Nicole Klaymoon

A person singing in the middle of a circle of people dancing on the floor around them.

California
Performance/Choreography/Dance
Artist in Residence, 2015
↗ www.embodimentproject.org

Artist Statement

In my analysis of the ways that dance can ‘speak’ and language can ’move’, I have learned that bodies are walking vessels of history. I draw not only from the physicality of each dancer, but also the complexity of his/her identity and the invisible stories that their bodies carry. My work uses urban dance traditions (i.e., popping, waacking, classic hip-hop, house, and bgirling/bboying), places them squarely in the context of concert dance, and subverts traditionally masculine modalities by exploring trauma, healing, womanist histories, race, and gender role dissolution. My work is rooted in a reverence for hip-hop dance history, cultural preservation, and the forgotten struggles of African American and Latino hip-hop dance pioneers. The core questions driving my work are: How can personal narrative be used to humanize broader political issues? What does it mean to give urban dance a feminine orientation while still honoring the masculine structures from which it originated?

While At Headlands

My time at the Headlands has been used to write, research, facilitate interviews, and develop the choreography for an interdisciplinary production called “Chalk Outlines” (working title). “Chalk Outlines” interweaves dance, poetry, live song, and documentary theater to respond to the Black Lives Matter Movement. The piece is a dedication in loving memory of Michael Brown, Trayvon Martin, Oscar Grant, Eric Garner and the many other African American men who have unjustly lost their lives due to police brutality.