ModArts Dance Collective (MADC) Presents
Move to Change
MOVE TO CHANGE
The purpose of Move to Change is to use dance as a form of social justice and arts activism through the lens of people of color (POC). The goal of Move to Change is to create cultural and gender affirming spaces for artists of color to educate, empower, or illuminate issues that reflect their histories and cultures through their unique and rich movement aesthetics.
There will be two different pre-recorded, screened events with a live
audience on Saturday, November 13th, at 5 p.m. EST and 7 p.m. EST at
Downtown Art, 70 E 4th Street, NY, NY 10003. Tickets $15
Additionally, an on-demand viewing option will be available from November 14-28. Tickets $10
FREE virtual round table discussion with all of the presenting artists via Zoom Webinar on Friday, November 12th at 7:00PM EST.
Free Virtual Round Table
Move to Change Artists
The eleven artists who will share their work in one of the pre-recorded screened concerts with a live audience are:
Janet Aisawa | New York, NY
Bernard Brown | Los Angeles, CA
Rodd Denson | Brooklyn, NY
Melissa Escano | Woodhaven, NY
Sadé M Jones | Austin, TX
Justice Miles | Denver, CO
Makayla Peterson | Brooklyn, NY Jessica Gabrielle Thomas | Detroit, MI
Leah Tubbs/MODArts Dance Collective (MADC) | New York, NY
Chien-Ying Wang | Monmouth Junction, NJ
Kayla Yee | New York, NY
Fang-Ting Yeh | Jersey City, NJ
Janet Aisawa will perform “United States of America–Citizen” an excerpt
from “Them” from the 2017 performance at University Settlement. It will
be screened at the 7:00pm show.
“United States of America–Citizen” is performed to a sound score of
excerpts from the study guide of 100 civics questions for the
Naturalization Test of the United States Citizenship and Immigration
Services.
Video recording by Andrew Gurian
Lighting Design by John Nichter
Find out more at Move to Change
“Them” is a performance of stories of Japanese Americans interned in camps during WWII when the constitution was disregarded.
“I” and “You” became “Them”
ABOUT THEM
In 1942, at the beginning of World War II, many Japanese American citizens and Japanese nationals (Japanese people living in the United States who were not allowed to become citizens) were interned in camps in the United States. This piece combines sound scores of interviews with some of these individuals with short dances to convey the experiences of racism, group thinking, hysteria, and murder as Americans of Japanese descent became “The Other”. The piece tells the stories of what happened to these individuals when the Constitution was disregarded and “I” and “You” became “Them”.
One of my inspirations for “Them” was Mrs. Yokota……….READ MOREA NOTE FROM JANET
“This project is important to me because I not only want to pass down these stories but I also hope it will start conversations and questions about what it means to be “Them” and “Us” and is a reminder that we have all once been labeled “Them”.
Thanks for the support that’s made it all possible!
Janet Aisawa
CAMPAIGNJANET AISAWA
Janet Aisawa is presently a founding member of Julie Ludwick’s Fly-by-Night Dance Theater an aerial dance company.
MEET OUR ARTISTS
Get to know some of our performers a little better and discover how they began their careers.
PAST PERFORMANCES
Check out some of our past performances,
