by Mira Varghese

Dancers and dance appreciators came together to explore how notions of citizenship, legacy and scholarship are expressed through art during the three-day BlackLight Summit, which featured a range of keynote speakers, panel discussions and performance events. 

Each day of the summit, which lasted from Thursday to Saturday and was presented by the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, revolved around either citizenship, legacy or scholarship and included a keynote speech, a movement workshop, breakout discussions and a performance by featured artists. 

Tariq O’Meally, a guest curator at the Clarice and a local artist, was the creator, producer and curator of the summit. He said the event was intended to be a safe space for minority artists. 

“The summit is really there to create a viable, alternative, sustainable option for Black, indigenous, people of color who are within the dance field to present or share the work that they’re doing, creatively,” O’Meally said. 

The summit offered attendees a wide range of activities and events, tailored to different interests and goals.

The first day was centered on the meaning of legacy. During a breakout discussion in the afternoon, artists, event curators and attendees reflected on the day’s events and unpacked how legacies are created.

The day finished with the opening night of the Keep the Light on Performance Series, during which artists Carlos Antonio Villanueva and Shanice Mason presented their digital works, two short dance films. 

Villanueva performed improvised choreography while his friend, a fellow artist, told a childhood story. Villanueva called the piece “mutual luciding.”

In her film, “CROWNING,” Mason performed a depiction of her grandmother’s process of getting ready to attend church on Sundays.

“In terms of this film and this process, [I really wanted to] get a sense of what my grandmother may have felt when putting on that suit, that hat,” Mason said. “Is she doing it for herself or is she doing it for others, did she do it to feel validated, did she do it to be seen on that one day of the week?”

The summit’s second day explored citizenship. Keynote speaker Gaynell Sherrod, an associate professor of dance and choreography at Virginia Commonwealth University, delivered a poetic oration, recounting African Americans’ and Native Americans’ contributions to American culture and society. 

Sherrod also explored some of her own struggles with the idea of citizenship. Part of her speech was dedicated to sharing how her father fought for the U.S. in World War II. However, upon his return home, he was not treated as a citizen because of the color of his skin, she said. For Sherrod, telling her father’s and ancestors’ stories was essential to exploring her own citizenship.

“I also see legacy, especially my own personal legacy, as being intertwined with citizenship, or the ability to be a citizen that was put in place by the people that are part of my legacy. Without their work, without them being here and doing what they did, I would not be a citizen,” she said. 

The summit’s final day was dedicated to scholarship and the day’s discussion panel featured professors from arts schools across the country

The BlackLight Summit ended  with four stories of darkness and liberation from four different artists. 

Each of the summit’s events were designed to meet O’Meally’s goals of providing artists with a platform and forging an atmosphere of vulnerability and progression. 

“The goal of this was to just create … a space that is full of courage and compassion and grace, and one in which people can be vulnerable enough to be in a space of not knowing. But also being in the space of learning within that, so really just trying to make space for others and creating platforms that I think are needed and valuable,” he said.

For Lauren Brown, who attended the summit, it was a chance to connect and communicate with others in the dance community. 

“This summit is an opportunity to speak with and interface with creatives and dancers in my community,” she said. “To share stories, opinions, and musings. And to be seen in a time that can feel so isolating, especially as a dancer and someone who’s generally in close proximity with others.”