Johari Mayfield, the Venus Hottentot
Johari Mayfield is a choreographer and dancer based in New York. But she didn't arrive at her calling through the traditional route. It was all because of a jump rope; Mayfield was a double dutch competitor in school, and just happened to follow a friend to a dance class one day. She
discusses her multi-disciplined training and background, the pressures
she feels to conform to contemporary orthodoxy as a black woman, and why she works with kids and not adults.
She also talks about the show she's developing at the HERE Arts
Center; it's about Saartjie Baartman, the Venus Hottentot. Baartman, a South African woman, was exhibited around Europe as part of a freak show during the 19th century because of her exaggerated nether regions.
Excepts from Mayfield's piece can be seen at HERE's Culturemart
presentations in January 2010 (29 minutes).
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Clocktower Radio’s series of recorded HERE programming. HERE builds a community that nurtures career artists as they create innovative hybrid live performance in theatre, dance, music, puppetry, media and visual art through residencies, event production, and commissions.
Since 1993, HERE has been one of New York’s most prolific producing organizations, and today, it stands at the forefront of the city’s presenters of daring new hybrid art. HERE supports multidisciplinary work that does not fit into a conventional programming agenda. Our aesthetic represents the independent, the innovative, and the experimental: HERE has developed such acclaimed works as Eve Ensler’s The Vagina Monologues; Basil Twist’s Symphonie Fantastique; Basil Twist and Joey Arias' Arias with a Twist; Hazelle Goodman’s On Edge; Young Jean Lee's Songs of The Dragons Flying To Heaven; Trey Lyford & Geoff Sobelle’s all wear bowlers; Faye Driscoll's837 Venice Boulevard; Taylor Mac's The Lily's Revenge and original musical and dance works created and directed by HERE Co-Founder and Artistic Director Kristin Marting.
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