Uplifting Black Legacy

Uplifting Black Legacy is an evening celebrating the lineage of performance and storytelling through the prism of how this specific labor has sparked experimentation and a lasting impact in the arts and culture field.

The City of Santa Monica Cultural Affairs Division, in partnership with DanSpace Project is offering a one-of-a-kind showing of Chicken Soup, an American Masterpiece and solo choreographed by Blondell Cummings in 1981 and performed for this evening by choreographer Marjani Forté-Saunders. Chicken Soup brings an unwavering focus on the forgotten domestic labor of the soul of the household, the kitchen, weaving together movement with text to present a unique visual offering. Through this performance, Forté-Saunders pays tribute to Cummings’ lasting legacy while also forging her own path as a seminal performer.

Following the showing, there will be a robust dialogue unpacking the themes explored and discussing how artistic legacy is fostered and how the labor associated with that is recognized and prioritized across varied artistic forms with local Black arts leaders:

• Kristin Juarez, senior research specialist for the African American Art History Initiative at the Getty Research Institute
• Others to be announced.

Join us for an informal mixer with light refreshments at the Annenberg Community Beach House following the performance and panel conversation.

Guests are also encouraged to explore the Refractions: Contemporary Indigenous Art exhibition in the Event House Gallery. Curated by Joel Garcia and Kenneth Lopez of meztli projects, an Indigenous-based arts and culture collaborative.

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About Chicken Soup

In 2007, Forté-Saunders had the momentous opportunity to work directly with Cummings in learning this powerful solo, about “a Black woman in her own home.” Commissioned by Danspace Project, the remounting of Chicken Soup is part of highlighting their 50-year legacy of performance art in NYC and across the United States. This commission celebrates Blondell Cummings choreographic legacy and follows years of archival investigation by the Getty Research Institute and Art & Practice, seeking to shed light on the pivotal work of African American choreographer and video artist.

Uplifting the City of Santa Monica priority to advance racial equity, justice and social diversity to improve the wellbeing of all in Santa Monica identities the Cultural Affairs Division goals to develop robust cultural programming that honors the work of Black artists across artistic disciplines. This opportunity provides a unique peek to Santa Monica residents and the larger Los Angeles community into a formidable artist’s process, while engaging viewers in conversation about what it means to inherit the blueprint or score of a work, Chicken Soup’s contribution to the abundant lineage Black radical experimentation and practice, and the prismatic, kaleidoscopic worlds of improvisation, memory, and abstracted storytelling.

Bios

Marjani Forté-Saunders is a three-time Bessie award-winning choreographer, performer, teaching artist, and Mother. She is a recent awardee of the prestigious Dance Magazine Harkness Award (2020) and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Fellowship. She is an inaugural recipient of three distinguishing fellowships in dance, including Urban Bush Women’s Choreographic Center Initiative Fellowship (2017), the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship (2018), and the DanceUSA Artist Fellowship (2019). Her latest work Garden of Unicorns—a Surrealist Ode to Blondell Cummings was an installation in The Getty Gardens as part of the Ever Present Series, curated by Kristin Juarez and Sarah Cooper.

Forté-Saunders is a founding member of the collective 7NMS|Art x Power, alongside composer/sound designer Everett Saunders. They are recent recipients of New Music USA and the National Dance Project Production & Touring award for their latest work Prophet: The Order of the Lyricist. In 2022, Saunders made her off-broadway debut as choreographer of Dreaming Zenzile, written and starring Grammy-nominated jazz vocalist Somi Kakoma, and directed by Drama League Founder’s award-winning artist Lileana Blain-Cruz. Commercially, Saunders has worked with Sundance Award-winning director Kahlil Joseph, Kevin Willmott, Kevin Everson, and Tracee Ellis Ross’ product launch video campaign for PATTERNS. Forté-Saunders is honored to be a part of the creative team of Dreaming Zenzile, in utter admiration of our beloved Miriam Makeba. Humbly, she defines her work by its lineage stemming from culturally rich, vibrant, historic, loving, irreverent conjurers.

Danspace Project presents new work in dance, supports a diverse range of choreographers in developing their work, encourages experimentation, and connects artists to audiences. For 50 years, Danspace Project has supported a vital community of contemporary dance artists in an environment unlike any other in the United States. Located at the historic St. Mark’s Church in-the-Bowery, Danspace shares its facilities with the Church, The Poetry Project, and New York Theatre Ballet. Danspace Project’s Commissioning Initiative has commissioned nearly 600 new works since its inception in 1994.

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

Annenberg Community Beach House, 415 Pacific Coast Hwy, Santa Monica, United States