ABSTRACT
This chapter provides an autoethnographic analysis of the potential work of dance in society and culture during an important historical moment. Black dance in the United States always has been, and likely always will be, political. In a nation founded on race-based genocide and slavery excused by contradictory and hypocritical philosophical principals, black dance is part and parcel of the social and national imaginary. The chapter shows how identity politics, social change, and restorative justice are all important tenors of performance on and off stage and how black performance has historically been a major force in larger social movements. In Brooklyn, the year 2017 seemed to stir black dance artists who were sowing the seeds for new aesthetics rooted in the traditions and dialectics unpacked. The chapter highlights that the acts of not co-signing or not buying-in are different from other kinds of resistance or fighting or other forms of response to larger societal structures.
