In practice: A choreographic reflection on spiritual expression

Abstract

This article offers an in-depth choreographic reflection focusing a lineage of spiritually expressive black forms in the United States of America inside of an Africanist perspective. Through the concepts of epic memory, necropolitics and dimensionality, the author offers her own account of performative and choreographic practices informed by a pneumatological lens that highlights the power of improvisation within a spiritual–physical collaborative framework. Meeting at the intersection of individual–communal and social–political, this exploration presents a choreographic model influenced by African Diasporic movement genres, black Pentecostalism and Race and Ethnic Studies to inform choreographic choices. As a practitioner of the African diasporic and spiritual forms discussed, the author engages a rich, complex model of analysis and meaning making about spirituality and communal agency.