Photos: 651 ARTS Launches Fall 2023 Season with the Premiere of DELIRIOUS Dances/Edisa Weeks' 3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness

651 ARTS - Brooklyn’s premier institution for the African Diasporic performing arts - will launch its Fall 2023 Season with DELIRIOUS Dances/Edisa Weeks’ epic performance trilogy 3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness. See photos from inside the rehearsal room below!

Conceived by the renowned Brooklyn-based choreographer, educator and multimedia artist, the series is comprised of three different interactive performance rituals integrating dance, live music, text, visual installations, community discussions and shared meals to explore why life, liberty and happiness were included as unalienable rights in the United States’ Declaration of Independence. Each installment will center around what these rights mean today, who has access to them, and how they manifest in the body. 3 RITES will kick-off with 3 RITES: Life - marking the first time this work-in-process will be performed for the public - in September (September 14-17) followed by the world premieres of 3 RITES: Liberty in October (Oct. 12-15) and 3 RITES: Happiness in November (Nov. 16-18).

Produced by curator and Creative Producer Marýa Wethers 3 RITES seeks to reckon with America’s past, present and potential future and, in 3 RITES: Life, Weeks examines that future with an emphasis on responsible stewardship of nature, environmental activism in marginalized communities and questions the nation’s dependency on fossil fuels. Intended to be an intimate gathering, Life begins in The Greenroom - an interactive educational space where the audience can participate in a host of activities promoting environmental awareness and advocacy including coloring in a chalk mural depicting images and quotes by Black environmental activists as well as creative reuse workshops where they can make beads out of plastic straws or musical instruments out of discarded objects. From The Greenroom, the audience transitions to move through the Black Spirit Room and The Wasteland which will also both include dance performances. Visually resembling a mash-up of a DIY haunted house and Willy Wonka’s Chocolate Factory, these two spaces are performance installations made from plastic trash. 3 RITES: Life will take place at Chashama in Midtown Manhattan.

Set to premiere in October at the Mark O’Donnell Theater in Brooklyn, 3 RITES: Liberty addresses the past and present by humorously and poignantly digging into the pathologizing of African-Americans and the foundations and history of liberty in America. 3 RITES: Liberty begins with an installation of roots made out of paper and twine that hang from the ceiling to the floor. The audience moves through the maze of roots to eventually meet the Liberty character (played by Weeks) whose hair is braided to echo the Statue of Liberty’s crown and is connected via tie-lines and pulleys to objects that have informed the Black experience in America. Throughout the piece, Weeks alternates between black face, white face, storytelling and visceral dance. The Liberty rite examines the laws and specious psychological disorders that helped develop the biases, bigotry and racist structures that permeate American society. Following each performance will be a discussion about racial structures in America and what can be done to dismantle them featuring Restorative Justice Facilitator Nicole Lavonne Smith-Johnson. 

The final installment - 3 RITES: Happiness - will premiere at the historic Weeksville Heritage Center in November and will investigate how laughter and pleasure reside in the body. This rite is about self-care, and making time to relax, laugh and recharge for the labor to uphold the values of life, liberty and happiness. The piece will feature four DELIRIOUS dancers and commissioned music from Nathaniel Braddock to be played live by the Occidental Brothers Dance Band International. The rite begins with the Happiness Fête where the audience is invited to engage in a collective celebration of wellness and joy which includes portrait sketches, massages, fantastical and playful hair designs by Delirious Hair Designs and line dancing. In the spirit of meal sharing, a family-style cuisine will also be provided to patrons catered by Chef Lex and the Brownsville Community Culinary Center.

“In 3 RITES I’m seeking to reckon with America’s past, present and potential future, by engaging people in the ideals that are a core part of America’s foundation and generating a dialogue about what needs to be done to ensure these ideals apply to everyone,” said Weeks. “I am interested in bringing diverse groups of people together through dance, song, installations, storytelling, laughter, food and conversations. I truly believe that art revitalizes the everyday to reveal something new about ourselves; and that revelation has the power to change the world.”

"Conceived and created by visionary artist Edisa Weeks, 3 RITES: Life, Liberty, Happiness takes the audience on a journey through important issues affecting society today,” said Wethers.  “From participatory education about environmental (in)justice in Life; commenting on challenges to our freedoms and inspiring communal liberatory practices in Liberty; and uplifting the transformative power of collective joy in Happiness; the 3 RITES trilogy is a balm for our times." 

“For 35 years, 651 has been a champion and nurturer for artists. Not only do we take pride in being a platform for them to present their work, but we are also with them throughout the journey of that work,” said 651 ARTS’ Executive Director Toya Lillard. “651 has a longstanding relationship with Edisa and, with 3 RITES, it is so exciting to be able present the premiere of Liberty and Happiness and to witness Life being performed for the public for the first time. Artists like Edisa are the reason why we do what we do!”

3 RITES is produced by Marýa Wethers and commissioned and presented by 651 ARTS, with co-commissioners Billie Holiday Theater, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Mount Tremper Arts, and National Performance Network.

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