Make a Joyful Noise: Grandmother Ascension
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Inside the Creation Stories of Dancing Mother
Make A Joyful Noise: Grandmother Ascension
by Mother Mother Binahkaye Joy
Hours before the first public space activation of the Open Studio, my mother called to tell me that her mother had transitioned. For a moment I thought to postpone the Open Studio that had been weeks in the making. But then I heard my grandmother’s spirit encouraging me to go on and dance. Make a Joyful Noise: Grandmother Ascension is a piece of the movements captured after the lovely sistermamas that had joined me for the Open Studio left the playground. I had chosen the playground for our movement lab because it was a beautifully warm, fall day, and the kiddos could have ample space to run and play while we did our practice.
As I danced with myself, with my shadows, with my breath, I chased the sunlight of the fading day, a tender movement metaphor for the dances I did on the day my grandmother crossed over to the other side. These are movements of gratitude, of love, of grief, of gravity, of communion, of celebration. It is also a dance of continuity, as my daughters join me in the space to honor their great-grandmother’s life with the dance too.
This emerging constellation includes photo stills from the movements, a video collage of movements that day, a quiet read of me reflecting on the movements (audio), and the same quiet read with movement loop (audio + film). Make a Joyful Noise: Grandmother Ascension is a part of a future performance portal and will expand softly with space and time.
