{"id":40802228543,"date":"2020-01-15T16:02:48","date_gmt":"2020-01-15T21:02:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/?p=40802228543"},"modified":"2020-02-18T15:48:34","modified_gmt":"2020-02-18T20:48:34","slug":"dropping-the-n-word","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/dropping-the-n-word\/","title":{"rendered":"Dropping the \u201cN\u201d Word"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University<\/strong> has announced its first free live Performing Arts event of 2020 \u2014 an exclusive New Jersey presentation of the multi-disciplinary dance work \u201cBlack Like Me<\/strong>.\u201d<\/p>\n

Scheduled for 8 p.m. inside the Pollak Theatre<\/strong>, the one-night engagement subtitled \u201cAn Exploration of the \u2018N\u2019-Word\u201d represents the Monmouth debut of Jade Solomon Curtis<\/strong>, a dance artist and choreographer whose integration of classical and black traditions with mixed media and Hip Hop influences \u201cradiates passion and honesty,\u201d in the words of a leading dance critic. Telling five interrelated narratives through words, movement, visuals, and music, Curtis makes a deep and unflinching study of a single word \u2014 from its origins as a slur created to belittle an entire people, to the attempts of Hip Hop culture to reclaim, reframe, and reintroduce the \u201cN\u201d-word into casual use.<\/p>\n

Many years ago, \u201cBlack Like Me\u201d served as the title for a white author\u2019s memoir of his journey through the pre-Civil Rights era South, in the adopted guise of a black man. Here in the charged atmosphere of America 2020, one very talented \u201cbeautiful bald black woman\u201d has taken that title for her own; collaborating with leaders in the fields of media design and community activism to produce a work that looks at sweeping themes of generational \u201cheritage,\u201d accepted standards, and social justice, through the perspective of a contemporary black female.<\/p>\n

For the Texas-born, Florida-raised artist who first gained acclaim as a member of Donald Byrd\u2019s Seattle-based Spectrum company, and who gained national recognition as the title subject of an Emmy winning documentary short film, \u201cBlack Like Me\u201d is rooted both in the centuries-old struggles of black people in American society, as well as such intensely personal experiences as her being branded with the N-word \u201cin white, liberal Seattle.\u201d The founder of the non-profit arts initiative Solo Magic presents her audience with a question\u00a0 \u2014 whether it is indeed possible to redefine a word that continues to disrupt the national conversation \u2014 and makes a pointedly eloquent case that the N-word is a thing that will forever resist being transformed, co-opted, or normalized.<\/p>\n

The presentation of Black Like Me: An Exploration of the \u201cN\u201d Word was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts\u2019 National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Admission to the February 8 performance of \u201cBlack Like Me\u201d is free of charge and open to the public. Registration is recommended but not required, and can be made online at https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/event\/black-like-me\/<\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Center for the Arts at Monmouth University has announced its first free live Performing Arts event of 2020 \u2014 an exclusive New Jersey presentation of the multi-disciplinary dance work \u201cBlack Like Me.\u201d Scheduled for 8 p.m. inside the Pollak Theatre, the one-night engagement subtitled \u201cAn Exploration of the \u2018N\u2019-Word\u201d represents the Monmouth debut of […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":166,"featured_media":40802228546,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[16],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-40802228543","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-center-for-the-arts"],"subheadline":"Choreographer\/Multi-Media Artist Jade Solomon Curtis brings groundbreaking work \u201cBlack Like Me\u201d to campus","youtube":"","thumbnail":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/568\/2020\/01\/newsthumb.jpg","gallery":[{"_photo_id":40802228546,"_photo":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-content\/uploads\/sites\/568\/2020\/01\/newsheader.jpg","_youtube":"P3YJBX1vS2U"}],"featured_img":"\"\"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802228543","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/166"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=40802228543"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802228543\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":40802228550,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/40802228543\/revisions\/40802228550"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/40802228546"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=40802228543"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=40802228543"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.monmouth.edu\/mca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=40802228543"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}