Her Song 2018

HER SONG 2018

Deneane Richburg, Artistic Director & Choreographer

Set against the backdrop of a film produced and edited by Aidan Un and to a lullaby written by Thomasina Petrus, Her Song was choreographed by Deneane Richburg with creative advisement provided by Lela Aisha Jones and Toni Pierce Sands. This work sheds light on the trauma founder and Artistic Director, Deneane Richburg experienced engaged in spaces where she was “the only one” or one of a very few. Black skaters do not physically resemble the standard in a space where aesthetics/looks reign. They spend most of their formative, teenage, and adult years in this space where they never meet the visual standard; to complicate matters, they are in a sport where they are consistently judged and assessed by individuals that—again—do not resemble them and likely have little understanding of their experiences as young skaters of color trying to find their way in a sport dominated by Euro-centric aesthetics. This work addresses these challenges and provides affirmation of this act of having to navigate and balance so many realities.

Remembering, I close my eyes
See myself flying by
Momma whispers in my ear
Closer to the light my dear

I place myself where cold is warm
I inside my quiet storm
Where I am you and you are me
Feel my heart, my destiny

No time for catching fireflies
Baby time to close your eyes
Cannot see the summer nights
Tomorrow early morning rise

I am warm and I must be
Ever moving, ever free
I’m something of a mystery
I’m a mermaid of another sea

Now she was lonely, But not alone
Little Girl, now woman grown

Papa whispered in her ear
Closer to the light, my dear

I place myself where cold is warm
I inside my quiet storm
Where I am you and you are me
Feel my heart, my destiny

Where small eyes met small minds
Smiling while, faking kind
Making friends to fool the mind
Understand Don’t undermine

I am warm and I must be
Ever moving, ever free
I’m something of a mystery
I’m a mermaid of another sea

– Thomasina Petrus

CAST BIOS
Deneane Richburg is the founder and artistic director of Brownbody. As the creative home for Richburg’s choreographic work, through Brownbody, she honors the complex narratives of U.S. based Black diasporic communities by taking participants on journeys that disrupt assumptions, ideologies, and disenfranchising popular narratives around blackness. As a modern dance choreographer and former competitive figure skater, Richburg is interested in pushing the boundaries of creative expression on the ice via engaging these narratives as a framework in which somatic based movement exploration occurs. Richburg blends different movement worlds and creates work for both the ice and the stage. Deneane grew up a competitive figure skater—spending time in spaces where she felt she had to check her racial/cultural identity at the door, as the world of competitive skating was immersed in an ideology that excluded her ancestry’s truths. Working and growing in this space, to quote Zora Neale Hurston, she always felt “most colored when [she was] thrown against a sharp white background.” As she got older, she realized she needed to carve out a space for herself and her ancestral history hence her decision to create Brownbody. Richburg received her MFA in dance and choreography from Temple University in 2007, an MA in Afro-American Studies from UW Madison, and a BA in English and African American Studies from Carleton College. Working with Lela Aisha Jones, Richburg was also the Co-founder of The Requisite Movers, a Philadelphia based program that supports the work of Black female choreographers. Deneane has danced for a number of artists including, Chris Walker, Jose Francisco Barroso, Dr. Kariamu Welsh, Lela Aisha Jones and has performed with Off Leash Area, Flyground, and Kariamu and Company. Richburg is a grateful recipient of a 2017 McKnight Choreography Fellowship, administered by the Cowles Center, funded by The McKnight Foundation, a 2019 Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, and a Dance/USA Fellowship to Artists made possible with generous funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation.

Thomasina Petrus is a 25-year equity actor and professional jazz vocalist, a company member at Penumbra Theatre, Mixed Blood Theatre, and Park Square The-atre, and has performed with the Twin Cities most beloved artists. Mentors and friends, James “Cornbread” Harris, Sr., Javetta Steele, T. Mycheal Rambo, Stokley, Walter Chancellor, Austene Cleopatra Van, and Prince, have encouraged her to continue creating exceptional music and theatre by launching Thomasina Production. Highlights include: Lady Day @ Emerson’s Bar & Grill by Lanie Robertson, Etta James… Dreams to Remember, Hot Chocolate Holiday musical series, and the 5-women a cappella ensemble “The Sound Effects,” HOLD a play on incarcerated women thru music and poetry, and Five Points by Harrison David Rivers. Petrus is a 2015/2016 Playwright Center McKnight Theatre Arts Fellow. A successful departure from performing, Petrus has also created Thomasina’s Cashew Brittle. Her delicious melt-in-your-mouth Cashew Brittle and new Apple Brittle, have been featured at the MN State Fair and US Bank Stadium, and online. Visit Thomasinascashewbrittle.com & ThomasinaProduction.com

For booking information, please contact
info@brownbody.org

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