Rest.Rise.Move.Nourish.Heal is site-responsive dance ritual created by Founder and Artistic Director Vershawn Sanders-Ward and Company in collaboration with composer avery r. young, filmmaker Jovan Landry, and designers Kelley KFLEYE Moseley and Evelyn Danner. This new work was developed in relation to the urban farm, ART ON THE FARM in GRANT PARK, a space stewarded by Chicago-based Urban Growers Collective. Sanders-Ward visions this work as "a practice, a process, an uncovering of the beautiful labor of bringing us ALL home to land, reclaiming ancestral cultural traditions, technologies, and tools that can lead to individual and collective healing."
Every community owes its existence and vitality to generations from around the world who contributed their hopes, dreams, and energy to making the history that led to the moment we are now in. Some were brought here against their will, some were drawn to leave their distant homes in hope of a better life, and some have lived on this land for more generations than can be counted. Truth and acknowledgment are critical to building mutual respect and connection across all barriers of heritage and difference. We begin this effort to acknowledge what has been buried by honoring the truth. We pay respects to their elders past and present. Please take a moment to consider the many legacies of violence, displacement, migration, and settlement that we are also a part of bringing us together here today. We invite you to use www.Native-Land.ca to identify the lands which you are on. As we center ourselves toward the work let us remember those for whom equity was not an option. (Used with permission by The International Association of Blacks in Dance.)
Estimated Artist Fee: $12,000/performance or $38,000/week long residency.
