Reggie Wilson: Some Reflections on Prayerful Platforms Film Screening and Conversation
Saturday, April 26 | 6:30–8:30PM
As part of Danspace 50th celebration, we are revisiting a Platform which delved into the history of our iconic venue St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery. Reggie Wilson’s guest curated Platform 2018: Dancing Platform Praying Grounds: Blackness, Churches, and Downtown Dance emerged from Wilson’s ongoing research into religion, dance, and race—specifically the history of our site, St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery. Wilson and a team of artists and curators researched the history of the Church, revealing its completion in 1799, the year of the New York State Gradual Emancipation Act, a fact which is now incorporated into Danspace Project’s land and site acknowledgements. St. Mark’s history is summarized in Hussie-Taylor’s essay for Wilson’s Platform.
Soon after the Danspace Platform, Wilson was invited by Philadelphia Contemporary and Partners for Sacred Spaces to recreate a new version of his Danspace Platform at historic churches in downtown Philadelphia.Grounds that Shout! (and others merely shaking) was a series of performances in May 2019 that responded to the layered histories of Philadelphia’s religious spaces and race through contemporary dance. A documentary film captures the process of working in community, using history and choreography as a point of departure.
This program will include reflections on the Danspace Platform in 2018 and a screening of the documentary of the 2019 Philadelphia series.
Before you visit:
Accessibility at Danspace Project
Covid Safety at Danspace Project