SATURN: A Revelation Fundraiser
April 4th | 7pm at JACK
We are doing this fundraiser to cover the costs of producing SATURN: A Revelation’s premiere event at JACK. The budget of the show is supported by a commission and some grants, but we still have about $10,000 to raise to meet our goals.
Our goal is to compensate all artists enough to do their work at their professional rate, without apology, and to compensate our community leaders when as they host the satellite events.
Ways to Donate
Monthly:
One-Time Tax-Deductible Donation:
Volunteer Support Needed
Join us in making "SATURN: A Revelation" a success by volunteering to support the fundraiser or satellite community engagement events. Your support will help us connect with diverse audiences and enrich our dance community.
Email pm@jbouey.com to offer support.
SATURN Lore: Mx. Black Copper
I shared the history of Mx. Black Copper as a character in SATURN and some of my creative process in crafting this performance persona over the past few years. Listen here:
Cultivating Joy
With the amount of corruption, human atrocities, tension, and exhaustion in the world right now, I understand how inviting it is to fall into hopelessness. It’s seductive and it feeds off of our need to rest.
When moments like this happen, I am reminded by how oppressive forces benefit off of us being in such an exhausted and fearful state of mind because it’s harder to imagine your liberation when you’re fighting to survive. At the same time, I am reminded by how our ancestors dared to cultivate joy in the face of some of the worst atrocities. As a Black person, my African ancestors laughed, sang, danced, and dreamed throughout every moment of enslavement. So much so that they were willing to fight and die for the possibility of more liberation and joy for their loved ones and descendants.
I say all of this to say that I am learning more about the power of cultivating joy in the face of oppression. It helps rejuvenate my spirit and get back into the fight for liberation. By sharing joy I help others rejuvenate as well. By inviting folks to actively cultivate it we are able to make it through.
Finally, it’s worthy difficult work. For many of us, we have a large capacity for trauma and pain. We even wear our endurance as medals of honor at times as well. But our capacity for joy and pleasure don’t always match up.
So, I invite you to join me in cultivating little moments of joy and pleasure as you keep living. Let it be small and without stress. Just tend to your new garden of joy and pleasure and see what grows.
And, listen to Audre Lorde’s reading of her essay The Uses of the Erotic. She breaks it down better than I ever could.
With love and care,
j.