Showing posts with label comments. Show all posts
Showing posts with label comments. Show all posts

Monday, March 16, 2009

Part 11: March 16, 2009 first evening of Spring Break

Tonight we posted a Note for Our Visitors (text below) on the inner door of the main entrance into the Barker.
We re-posted the Open Letter to the Dance Program with an added Addendum.
We re-posted the Statement About the Protection of White Walls, this time on the outside of the office door.
We also re-posted our responses to the questions that had been asked of us in the unsigned posting that had been placed last Monday on both the outer and inner doors of the main entrance; this time we put our responses in the window pane between the main office and Studio 100.
We also retaped some past postings that were now falling down.
Re-posts were re-printings of the original posts that were removed on March 15, 2009. There has been no official word from faculty or students claiming responsibility for removal.

A Note for our Visitors
From part 11

A NOTE FOR OUR VISITORS

Welcome to our building. We are proud of our space and we are glad to have you in it. What you see around you is part of a six week long protest that has led to enormously important discussions we’ve been having about institutional racism, white privilege, and power being used to silence. These are difficult things to think about, let alone talk about, and there is a lot of pain and anger and confusion in our hearts and on our walls.

We don’t all agree with one another, but even in our anger and hurt, we all respect our commitment to the space. Even as we publicly hold our faculty responsible for the issues we protest against, we also publicly acknowledge that it is their activism and effort that has generated our freedom to protest.

We are not embarrassed to take responsibility for these problems by breaking the shame of speaking about them. Our program adamantly places value in anti-racist work and has demonstrated this by publicly permitting these powerful and ugly problems to be plastered across the building. We have been taught to question and to have the highest expectations of this space being one where confronting racism is permitted. We are in the process of learning. We are struggling with looking the monsters in the eye. We want to start learning how to deal with them.

Please feel free to talk with us about THIS. The more people you talk to, the greater the variety of perspectives you will encounter, and talking about it is healthy. The issues we are struggling with here are just an extension of those that permeate the real world, and we know they are present in your spaces as much as they are in ours. We want to learn from each other; we would be grateful to hear your stories and happy to share our own.

Welcome again, to a space where we are learning to be better human beings just as we are learning to be better dancers.

--us, March 16, 2009 (http://thisbyus.blogspot.com)



Re-Post of the Open Letter to the Dance Program, with Addendum
From part 11

Text of the Addendum reads:
Don't disagree by silencing--
talk back, talk more, talk louder.
Silence is the enemy.


Re-Post of the Statement About the Protection of White Walls
From part 11



To view full album, click on the icon below:
part 11

Click here to read full text and see images.

Thursday, February 26, 2009

Part 6: Feb 26, 2009

Today we covered the framed photographs of the local dancers in Studio 300 with famous international dance artists/companies. Thank you thank you thank you to all of you who sent us photos. The photos you've provided have been valuable in informing our dialogue about which dance artists to represent in studio 300, and which we are choosing to leave out and place elsewhere in the building. The ones we didn't end up posting today, we are saving for later.

Today's posting was perhaps the most conflicting for us so far; as limiting as it may be, we ultimately decided on dance artists who fall under the category of what is labeled "Contemporary Dance" for the following reasons: 1. We wanted to provide an alternative to the photos that had originally been there (generally of Contemporary dance artists still alive and working, most or all of whom are U of M graduates, the majority White Americans) so as to provide international examples of Contemporary dance to contrast the local examples. The aim was to widen the scope but not change where it was looking; an alternative as opposed to a comprehensive cross-section of the world. 2. It is easier to find information about international "Contemporary Dance" companies and artists and search for photos which include performer citations that can print high enough quality in terms of file size. If we left gaps or were incomplete, it only speaks to our limited knowledge, education, and time - to thoroughly research every single awesome dance artist in the whole world while also reflecting all the cultural value systems for judging the signficance of each. We nonetheless did our best to represent, and we hope to go back and improve upon it, but no matter what, we will be leaving many important dance makers out. Our goal remains to provide an alternative; we are not attempting to assume a voice for everyone.

Dance Artists and Companies posted (clumped in terms of region but not in any particular order): Batsheva (Israel), Cairo Opera Dance Theatre (Egypt), Ibdaa Dance Troupe (Palestine), El-Funoun Palestinian Popular Dance Troupe (Palestine), Company Jant Bi (Senegal), Company Tche Tche (Cote d'Ivoire), Faustin Linyekula (South Africa), Gregory Maqoma/Vuyani Dance Theatre (South Africa), La Compañía Danza Fragmentada (Cuba), Makeda Thomas (Trinidad), Cloud Gate (Taiwan), Jin Xing (China), Sankai Juku (Japan), Astad Deboo (India), Jayachandran/Attakalari (India), Padmini Chettur (India), Navtej Singh Johar (India), Amrita Performing Arts (Cambodia), EcnaD (Singapore), Lee Swee Keong (Malaysia), Sardono Katsumo(Indonesia)

Combined person hours: 24
This figures does include last minute research and printing.
This figure does not include all research, organizing, printing, hashing and rehashing ideas, documentation, and recovery.

Financial costs: final costs to be calculated. We ran out of colored ink today ($42). $16 on more photo paper.

We did not take "before" photos. Our mistake.


PHOTOS AFTER

View entire album at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thisbyus/Part6#

Sub-Saharan African, Indian Subcontinent, South America, Southeast Asia
From part 6


From part 6



Middle Eastern
From part 6


Middle Eastern, East Asian, Carribean
From part 6


click below to view entire album:

part 6

Monday, February 23, 2009

part 5: feb 23

Today we spilled out onto the third floor - the third floor foyer/lobby and classroom 301. 301 is where all of our history and theory courses take place. This is the same classroom where, 3 years ago, the faculty promised they were going to change the framed photographs of famous white dance artists to reflect the multitude of dance artists of color who have been seminal figures in shaping modern dance history. To date, the photos have not been changed.

So in honor of Black History Month (February), we have done it ourselves, for 16 of the photos in classroom 301, plus 2 in the foyer between classroom 301 and Studio 300. We posted photographs of seminal black dancers and choreographers over the glass frames, which included (in first name alphabetical order): Alvin Ailey, Arthur Mitchell, Bill "BoJangles" Robinson, Bill T. Jones, Carmen de LaVallade, Dianne Walker, Frankie Manning, Gregory Hines, Henry LeTang, Josephine Baker, Judith Jamison, Katherine Dunham, Norma Miller, Ralph Lemon, Robert Reed, Sammy Davis Jr, Savion Glover, Tight Eyez

In the 3rd floor foyer, we posted photos of the following African Americans (alphabetical order): Florence Griffith-Joyner, Langston Hughes, Melvin Tolson, Nikki Giovanni

We posted in both 301 and in the foyer writings and quotes from the following African Americans (alphabetical order): Angela Davis, August Wilson Jr., Colin Powell, Damion, Gwendolyn Brooks, James Baldwin, James Weldon Johnson, John Hope Franklin, Larry Wilmore, Malcolm X, Marimba Ani, Melissa Harris-Lacewell, Ralph Ellison, W.E.B. Dubois, Yolanda Pierce, Zora Neale Hurston

One quote from a non-African American: Susun Weed

Combined person hours: 17
This figure does not include research, organizing, printing, hashing and rehashing ideas, documentation...and recovery.

Financial costs: final costs to be calculated. Today we spent $85 on refilling ink cartridges that had been brand new as of part 2 of this protest and had not been used for printing any other material. spent $15 on photo paper. Regular office paper, multiple rolls of tape.

PHOTOS BEFORE

View entire album at:

http://picasaweb.google.com/thisbyus/Part5Before#

before
From part 5 before


From part 5 before



PHOTOS AFTER

view entire album at:
http://picasaweb.google.com/thisbyus/Part5After#

first wall
From part 5 after


first wall
From part 5 after


first wall
From part 5 after


door - inside 301, that opens to the foyer
From part 5 after


a quote from John Hope Franklin on how we must go beyond textbooks...
From part 5 after


second wall
From part 5 after


Katherine Dunham
From part 5 after


Ralph Lemon
From part 5 after


Josephine Baker, Savion Glover (left to right)
From part 5 after


3rd floor foyer
From part 5 after


on the outside of the door of studio 300
From part 5 after


to view entire album, click below:

part 5 after

Tuesday, February 10, 2009

The Project: Some backstory

Edited March 19, 2009 to add: our Open Letter to the Dance Program, and A Note to Visitors.

Who we are: students at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities' dance program.

What we are doing: Physically--sticking pieces of paper with text on them, on the walls of the Barbara Barker Center for Dance. Intellectually-- that's something for the reader to know, or to discover for themselves.

When we began: the 10th of February, 2009.

Why: That is both too big and too personal a question to answer here, but we acknowledge that the post- Dance Revolutions run cast discussion that happened in the Barker lobby on Monday the 9th of February 2009 was a catalyst.

What does 'thisbyus' mean: THIS is what it is. To every word, every article, every thought on the walls, we say, 'THIS'. This right here. This right now. And this is by us, for us, with us.

THIS
by
us.

Thursday, January 1, 2009

Comment

The comments here are not edited or censored by the blog owners in any way.

If you wish to leave a comment or get information on emailing us or the dance program administration specifically in support of the protest, you may also do so here.

Sunday, May 4, 2008

Support the Protest

Supporters of the protest can forward their comments and letters to:

Carl Flink
Chair of the Department of Theatre Arts and Dance
flink003@umn.edu
580C Rarig Center
330 21st Avenue South
Mpls, MN 55455
+1-612-626-1049

Dr. Ananya Chatterjea
Director of the Dance Program
ananya@umn.edu
203 Barker Center
500 21st Ave. S.
Minneapolis, MN 55455
+1-612-626-2280

Please copy the protesters (thisbyus@gmail.com) or Josh Casper, Ombudsman and Associate Director of the Student Conflict Resolution Center (caspe052@umn.edu) on any communication you send to the dance program if you would like to make sure that the protesters are informed of it.

Note: This section is moderated for comments of support only. If you want to leave a dissenting comment, it will not be published here; please post in comments, where posting remains unmoderated and unscreened.

NOTE: Three dissenting comments have been submitted to this section, and we have reposted them in comments.