Works & Process LaunchPAD Presents PROCESS AS DESTINATION Ladies Of Hip-Hop: Black Dancing Bodies

To support and facilitate the much-needed exchange of inspiration and the transference of knowledge between generations of Ladies of Hip Hop, in January 2021 within the safety of a Works & Process bubble residency at Bethany Arts Community, a group of eleven major practitioners gathered, including dance elders (ages 50-60), innovators (ages 33-49), and young celebrants (ages 20-32).

Led by Executive Director Michele Byrd-McPhee, this intersectional project incubated and captured the knowledge, beauty, and power of Black female street dancers and resulted in a, rare for the time, indoor video performance, commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim, and co-produced by Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Emerging from the pandemic, and as the Ladies of Hip-Hop look beyond the traditional lens of exposure for Black bodies in dance, which has overwhelmingly focused on Eurocentric dance aesthetics including modern, contemporary, and ballet, Works & Process and Bethany Arts Community continue to commission the project. As Ladies of Hip-Hop reconvene they will create a concert dance piece which will be featured in a series of events that will preserve and celebrate the beauty, strength, and lived experiences of Black women in street dance.

Works & Process LaunchPAD "Process as Destination"

Bethany Arts Community, Ossining, NY

March 15-25 Residency

March 19, 8pm Show-and-Tell

For more information, visit bethanyarts.org

Ladies of Hip-Hop Dance Collective is supported by the 2021-2022 Choreographers in Residence Program at County Prep High School in Jersey City, New Jersey. For more information, visit countyprepdance.org.

Ladies of Hip Hop is a nonprofit organization that provides artistic opportunities for girls & women in Hip-Hop culture. Through female-powered workshops, performances, public talks, and professional development training, LOHH is educating and cultivating Hip-Hop's next generation of female leaders. Ladies of Hip-Hop has been a driving force in the empowerment of girls & women in Hip-Hop. LOHH began as a training ground for female Hip-Hop dancers looking for a different perspective of the dance. It quickly grew from a day of dance workshops to a week-long international festival including female DJs, Mcees, graffiti & visual artists from around the world. LOHH has built an international tribe of girls and women supporting each other.