“Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze, strange fruit hanging from the poplar trees…”

I wanted to hang a noose on stage and have a black man dance with it, to take back what the noose had represented and change the discourse around it so it meant what HE/I said he meant. Simone’s raspy voice singing “Black bodies swinging in the southern breeze” in combination with the dancer’s body controlled flailing in the rope is a striking image. I had him climb up to the very top of the noose and begin swinging it round and round and round wildly. As to say, this is mine I take it back. I take back my power. That is the work I want to focus on, taking back my power through dance.