Our Critical Engagement series brings together audiences & choreographers to engage with the mystery surrounding the perceived illegibility of dance & the unique practices of individual choreographers. We start with the question: What does the choreographer need at this particular moment in their process & how might this also serve the wider community? The series encourages artists of all mediums, as well as curious individuals with no art background to attend and to take the opportunity to ask questions and make observations. As dancers, we often hear that audiences don’t know how to watch dance, or don’t know how to make sense of what they see when watching dance. This series celebrates the elusiveness of the medium and creates a supportive environment where the artist and audiences can unpack the complexity of the performing body and its politic. The first of our rebooted Critical Engagement Series was curated by the FLOCK stewards. The two curated artists were both BIPOC artists with BIPOC casts and were each given a stipend of $500 and up to six hours of free rehearsal space. We hosted their works in an informal showing at FLOCK. Those two artists each chose one artist to participate in the second Critical Engagement Series. Those artists will curate the third, and so on. This is meant as a way to make the curatorial process more community-based and wider-reaching. 

Akela Jaffi performer, Photo by Kimberly Marie Kimble