I Am. We Are.
This thesis project is a series of immersive, pop-up performance installations situated in forested sites on Duke campus that activate new worlds and ways of being for Black femme to exist within. In this creative work, we move alongside southern Black girls as they explore their own grooves to initiate a collective reimagining of themselves. Tracing their own geographies, histories, and sense of care through conversation and movement, the group engages with the possibilities offered through their entanglements with the environment and each other.
Using 360-degree cameras, Juliet manifests these worlds as “groove realms” with blacklights, balloons, and other materials creating fantastical, otherworldly renderings of Black femme ecologies that the group interacts with over the span of several days. The pop-ups are live-streamed using virtual reality technology to immerse virtual audiences in these forested day and nighttime experiences and are available to view as recordings along with documentation of the process on the linked websites. Follow the development of the series through the summer of 2021 as it tours locations in North Carolina, South Carolina, and Georgia.
Presented by the Duke Dance Program and Juliet Irving in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Fine Arts in Dance in the Graduate School at Duke University.