Black Joy Methodology: Conversation with Stevie Walker-Webb & Dr. Shamell Bell

Date: 

Thursday, March 4, 2021, 6:30pm to 8:00pm

Location: 

Zoom

Join TDM Lecturer on Somatic Practice and Contemporary Global Performance Dr. Shamell Bell and Theater Director and Activist Stevie Walker-Webb in a conversation about the Black Joy Methodology, a radical approach to decolonizing the creative landscape by liberating the inherent free spirit within Black creatives.

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Please note that this event will be recorded for archival purposes.

ABOUT STEVIE WALKER WEBB

Stevie Walker-Webb is an Obie award winning Director, Writer, and Activist who believes in the transformational power of art. As a survivor of poverty and the associative violence that comes with growing up black and poor in America, he’s knows how liberating and necessary it is to invent.  He is a co-founder and Executive Director of HUNDREDSofTHOUSANDS an arts and advocacy non-profit that makes visual the suffering and inhumane treatment of incarcerated mentally ill people and the policies that adversely impact their lives.  He is a recipient of the Princess Grace Award for Theatre, The Lily Award in honor of Lorraine Hansberry awarded by the Dramatists Guild of America, a 2050 Fellow at New York Theatre Workshop and a Wellspring Scholar.  He’s served as the Founding Artistic Director of the Jubilee Theatre in Waco, Texas and has created art and Theatre in Madagascar, South Africa, Mexico, Mississippi, and across America. He’s worked as the Outreach Coordinator for Theatre of the Oppressed-NYC and holds an MFA from The New School, and a B.S. in Sociology from the University of North Texas. His work has been produced by: The Public Theatre, The New Group, American Civil Liberties Union, Cherry Lane, New York University, Zara Aina, La Mama, The New Group, Wooly Mammoth, and Baltimore Center Stage. For more information about Stevie visit steviewalkerwebb.com 

ABOUT DR. SHsmiling womanAMELL BELL

Dr. Shamell Bell is a mother, community organizer, dancer/choreographer, and documentary filmmaker who received her PhD in Culture and Performance from UCLA’s World Arts and Cultures/Dance department. Dr. Bell is currently a lecturer of Somatic Practices and Global Performance at Harvard University and Lecturer of African and African American Studies at Dartmouth College. Bell received her M.A. in Ethnic Studies from UC San Diego and B.A. with Honors in American Studies and Ethnicity specializing in African American Studies at the University of Southern California.

Her work on what she calls, "street dance activism" situates street dance as grassroots political action from her perspectives as a dancer, choreographer, healer, and scholar. Shamell’s research examines street dance movements in South Central Los Angeles through an ethnographic and performance studies lens.  Her dissertation project "Living is Resisting: An Autoethnography and Oral History of Street Dance Activism in South Central Los Angeles" is a hybrid of written text and film. Each genre reveals different aspects of the transformative processes that can turn “choreographies of the oppressed” into “choreographies of the liberated.” With direct immersion in contemporary street dance forms from South Central Los Angeles, her work offers an autoethnographic overview of how she developed concepts and practices from her own experiences as a dancer, choreographer, and community organizer. It also provides glimpses of dance in particular social-justice performance events, transcending pathologizing narratives of “gangs” while permitting people in South Central to speak for themselves about their use of street dance and social media as tools to contest detrimental forces in their community and the dominant paradigms shaping their identities. The purpose of the film is to provide visual material and first-hand accounts that weave through, and are inspired by, the written portion of the dissertation. Her street dance experience includes featured roles in music videos, award shows, and tours.

An original member of the #blacklivesmatter movement, beginning as a core organizer with Justice 4 Trayvon Martin Los Angeles (J4TMLA)/Black Lives Matter Los Angeles to what she now describes as an Arts & Culture liaison between several social justice organizations. Dr. Bell serves on the advisory board of several social justice organizations and also consults for social justice impact in the tv, film, theater and music industry with credits such as “community engagement consultant” for George Tillman Jr.'s film adaptation of Angie Thomas' best selling book,  "The Hate U Give".

She often teaches alongside her 9 year old son, Seijani, who focuses on meditation and mindfulness. They were featured in the rapper Common’s supergroup, August Greene’s promo campaign for their first single, “Be Optimistic”. She and her son also serve as Radical Joy Advisors to "Contra Tiempo," a role created by the Urban Latin Dance Theater Company with a focus on healing, socially astute performance and community engagement. She is currently the social impact director for "The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist," a collaboration between librettist Vievee Francis, visual artist Enrico Riley and composer Jonathan Berger. Street Dance Activism recently released a Global Dance Meditation for Black Liberation as a global collective working together to heal, empower, & embody liberation!

Persons with disabilities are encouraged to participate. If you anticipate needing any type of accommodation, please contact Theater, Dance & Media at tdm[at]fas.harvard.edu.

See also: Free, Talk