Processes
BLACK SPACE
Leslie Parker Dance Project activates Black Space as a form of consciousness not limited to or bound by place, time, energy, or geographic location. It is an interwoven construct of lived experience and conduct. Black Space is neither exclusive or inclusive to a singular person, people, place, or thing. It is vast and exists in the known and unknown as well as in the mystical presence of here and now, stemming from cultural roots in Black Pan-African, transatlantic African diasporic cultures and communities.
Video courtesy of Leslie Parker
Leslie Parker Dance Project, LPDP, is a small organization. We gather and nourish independent performing artists taking necessary risks to center dialogue and collective action interwoven with embodied practice. By living with dance art daily, LPDP cross-pollinates across sectors and paradigms to expand the margins of Contemporary dance forms, reflecting lived experiences as collaborative improvisation. We value experimentation and Black liberation movements when digging into cultural legacies.
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LPDP is currently led by Leslie Parker, a Black femme of Black diasporic heritage; a descendant of the historical transatlantic African passage. Our mission is to move Black culture(s) into the future through dance-art. 'Black Space', as it is unique to LPDP, is intersectional including music, story-telling, visual art, text, film, and dance rooted in themes relating to spirituality, gender, and ethnicity.
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We recognize performance as a daily-life ritual for (extra)ordinary exchanges with audience, participants, witnesses, and observers. This way, performance can be transformative with intercultural experiences. We acknowledge decolonizing processes as a means to reclaim personal narratives and histories authentically; and to co-exist more holistically.
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