Urban Bush Women

photo by Jonathan D. Secor

Grant Recipient

photo by Jonathan D. Secor

Location

Brooklyn, NY

Digital Presence

Artist Website

Project Title

Haint Blu

Fiscal Year Awarded

2023

Grant or Program

National Dance Project Production Grant

Grant Amount

$56,500

Haint Blu is a new ensemble dance-theater piece shepherded by Urban Bush Women's (UBW) Co-Artistic Directors Chanon Judson and Mame Diarra (Samantha) Speis. Haint Blu is a work seeped in memory and magic. Named for the color that Southern families paint their front porches to ward off bad spirits, Haint Blu uses performance as a center and source of healing, guiding us through movement into stillness and rest. It is an embodied look into familial lines and the movements, histories, and stories of our elders and ancestors. Through remembering, reclaiming, releasing, and restoring, the piece reflects on what has been lost across generations and what can be recovered. The work will be developed and performed during site-responsive residencies in and with communities around the country.

Land acknowledgement: Land of the Munsee Lenape
Estimated artist fee: $25,000 Weekly Residency

Work

On a porch, a Black man dances while a Black woman, with long braids, plays the guitar.

photo by Larry Glick

Along a stone path, a woman of color, dressed in white, crouches on one knee.

photo by Jonthan D. Secor

Through the white grates of a porch, a Black woman's back is exposed.

photo by Chanon Judson

Interested in presenting this work?

See other projects with tour subsidy available

Step 1: Contact the Tour Coordinator

Contact the tour coordinator listed below for information on this project’s tour dates, and to discuss joining a project’s NDP tour and receiving a Presentation Grant.

Michelle Coe
Director of Booking and Touring
Urban Bush Women
mcoe@urbanbushwomen.org
tel. 718-398-4537