MAKE READY AGAIN Comes to Journey Arts

On December 5, 6, 7, Journey Arts will present Make Ready Again, an original work by dancer Marguerite Hemmings.

Held at Theatre Exile at 1340 S. 13th Street in Philadelphia, Make Ready Again features Jamaican-American dancer Marguerite Hemmings (they/she) and musicians from Omar's Hat, a West Philadelphia music collective known for free flowing jam sessions, and plus four incredible local musicians T' Wom, Jonill, Lee Clarke, and Daniel Woods. The show is an evening of dance, storytelling, and music grappling with an unanswered call for reparations and repair for herself and the African Diaspora.

Marguerite performs a live process of meeting their own diaspora-shaped shadow, who invites them to unravel, rage, and grieve. Seeking answers at first, Marguerite comes up empty, but ready.

“My practice of repair and reparation for the past few years has been through shadow work,” says Marguerite Hemmings. “The shadow is understood mostly as the most marginalized parts of ourselves, and with Make Ready Again, I'm trying to encounter and sit with this shadow, through the subconscious languages of movement, music, writing, and dreaming, in hopes to find a readiness, within, to meet this moment, meet you, and meet myself.”

Hemmings specializes in emergent, improvisational and social movement styles and technologies. Hemmings has worked at University of the Arts in the School of Dance, Arizona State University, Princeton University, and many afterschool programs and community centers.

This fall, Journey Arts announced its new name and new branding. Now in its 22nd season, the intentionally nomadic performing arts presenter is committed to showcasing more ambitious and complex productions, expanding funding opportunities, and increasing support for artistic development. This season's diverse lineup of performers will navigate the complexities of love, grief, life's transitions, and the power of collective memory.

This season continues with Eight Eight Time on April 3, 4, and 5 at Drexel University and Table Sessions on June 11 and 12 at 7 p.m. at Bartram's Garden.

“I'm so inspired by the artistic rigor of the artists we're working with this season at Journey Arts – the perfect underscore to our recommitment to making art that brings new, intimate perspective to epic, timeless questions,” says Artistic Director Marla Burkholder. “Marguerite and these musicians have prepared a one-of-a-kind performance that you don't want to miss.”

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