"When the dream was slaughtered and all that love and labor seemed to have come to nothing, we scattered... We knew where we had been, what we tried to do, who had cracked, gone mad, died, or been murdered around us... Not everything is lost. Responsibility cannot be lost, it can only be abdicated. If one refuses abdication, one begins again." –James Baldwin

About the Event

An esteemed panel of arts practitioners, scholars and thought leaders reckons with risk and necessity being essential components in activating the transformation of failing systems. During such unprecedented times, what will we risk in order to create again?

Refreshments and light fare will be available at this event.

Panelists:

Nehprii Amenii
Dael Orlandersmith
KenYatta Rogers
E. Gaynell Sherrod
La Marr Jurelle Bruce, Moderator

This event is presented in collaboration with the Fearless New Play Festival presented by the UMD School of Theatre, Dance, and Performance Studies.

About the BlackLight Summit

This event is part of the BlackLight Summit. We need some R&R! Not rest & relaxation, but risk and regeneration. Perhaps even rage & repair. There is no returning to what came before, so how can we fall into new possibilities, realities and ways of being? For this next season, how do we hold that "if no one goes first, how can anyone follow?" BlackLight 2023 is taking the leap into risking wrong, risking right, risking being loved and seen. In order to take these steps, how are we recovering and regenerating? We have lost so much. How can we find who we are and who we want to be? Join us for some much needed R&R.

Through three days of groundbreaking dance performances, inspiring keynote speeches, energizing movement workshops and intimate panel discussions, The Clarice’s BlackLight Summit aims to activate the unimagined possibilities in dance. It is a convening that envisions dance as a conduit to galvanize resilience and inventiveness, and in 2023 offers a combination of free and Pay What You Wish in-person events and free livestream events. Throughout the 2022–23 season, the BlackLight Summit will continue to foster community connection by facilitating a series of mentoring and professional development opportunities, conversations and performances.