiritual exchange. It’s where community meets rhythm, where bodies speak in dialogue, and where people are witnessed in their fullness. That lineage carried into this work. It grounded us. Each dancer brought their lived experience into the circle, and together we created something real, healing, and powerful during a time of deep unrest in the world.
Circle of Love (Duet)
This duet is an intimate evolution of Circle of Love, a piece I originally created at Bates Dance Festival in 2016. Performed by myself and Angelica Polk, the duet allowed us to express the themes of love, resilience, and truth with greater vulnerability and nuance. We embodied a conversation between us two black women navigating shared histories and individual stories. We explored moments of connection and separation, sometimes moving in unison and other times in contrast. These shifts reflected the push and pull of human relationships and how we navigate vulnerability, trust, and endurance. Throughout the piece, we centered the voices often left unheard, dancing not only for ourselves but for those who have been silenced by history, oppression, or circumstance. The vocals of Sheila Chandra played a central role in amplifying this intention. Through our movement, we created a language beyond words. It became a physical testimony that gave shape to grief, joy, memory, and resistance.
