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Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See by Busta Rhymes

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Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See by Busta Rhymes

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Music Centering & Grounding My Thesis: Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See by Busta Rhymes was released in August of 1997 and stands as the opening of my thesis, Ballads of Perceptive Fallacies. Not only does the time period this song was released reflect many ideas surrounding my thesis, but also the lyrics itself discuss important ideas that in combination with my movement will ignite necessary conversations surrounding black women. Along with the release of Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See, the year of 1997 also birthed the Million Woman March. This march, taking place on October 25th, was a day-long event, organized by Phile Chionesu and Asia Coney. The march consisted of prayer, music, and speeches all grounded in the idea of inspiring black women as well as highlighting the ways in which black women are negatively presented in pop culture and the media. Although the Million Woman March took place after Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See’s release, both are anchored and inspired by paralleling ideas. The lyrics, for me, reflect how black people are perceived negatively in society while also being admired and appropriated for aesthetic purposes. This especially clear in lyrics such as, “If you really wanna party with me, In God We Trust, Yo it’s a must that you heard of us yo we murderous.” I am also thinking of the title when using Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Can See. I am thinking of how our citations and perceptions can blind us from view people as they actually are. The hands kind of represent previous judgements that are created to keep us safe. This self preservation of our most vulnerable selves also contributes to us maybe not letting people in and really seeing people.

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Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See (feat. Jamal)

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Put Your Hands Where My Eyes Could See (feat. Jamal)

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Personal Projects Reflecting Ideas in My Thesis: I made this project, a while ago, in a completely different class. It kind of discusses the way in which we perceive women as well as the way we perceive black women. It really focused on this word gaze and the way one persons gaze (specifically the white male gaze) can completely change the way an entire identity is viewed. Please scroll in the PDF to see the entire project.

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Katherine McKittrick: Footnotes (Books and Papers Scattered About the Floor)

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Katherine McKittrick: Footnotes (Books and Papers Scattered About the Floor)

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Sources Anchoring Important Ideas Surrounding My Thesis: Katherine McKittrick offers this idea of citations having equal or even more value than the body or the thought itself. In her work Footnotes (Books and Papers Scattered About the Floor) on a lot of the pages, the footnotes, or citations, take up more space than the text. This idea of footnotes taking up so much space is revolutionary and is more necessary. I have been thinking about the way in which people state their thoughts. Without them explaining their own citations that led them to their beliefs or without the listener's acknowledgment of the speaker's citations, things are so easily misconstrued. How can we include explanations or citations along with our thoughts? How can we create space for people to share their own citations? Do we always need to share our citations?  This makes me reconsider the relationship between other people's citations and my own. It creates so many questions about changing or perhaps replacing previous citations and the negotiation between trusting our own citations as well as allowing space for new ones. How can we recognize and respect others' citations while confidently standing on our own? How does this relate to this idea of perception?

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Music Centering & Grounding My Thesis: Wild is the Wind sung by Nina Simone in 1959, was originally written by Dimitri Tiomkin and Ned Washington for the film Wild is the Wind. Nina Simone’s performance of Wild is the Wind as well as the film the song was created is important to the themes of Ballads of Perceptive Fallacies. Wild is the Wind is one of the first examples of black women being shown as the mammy stereotype in the media. This stereotype is grounded in the idea that black women’s existence is based solely on helping white people. Nina Simone’s reclaiming of this song and making it more popular is a theme throughout this work. Reclaiming is something the dancers embody in this work and through the use of Nina Simone's version of Wild is the Wind, hopefully this idea is more clear. Throughout Wild is the Wind, Nina Simone is basically singing about her first love and how genuine, deep, and wild that love truly is. The inclusion of this song in Ballads of Perceptive Fallacies is grounded in the idea of putting yourself first in a relationship. Despite Nina Simone’s song being about romantic love, it is being used to represent all love in this thesis. Having a confrontal conversation about identity with a parent, partner, or friend is something that is really courageous and a difficult conversation to have. Wild is the Wind instrumental slowly coming in after this intense confrontation in this work, is representing the voices in the back of their head saying, “I love this person and maybe I should just become what they want me to be.” At the end, they eventually fight those voices in silence but the residue of this powerful song still lies.

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Personal Projects Reflecting Ideas in My Thesis: Writing prompts to further research this centering idea in my thesis as well as a way to share this idea clearly with casts in a way that also allows their personal experience to be apart of this project.

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Music Centering & Grounding My Thesis: Ex-Factor by Lauryn Hill, released in 1998 is the most grounding and important song in my thesis and stands as the climax of the work. In Ex-Factor, Lauryn Hill is having this confrontational, intense conversation with someone she is in a relationship with. She is passionately asking for support and for this person to listen to her during this difficult time. This conversation in this song is paralleled with the conversation the dancers are having with the person that placed these labels upon them. This climax has been bubbling and brewing throughout the beginning of this piece and is then given to the audience. In this song, Lauryn Hill jumps between desperately trying to ask for the care and support she wasn’t receiving while expressing her anger for that person not giving her that respect and support before. All of these ideas Lauryn Hill is conveying are representations of my thesis. The pairing of Lauryn Hill’s words with my thesis is something that grounds the work so heavily and is actually where I started in this process.

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Zora Neale Hurston ("How It Feels to be Colored Me")

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Zora Neale Hurston ("How It Feels to be Colored Me")

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"I feel most colored when I am thrown against a sharp white background."

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from here i saw what happened and i cried

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Designed and developed by Lisa Goodlin Design

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Welcome to the official website of artist Carrie Mae Weems

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Camille A. Brown (Black Girl: Linguistic Play)

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Camille A. Brown (Black Girl: Linguistic Play)

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World Premiere: September 22, 2015 - The Joyce Theater
Nominated For a 2016 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production!
BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play reveals the complexity of carving out a self-defined identity as a black female in urban American culture. In a society where black women are often only portrayed in terms of their strength, resiliency, or trauma, this work seeks to interrogate these narratives by representing a nuanced spectrum of black womanhood in a racially and politically charged world.

With original music compositions (live music by pianist, Scott Patterson and electric bassist, Tracy Wormworth), Brown uses the rhythmic play of African-American dance vernacular including social dancing, double dutch, steppin', tap, Juba, ring shout, and gesture as the black woman's domain to evoke childhood memories of self-discovery . From play to protest the performers come into their identities, from childhood innocence to girlhood awareness to maturity-all the while shaped by their environments, the bonds of sisterhood, and society at large.

Each performance culminates with "The Dialogue." Since 2012, "The Dialogue" has become a signature of Camille A. Brown & Dancers performance experience that provides an opportunity for open discussion between the artists and audience about the work of The Company. Facilitated by a scholar or collaborator, it is a verbal extension of the work that creates a safe space for artists and audience members to decompress together- exchanging immediate thoughts and reactions. In 2015, we were honored to have "The Dialogue" moderated by Aimee Cox or Theresa Ruth Howard.
Click here to download the BLACK GIRL Reference & Resource Guide PDF
CREATIVE TEAM

COMPOSERS: Scott Patterson (pianist) & Tracy Wormworth (electric bassist)
DRAMATURGS: Daniel Banks, Kamilah Forbes and Talvin Wilks
LIGHTING DESIGN: Burke Wilmore
SOUND DESIGNER: Sam Crawford
SET DESIGN: Elizabeth C. Nelson
COSTUME DESIGN CONTRIBUTORS: Zulema Griffin, Carolyn Meckha Cherry, Mayte Natalio and Catherine Foster
CULTURAL ANTHROPOLOGIST: Aimee Cox
TAP COACHES: Shaune Johnson and Marshall Davis

SPECIAL THANKS

The creation and presentation of BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play is supported by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project with lead funding provided by The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Community Connections Fund of the MetLife Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts. Major support for this new work also comes from the MAP Fund, primarily supported by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation with additional funds from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; Engaging Dance Audiences administered by Dance/USA and made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation; a Jerome Foundation 50th Anniversary Grant; New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature; Harkness Foundation for Dance; and a 2014 New York City Center Choreography Fellowship.

This work was commissioned by DANCECleveland through a 2014 Joyce Award from the Joyce Foundation, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center at The University of Maryland, Juniata Presents and Juniata College. It was developed, in part, during a residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center, New York, NY awarded through the Princess Grace Foundation-USA Works in Progress residency program; a creative residency at The Yard, The Flynn Center and the Wesleyan Center for the Arts; a technical residency at Juniata College in Huntington, PA; a residency at New York City Center; and a residency at Newcomb Dance Program, Tulane University Department of Theatre and Dance.

In 2015, we were honored to have "The Dialogue" moderated by Aimee Cox and Theresa Ruth Howard.

CHOREOGRAPHER'S NOTE

BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play celebrates the unspoken rhythm and language that Black girls have through Double Dutch, social dances, and hand-clapping games that are contemporary and ancestral. As I began to create the work, I realized that I was exhausted by stereotypes and tropes because, as a Black female director, I battle with them daily. Kyra Gaunt's book, The Games Black Girls Play, inspired the concept for the work. The word "play" immediately shot out. I started thinking about my childhood and the many games I used to play-Double Dutch, Red light, Green light, Marco Polo-and how it was hard for me to find narratives within the media that showcased Black girls being just that: girls. This instantly resonated and became personal. Who was I before the world defined me? What are the unspoken languages within Black girl culture that are multi-dimensional and have been appropriated and compartmentalized by others? What are the dimensions of Black girl joy that cannot be boxed into a smile or a grimace, but demonstrated in a head tilt, lip smack, hand gesture, and more?

BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play showcases and elevates the rhythms and gestures of childhood play, highlights the musical complexity and composition, and claims them as art. It shows the power of sisterhood and the fact that, as we mature, Black girls still play. It is remembering, conjuring, honoring, and healing. It's a Black girl's story through her gaze. This work is a gift to myself and Black girls everywhere.

If our audiences see parts of themselves in our work-their struggles and their joys-regardless of their color, gender, or socioeconomic background, then I know we have done our job.

Let's play!

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BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play - Camille A. Brown

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World Premiere: September 22, 2015 - The Joyce Theater Nominated For a 2016 Bessie Award for Outstanding Production! BLACK GIRL: Linguistic Play reveals the complexity of carving out a self-defined identity as a black female in urban American culture. In a society where black women are often onl