TRANSCEND, UPLIFTING THIER VOICES Takes Flight July 14

Katharine Pettit Creative - KPC is partnering with the Black Mental Health Alliance to curate a virtual dance centered concert, "Transcend, Uplifting Their Voices", that will center Black Trans, Non Gender Conforming, and Queer Artists Wednesday July 14th, 2021, 6PM.

The collaboration celebrates Black Trans, Non Gender Conforming, and Queer Youth through dance, discussion, and poetry, offering three Black Trans Mental Health Scholarships for young artists pursuing a career in dance.

Katharine Pettit Creative-KPC spotlights social injustices using dance as a universal language, changing minds by opening hearts through movement. Black Mental Health Alliance develops, promotes, and sponsors trusted culturally-relevant educational forums, trainings, and referral services that support the health and well being of Black people and their communities.

We are collaborating with multiple organizations including the International Association of Blacks in Dance and Black LGBT+ led dance companies and independent artists.

"Transcend, Uplifting Their Voices" is free in order to elevate inclusiveness of all communities and introduce various genres of dance to the cross -section of people that will attend.

The target audience are Black and Brown LGBTQ young people who need to see themselves in the spotlight, witness their experiences through movement, and hear from trailblazers in the dance world that have been where they are now.

The extraordinary lineup of collaborating artists include Pretty Big Movement @PrettyBigMovement (plus sized dance company led by powerhouse Akira Armstrong), Maxfield Haynes @itsmaxfield (nonbinary Ballet dancer with Complexions and Guggenheim works in process), Zaman of Zamandari and Taranng Dance Troupe @zaman_aka_sundari (1st Indo-Caribbean Guyanese LGBT+ choreographer in NYC), Kemar Jewel @Kemar_Jewel (Vogue 4 #BlackLivesMatter), Carolyn Dorfman Dance @cdorfmandance (renowned dance company founded by child of Holocaust survivors) and Okwae A. Miller @okwaemiller (Atlanta based activist & artist).

The BMHA has an awesome group of young poets, "Dewmore, Be More", that will be sharing their poetry, rap, & songs in between dance pieces during this two hour event. We've also curated a panel of dance educators & creators (Maxfield Haynes, Kemar Jewel & Okwae Miller) to offer context for the audience and artists as they aim to decolonize dance through discussion and a moderated Q&A as an intermission between dance acts one and two.

"Transcend, Uplifting Their Voices" initiative offers audience & artists the chance to work towards racial equity by dismantling systemic racism through the decolonization of dance.

This is the first annual concert event to center and elevate the Black LGBTQIA community through dance, discussion and poetry!

Every donation will go towards successfully creating the "Transcend" concert event and scholarship initiative.

This event will be live-streamed on Katharine Pettit Creative's Facebook, website, YouTube, and on Eventbrite.