House/Full of BlackWomen

House/Full of BlackWomen is a site specific ritual performance project that addresses issues of displacement, well being, and sex trafficking of black women and girls in Oakland.

Set in various public sites throughout Oakland over a Five-year period, this community-engaged project is performed as a series of “Episodes” that are driven by the core question, “How can we, as black women and girls find space to breathe, and be well within a stable home?” The House/Full of Blackwomen project will culminate in 2021.

Past Episodes

Project Leads

Conceived/Choreographed by:
Amara Tabor-Smith
Co-director:
Ellen Sebastian Chang
Premiere:
House/Full of Blackwomen will be performed in public sites throughout Oakland, CA between November 2015-Spring 2021

 

Performers

Core Performers:
Chris Evans, Regina Evans, Zakiya Harris, Tossie Long, Rami Margron, Amber McZeal, Sit-Al Muktari, Nkei Oruche, Karen Ransom, Shelley Davis Roberts, Sheila Russell, Keisha Turner, Amara Tabor-Smith, Erica Wilson.
Spiritual support:
Tobe Melora Correal, Yvette Aldama
List of completed Episodes (as of November 2017)
“We Are Here To Stay”– (November 2015)
“Song Circle: The Pleasure of Blackness
in an Age of Redemption” ( January, September 2016)
“Point of Transition” (March 2016)
“Now You See Me” (May 2016)
“The Meaning of Canaries” (October 2016)
“Now You See Me (FLY)”– (December 2016)
“Black Women Dreaming”– (March 2017)
“Declaration Of Love”– (May 2017)
“passing/through/the great middle” (February 2018)
“Black Women Dreaming: Divining the Darkness” (March 2019)
“She (be)Free” (April 2019)

Support

Support from:
Creative Capital
Creative Work Fund
Susan Sillins Foundation
Oakland Cultural Funding Program
MAP Fund
Sam Mazza Foundation
The Kenneth Rainin Foundation
Richard C. Munroe Foundation
and the Akonadi Foundation
Dance/USA Fellowship
Urban Bush Women Choreographic Fellowship
A Blade of Grass Fellowship
 

Other media