Janelle Monae | "This is a reminder that I have work to do."

Did you catch Janelle Monae on the Black Girls Rock! 2012 Awards?? This is one of our favorite magic moments from the star studded awards ceremony honoring women of color. Monae says, "I didn't have to change who I was to become a Cover Girl... I've learned through my journey that perfection is often the enemy of greatness. Embrace what makes you unique, even if it makes others uncomfortable. I believe it is our uniqueness, and our unique ideas that make us rock."

To learn more about the Black Girls Rock! organization CLICK HERE. 

And to learn more about what INSPIRIT does to INSPIRE young girls, learn more about our PROJECT: Becoming.

Where is She Now? Rhea Patterson | INSPIRIT Alumna

INSPIRIT nurtures tomorrow's women in dance performance and choreography. Our blog series Where Is She Now? catches up with some of the fabulous women who have come through the company blossoming into brilliant artists. 

Photo: Matt Murphy

Rhea Patterson 

a Midlothian, Virginia native, received her B.F.A in Modern Dance Performance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, and her M.A. in Arts Administration from Goucher College in Baltimore, MD.

Rhea began her performance career as a concert dancer earning professional accreditation through Urban Bush Women, INSPIRIT, a dance company, NathanTrice Rituals, Dayton Contemporary Dance Second Company, Bermuda Dance Company, Hope Boykin Dance, and Eleone Dance. In 2006, Ms. Patterson made an unexpected transition into musical theater when cast in the first national Broadway tour of Sweet Charity, the Broadway revival of Guys and Dolls and Wicked.

Rhea is currently a permanent cast member of Wicked on Broadway while continuing to work on her solo project in collaboration with cinematographer Michael T. Cano.

Our one-on-one with Rhea

What was your favorite INSPIRIT repertory work to perform?

Becoming. I felt really connected to that work as I was there in every stage of its creation. I can still picture the opening diagonal sequence.

How did INSPIRIT help you get to where you are today?
Having been in the company during its humble beginnings, I realize that limited resources do not have to affect the quality of the work. In fact, it forces you to think and problem solve creatively.

Keep up with Rhea at rheapatterson.com.

Civic engagement through movement: VOTE

Ileana Jiménez, teacher and founder of feministteacher.com, and her high school students speak about the importance of young women voting in the upcoming election. Jiménez recounts a story of being a child with her mother in the voting booth; it is there that her mother instills in her the importance of civic engagement through the movement of pulling the lever in the booth. The simple action not only registered her mother's vote, but registered the significance of women taking action in the political process - past, present and future.

Where Is She Now? Carlita Ector | INSPIRIT Alumna

INSPIRIT nurtures tomorrow's women in dance performance and choreography. Our blog series Where Is She Now? catches up with some of the fabulous women who have come through the company blossoming into brilliant artists.

Photo by Joey D. 

www.carlitaector.com // www.facebook.com/TeachingArtistCarlita // @CastCarlita

Carlita Victoria Ector is a Raleigh, North Carolina native. She attended The University of NC at Greensboro where she earned her BFA in Dance Performance & Choreography, and K-12 Dance Education. Her favorite credits include -- National Tour: Chuck Davis & The African American Dance Ensemble, Industrial: Glee Project Promo featuring Darren Criss (Lead Singer),  Regional: Dreamgirls (Lorrell Robinson), Hairspray (Little Inez/Dynamite), Shani Collins/Eternal Works (Soloist), and Urban Bush Women (Apprentice).

Favorite performances: American Dance Festival (NC), Dance Africa (TX), Jacob’s Pillow (MA), Dance Theatre Workshop (NY), Ailey Citigroup Theatre (NY), Alliance Francais (Accra, Ghana). Choreography presented in NC, NYC and Seoul, South Korea. Carlita recently returned to the states after almost 2 years in South Korea performing original musical theatre works with Gyeonggi Village Theatre Company, dancing with PAS Jazz Dance Company of Seoul, and studying and performing West African dance in Ghana.

Our one-on-one with Carlita
You have certainly accomplished a lot in many realms of dance and theater. What projects are you working on right now?

Currently, I'm doing a 7-month run of Hairspray as Little Inez & Aladdin at Tuacahn Center for the Arts in Utah. I'm also teaching, teaching, teaching! I do an annual Dance Residency Tour to various schools and studios. Next, I'm headed to Dallas, TX to sing and dance in a Christmas show "Festival of Lights."

What was your favorite INSPIRIT repertory work to perform?
Past Her Rites - the music, movement and and costumes combined to tell an important story. It's a dance you'll never forget.

How did INSPIRIT help you get to where you are today?
I met some amazing women while working with INSPIRIT. I learned a lot about being a teaching artist, really defining my own movement set, and being proactive about my goals. I was able to explore my love for modern, safety release technique, and I even discovered that giving musical theatre a try might be fun too!

Where Is She Now? Paloma McGregor | INSPIRIT Alumna

INSPIRIT nurtures tomorrow's women in dance performance and choreography. Our blog series Where Is She Now? catches up with some of the fabulous women who have come through the company blossoming into brilliant artists.

Paloma McGregor has presented choreography
at venues throughout New York, including The Kitchen, Harlem Stage, EXIT Art, SummerStages, Tribeca Performing Arts Center, Dixon Place and Bronx Academy of Art and Dance, as well as at UCLA, Yale University, The Dance Place in Washington, DC, the McKenna Museum in New Orleans, Cleveland Public Theatre and California Shakespeare Theater. She has toured internationally as a dancer with Urban Bush Women and Liz Lerman/Dance Exchange, and has collaborated with directors Patricia McGregor and Neigel Smith, multidisciplinary artists Mendi+Keith Obadike and musician Greg Tate.

She is co-founder of Angela's Pulse, which creates collaborative performance work rooted in building community and telling undertold stories. Among her awards: 2012-13 Arts Leadership Fellowship from the Kennedy Center's DeVos Institute; 2012-13 iLAND grant and creative residency; 2013 Wave Hill creative residency; 2012 Jerome Foundation Travel Grant; 2010 QuAD creative residency; 2010 Harlem Stage Fund for New Work grant from the Jerome Foundation; 2009 Voice & Vision creative residency.

Our one-on-one with Paloma
What was your favorite INSPIRIT repertory work to perform?
My favorite INSPIRIT work to perform was my solo from "Becoming..." It is a work that I learned in one rehearsal and performed just one month after moving to New York. The work tracked the development - physical and psychological - of a solo figure; it was a great practice to be attending to how someone "becomes" as I was becoming an artist in New York. Christal's luscious movement vocabulary was a pleasure to embody.

How did INSPIRIT prepare you to be where you are today?
INSPIRIT was a home space that both allowed me to grow and allowed me to take on responsibilities to help the organization grow. Christal Brown has created a place where women artists can unearth their potentials - as dancers, choreographers, teachers, designers, administrators; where women create their own place, supported by strong community, and thrive.
---
Check out Blood Dazzler - Paloma's collaboration with director (and sister!) Patricia McGregor at Harlem Stage.

 

To keep up with Paloma's work check out her website AngelasPulse.org.

Where Is She Now? Melana Lloyd | INSPIRIT Alumna

INSPIRIT nurtures tomorrow's women in dance performance and choreography. In celebration of our performance this week with the newest cohort of dancers, we are kicking off our blog series Where Is She Now?, catching up with some of the fabulous women who have come through the company blossoming into brilliant artists.

Melana Lloyd - dancer, singer, actress - got her training in concert dance, but now graces stages all over the country in Broadway productions. Melana has performed in the national tours of Hairspray, and most recently The Color Purple. 

Our one-on-one with Melana

Can you tell us a bit about yourself?

I was born and raised in Lafayette, LA.  I moved to NYC to attend graduate school at New York University--Tisch School of the Arts.  After teaching in a public school for 2 years in Brooklyn and dancing with INSPIRIT, I was bitten by the musical theater bug.  Always just considering myself a "dancer with a big mouth," I am now smitten.  I owe a great deal of gratitude to my parents, family, dancing family, friends, and all those who have taken a chance on me.

Life is not about finding yourself, it is about creating yourself.  Get in the habit of creating! 

What was your favorite INSPIRIT repertory work to perform?

The Nina Simone Suite -- Past Her Rites

How did INSPIRIT help get you to where you are today?

INSPIRIT came into my life at a very integral time.  It gave me a place to train, commune and perform when I had no other place.  

A place to be... 

A place to learn and grow.... 

A place to regroup while still in pursuit.

To keep up with Melana and her pursuits, check out her website HERE.

Where Is She Now? Krystal Butler | INSPIRIT Alumna

INSPIRIT nurtures tomorrow's women in dance performance and choreography. In celebration of our performance this week with the newest cohort of dancers, we are kicking off our blog series Where Is She Now?, catching up with some of the fabulous women who have come through the company blossoming into brilliant artists.

Krystal Butler is a native of Washington, DC where she graduated from Duke Ellington School of the Arts, training in Ballet and Horton technique under the direction of Charles Augins and Sandra Fortune. After high school, she received a scholarship to the American Dance Festival in 2004 and again in 2008 where she had the opportunity to work with artists such as Louis Johnson, Christopher Huggins, Robert Battle, Earl Mosley, Camille Brown, and Dianne McIntyre, to name a few. She holds a B.F.A. from Long Island University, Brooklyn Campus in Dance Performance. 

While in New York, Krystal danced with the companies, INSPIRIT, a dance company under the direction of Christal Brown and Forces of Nature Dance Theatre. In 2006, Krystal performed in the play "JUNKANOO" at venues such as the Lincoln Theater in Washington, DC and at the National Theatre of Dakar in Dakar, Senegal. Krystal recently toured Europe as a dancer with Pilobolus Dance Theater in the show MAGNIFICO Circus. In October 2011, Krystal worked for Pilobolus Institute as a teaching artist. She is now touring with the international Pilobolus show Shadowland throughout Europe.

Our one-on-one with Krystal

What was your favorite INSPIRIT repertory work to perform?
My favorite piece to perform hands down was "Past Her Rites." I loved everything from the costumes to the music in that piece.

How did INSPIRIT help get you to where you are today?
INSPIRIT was my first professional concert dance job. I received my first pay check from Christal. I will never forget it!

INSPIRIT also gave me the knowledge, creative allowance and freedom to form into the versatile artist I am today. With all the talented women in the company I learned so much, unconsciously. In my work now, I say to myself all the time, INSPIRIT taught me that. I'm grateful that I am apart of the sisterhood that INSPIRIT has created throughout the years.

INSPIRIT Recommends: 5 Star Chick

Performance artist Denae Hannah explores contemporary images of black womanhood in Five Star Chick.

Through dance and theater, Ms. Hannah shines a satirical spotlight on the role models, stereotypes and aspirations of black women as depicted by popular hip hop music and culture.

Delivered in five vignettes, this thirty-minute solo follows the main character, Ms. Five Star, as she strives to achieve the apex of five star womanhood by getting a good education and job, dating the right men, and “snagging that baller” – all with a nice booty and “everything did.”

Denae Hannah explains, “Black women and women of color are too often portrayed as stereotyped characters in popular hip hop culture. However, the effects on the women and girls who come to identify themselves as these human caricatures must be examined more closely and honestly. I know I’ll be the first to talk about how women are degraded in the music video but still drop it like it’s hot when the song comes on! Five Star Chick is raw, real and provocative. It’s both an introspective and over-the-top journey about a woman trying to live up to the image she sees projected upon herself by pop culture.

Ms. Hannah will also present the work of guest choreographer Monique Roberts. Ms. Roberts will show a solo entitled Contrary Divestment and a duet entitled Labyrinth.

Each night will feature a guest moderator.

Doors open at 7:30 pm. 

*For mature audiences only

A/C/G to Hoyt-Schermerhorn

2/3 to Hoyt

F/R to Jay Street-Metrotech

On street parking available as well as 3 neighboring ParkFast lots

Less than 20 tickets left on each night!

https://fivestarchick.eventbrite.com/

VIDEO (via Upworthy): 'You're Told All The Time, "You're Equal." But … No … We're Not.'

Zoe Saldana talks about the gender divide in her career. from The Conversation with Amanda de on Vimeo.

Olympic INSpiration!

The US Women Relay team took Olympic Gold on Friday! What a great team effort in the 4x100m relay. This is just one of the many moments women are shining in the 2012 Olympic games. How fantastic to see these women work together to bring in a brand new world record and an awesome victory to the United States! Work ladies! More on NBCOlympics.com.

Robert Deutsch-USA Today/Others

Robert Deutsch-USA Today/Others

Matt Kryger-USA Today/Others

Stefan Wermuth-Reuters

David Gray-Reuters