It’s been a good week! 🙂🙌🏾‼️
.. next up ✌🏾🤓
ASSOCIATE DIRECTOR & CHOREOGRAPHER
Meet the stars of AIN'T MISBEHAVIN': THE FATS WALLER MUSICAL SHOW — our first big musical of the #BSC2022 season! 🤩
BSC Associate Artist Jeffrey L. Page will choreograph & direct this stunning ensemble of Broadway stars: Allison Blackwell, Jarvis B. Manning Jr., Anastacia McClesky, Maiesha McQueen and DeMone Seraphin.
#BSCAintMisbehavin
#DariusBarnes
#explorepage
💥🥊 CHAMPION ‼️✌🏾
This past weekend we opened CHAMPION in Boston directed by our fearless leader @timdirects . It was nuts to say the least.. what should’ve been a fully staged production ended up being WRECKED by COVID 😩😭
so we pivot’d to semi-staged CONCERT version.
The cast was PHENOMENAL, the music was glorious and the concert did what needed to be done. I’m still processing the loss of months of work from all the designers and myself, but I’m happy the opera made it to the stage.
S/o to my bro @maleek_washington for coming through on opening night. Appreciate you! ❤️🔥
GRATEFUL to this cast, chorus, supers and crew for their incredibly hard work and malleability during this process. Happy to see friends stretch into larger capacities and to work with industry legends! 🚀
✨Happy Closing!✨
GRATEFUL to my skeleton crew of artists: @uuillmann@cjacks30@christianparisblue@ericmannnn@iamjaystaten@hardym07@marcus.n.williams@mellanieburkemissouri@_smilemikky
and my Associate: @tisvoltaire 🤜🏾🤛🏾
who helped me sketch every idea during my time in Chicago. Thank you @lyricopera for the space.
Grateful to my partner in crime, ROCIO!
Thank you for your beautiful work and the food and the wine and the talks! You already know the VIBES ♥️
GRATEFUL to TIM! Thank you for collaborating with me to make our piece beautiful. Thank you for your direction. Thank you for making space for me. Your encouragement is everything! Can’t wait for the next one. 🙏🏾
.. new levels, new devils ..new titles.
✌🏾MOVEMENT DIRECTOR🤓💪🏾
CHAMPION @bostonlyricopera
Music by @terence_blanchard
Liibretto by Michael Cristofer
Director: @timdirects
Conductor: @kwameryanbts
Movement Director: 😏 ya boy
Intimacy Director: @rociomendezactor
Set Design: sarabrown
Costume Design: @trvrbowen
Lighting Designer: @marcusdoshi
Wig/Makeup Deisgner: @jaredjenkins
.. we do operas now 😏
👉🏾 I See You 👈🏾 • @movenyc ✨
. rep class .
For the 2nd year in a row, I’ve been able to workshop and teach my movement on the students of MOVE. I’m always impressed by the artistry of these young professionals and it’s helpful to see them embody the steps and ideas and make it their own.
In the 3rd movement — I wanted to focus on 2 groups: those who choose to move forward through life with their boundaries dropped, completely exposed.. and those who choose to move forward with their boundaries in tact, fully protected. This combo is a mash-up of the two phrases.
Conceived & Choreographed by: @dblexicon
Composition by: @ari_grooves
👉🏾 I See You 👈🏾 • @baltschoolarts
Conceived & Choreographed by: @dblexicon
Composition by: @ari_grooves
✨Duet: @thedancer_nya@jay.symonette
✨Trio: @williams_makayla@joydestiny@kmadyjo
✨Quartet: @iamkhaleesimarie@jaylaander@xclusivee.tayy@weird.laila
. vulnerability .
@iammetch shared this beautiful thought in our group text: “I get it, I understand, cause I don’t like to share either. Like for what? I don’t like to do it. But I’m normalizing that for myself. That that burn in my chest, when I need to make myself vulnerable — that I get when I’m onstage. I can get that in life too. And it’s OK! And we are alive on the other side of the difficulty that we had to go through to share.” I love how visceral and immediate her sharing is.
I asked Ari to add this thought to the beautifully haunting melody she made for this movement, but gently and somewhat muted so that it felt like it was in the subconscious backspace of the brain. The thing we think but are unable to fully make ourselves aware of.
The 2nd movement of this piece explores what happens when you allow yourself to drop your boundaries and come in contact with someone else who also has their boundaries dropped.
What does vulnerability look like between lovers, between family, between friends?
What happens when two people decide vulnerability is great but it doesn’t have to be with each other?
What happens when one person decides this?
👉🏾 I See You 👈🏾 • @baltschoolarts
Conceived by: @dblexicon
Composition by: @ari_grooves
. the rehearsal process .
..when I was charged with making a piece with “masquerade” as the theme for @baltschoolarts ’s biggest fundraiser Expressions — I began to think about what the revealing aspect of masquerading is and began to shift the concept to become about boundaries…
I See You — which premiered last weekend and this past Friday — is a piece about the very thin line we draw between ourselves and others.
If we are vulnerable and brave enough to remove our boundaries and let someone in who also has their boundaries dropped.. what happens then?
Is it safer to move forward through life with our boundaries in tact or with our full selves completely exposed?
I don’t know the answer, but I’m grateful to the students of BSA for letting me explore with them.
We had an incredible process! We shared.. we grooved.. we cried.. we clapped.. We Danced‼️Thank y’all for going on this journey with me!! I’m so proud of you and I’ll never forget this.
Thank you to my creative collaborators:
⚡️ @ari_grooves Thank you for the vibes! You are magic. Thank you for taking crazy snippets of ideas and musicalizing them in a way I never thought possible. You can do ANYTHING and I’m grateful you said yes to this.
💫 @diva__dasilva Thank you for listening and talking with me and hearing and seeing me. Thank you for your ability to streamline my craziness. Thank you for the title: I See You
🚀 @shonica Thank you for being my associate and working in my apartment to get my ideas out of my head and into my body. Thank you for your encouragement, your incredible editing eye and ability to hear my thoughts and actualize them. You’re a gift.
❤️🔥 @nez_davis Thank you for reminding me that I am enough. Thank you for reminding me that I have the tools and have used them before and that I know what creation feels like. Thank you for being a safe space to for me to try and fall and fly.
All of these black women lifted me up and supported me before I even rehearsed a step with young artists.
I See You and thank you for seeing me!
🗣 Protect Yo Process 🙏🏾‼️
More coming soon..
