Sydnie L. Mosley | What does Shange think?

Company member Sydnie L. Mosley recently guest wrote for the Barnard Center for Research on Women Blog regarding Ntozake Shange's thoughts on Tyler Perry's interpretation of For Colored Girls.

On Wednesday, November 7th I had the pleasure of attending “Ntozake Shange on Stage & Screen” sponsored by Africana Studies at Barnard. The event began with a screening of Tyler Perry’s film adaptation of Shange’s choreopoem for colored girls who have considered suicide when the rainbow is enuf, followed by a panel discussion and audience Q & A with Ms. Shange, Soyica Diggs Colbert, Assistant Professor of English at Dartmouth College, and Monica Miller, Associate Professor of English at Barnard. With so much negative criticism surrounding Perry’s 13 million dollar film adaptation, the question burning on every one’s mind was, what does Shange think?

I was relieved to learn that her thoughts aligned with the criticisms I’d been outlining in my head since I first saw the film over a year ago. Shange was frank: "Tyler Perry's greatest challenge with for colored girls was what he was about to tackle." In other words, Perry could not grasp the radical nature of the work, and it was clear, at least from an artistic standpoint, he had no idea what he was getting himself into.

Read more at BCRW BLOG. 

Life as a Modern Dancer | Christal N. Brown

photo credit: Kimara Dixon

"I believe the success of my career is based on the sheer action of saying Yes to God's continual instructions along a winding path of discovery. Because my first goal was to be a dance teacher, the performance world was totally foreign to me. Therefore, I never turned down any opportunity to dance regardless of the pay, the genre, or the venue. As long as my integrity was not compromised I committed myself to fully investing the talent God gave me to further my understanding of the field of dance. Saying 'yes' positioned me into a lot of great roles and more often into the company of mentors, friends, colleagues, and teachers, who led me full circle to my current professorship."

Read more about our Founding Artistic Director at dancingwords.typepad.com.

Mater Mea | At the park with Christal and Gabriel

“When I’m teaching, I feel alive,” Brown says. “I’m able to connect with the kids on a different level than most instructors are, and I think it’s really because that’s the gift God gave me.” It’s a gift that Brown says has shaped the way she looks at the world and her role in it. “I’ve always thought of myself as more than a dance teacher,” she shares. “I really equate a lot of life lessons to the art of dance with my students. I’ve always been a catalyst for them to go to a different level in their lives.”

Now Brown has a catalyst of her own in the form of her son Gabriel. “When I learned I was going to be a mom, I was grateful and humbled,” she shares.

Read more about our Founding Artistic Director at matermea.com.