what is D UNDERBELLY?

An underground interdisciplinary network of artists of color,  D UNDERBELLY emerged circa 1996/7, initially as a performative forum for exploring the multi-layered dimensions of culture as it relates to societal notions of “blackness”. Invested in interdisciplinary experimentation through the excavation of ‘new work’ and communal exchange, D UNDERBELLY rigorously explores the ever-fluid relationship between music and movement; weaving text, multimedia elements and environmental configurations in order to encapsulate the complexities of the diaspora. Moving onto Brooklyn, Ny and cultivating connections in Chicago, Austin Tx, northern California and internationally, this network continues to evolve; embracing & interrelating with Latin, Asian and Native/Indigenous traditions and forms. This hybrid is rooted in the theatrical jazz aesthetic carried forward by theater artist & collaborator Sharon Bridgforth, Dr Omi Osun Joni L. Jones along with other acclaimed artists including Laurie Carlos, Helga Davis, Daniel Alexander Jones and Marlies Yearby.

At the CORE of this network currently are artists:
Barak adé Soleil
Francine Sheffield

PROJECTS include:
Out of Africa & Beyond
Un-slave diaries
Basking in Negritude
Vive La Intersections
Revolutionary Acts
Non Je Regrette Rien
Receding ’emories
Koool-aid Luv Odyssey
N This Hous
First Dark Drama
Childr’n of “O”
S’Kin Deep

CURATORIAL:
Studies N Black
Live Deep N Flow

To BE CONTINUED:
Water Moves the Soul
UN- rendered

ARTISTS within the network of D UNDERBELLY; those who have been a part of the development of a project since its inception in 1996/7*

Stefania Strowder

Christal N. Brown

Leean Johnson
Chanon Judson
Daniel Marcellus Givens
André Austvoll
Manelich Minnifee

From 1996 – 2010 D UNDERBELLY’s projects have been informed by this notion of liquid legacies:
the passing on of traditions through the body
the passing down of ancestral memories
the body becomes the container for this information
the body fills with the pain of slavery, the passion of love,
the struggles of the human spirit, the labor of identity
this passing on is liquid, thick, porous,
moving into the core of our muscles
utterly still and yet cascading over our hearts into the depths of our being
resounding in our inner ear made vocal through outer words
igniting our souls with legacies we know
legacies we don’t want to know
legacies we take on
D UNDERBELLY is an urban rite of RE-remembering:

a rite of embodying the dignity of a people
the memory of a nation
like song it propels us into states of ecstasy and fear
empowering us to truly bask
in the multiplicity of colors, emotions and
expressions
that have permeated our culture
these legacies are liquid because they continue
to flow through us
around us
up and down our spine
titillating our minds with thoughts of
FREEDOM!