Embodying an Expansive Sociality

Johnson writes about breaking (popularly known as breakdancing) and the foundational aesthetic elements that fuel it as a global phenomenon. The larger work examines the ritual dance circle (called the cypher) and argues for the epistemological force of Hip Hop’s Africanist aesthetics – aesthetic sensibilities evident in cultural practices throughout the African diaspora like call and response, the imperative toward originality, the dance circle itself. With excerpts from her monograph, this talk focuses on b-girls (and particularly Afro-Dutch b-girl Black Pearl), and the expansive sociality that the practice fosters by way of these same aesthetics. It explores how cyphers both attune practitioners to the “other” – in the circle with them or simply within themselves – and allow them to embody ideas of collective action across multiple lines of difference, (e.g., gender, nationality, race, and generation). Through a process of dancing the song together, breakers embody philosophies of collective enactments across differences, offering insight into ideas of coalition building central to progressive political movements.

This event will take place online. Please register via the following link: https://uni-frankfurt.zoom-x.de/meeting/register/u5crduCtpjktE9QSx4zd7VE...