JOURNAL: Decolonizing Somatic Care Practices For The Body in Protest with día bùi, Orlando Zane Hunter Jr. & Angie Pittman
What protections should adorn a body in resistance? What kinds of care? How have somatic practices of the Black diaspora been colonized? Organized protest calls choreographies into action.
An estimated 15,000 New Yorkers gathered on Sunday, June 14th, 2020, for Brooklyn Liberation: An Action for Black Trans Lives, organized by The Okra Project, Marsha P. Johnson Institute, For the Gworls, G.L.I.T.S., and Black Trans Femmes in the Arts. This was a landmark event.
Artist, organizer, and strategist, día bùi, led the emotional first aid response and healing justice component of the June 14 action. In this video she shares safety protocols and practices used during the rally and march. Through a decolonizing lens, choreographer and dance practitioner, Orlando Zane Hunter Jr., offers their perspective on somatic care history and practice to help sustain bodies in protest. Together día and Orlando share personal testimony and information on upcoming work and demonstrations, including, Juneteenth: Black War Dances.
This recorded gathering begins with a 5 minute slideshow directly followed by Angie Pittman who gives a land and an acknowledgement of people enslaved by members of the congregations of the Stuyvesant Chapel and St. Mark’s Church In-The-Bowery.
Opening slideshow design and zoom video editing by Yolanda Royster
Opening slideshow photography by Bella Morais
Main presentation design and slideshow audio by día bùi
Main presentation photography by Cole Witter