Revealing Black Dance/Re-Imagining Art: The African American Dance Company and Visual Art as Forms of Agency, Knowledge Production and Resistanc

Blacks in the diaspora utilize visual and performing art forms to counter hegemonic representations of their identities and to correct Eurocentric misrepresentations of their histories and cultures. In doing so, black artistic expression is often resistive and also an important form of knowledge production and agency for blacks in the diaspora. Black Studies programs are able to further facilitate this creative expression through various forms of research and pedagogy in order for us to find new ways to articulate the myriad of lived experiences of black individuals. Through a thematic analysis of eight choreographies of the African American Dance Company and a creative autoethnographic approach that includes the creation of eight paintings inspired by the company's choreographies that were displayed in an art exhibition, this research explores notions of blackness, resistance, agency and knowledge production in black dance and visual art forms. An analysis of an anonymous questionnaire and dance performance from the art exhibition are also used to further articulate the forms of resistance, agency and knowledge production that are possible when art forms are combined to produce or imagine various meanings of identity for marginalized peoples.