Self-authoring feminine Blackness through solo performance

Abstract

ABSTRACT For those who hold the text of feminine Blackness, mainstream British contemporary dance has historically been a place of misrepresentation, invisibility, and loss of authorship. This article outlines an original socio-intertextual framework that expands the possibilities of solo performance as a space to self-author feminine Blackness. I draw on my practice-based, autoethnographic, and theoretical investigations, including studio explorations, sharings, performances within mainstream contemporary dance settings, and autoethnographic reflection and analysis. I draw on notions of intertextuality (Barthes; Kristeva; Ott; Walter), Black feminist theory in literature and media discourse (hooks; Lorde; Bailey), and sociological theory concerning the presentation of self (Goffman) and articulations of the ‘I’ and ‘Me’ (Herbert Mead). This critical framework and practice methodology map out clear parameters in understanding how feminine Blackness is constructed, read, and valued within British contemporary dance. It suggests how solo performance can be a playground for navigating and reimagining feminine Blackness, and that the practice of self-authoring is crucial to the process of decolonising. This article is an offering to the journey of decolonisation; an act of solidarity that provides perspectives and tools to begin to untangle and rewrite what is inscribed as a consequence of enduring colonial perspectives within British contemporary dance.