Let ‘im Move You: Intervention

jumatatu m. poe

Intervention is the third performance work created for jumatatu m. poe and Jermone Donte Beacham’s Let ‘im Move You series. Created in response to the artists’ experimentations with the J-Sette form, the series houses jumatatu and Jermone’s performance and visual art projects together.  J-Sette is a call-and-response dance form originated in the early 80’s by Black southern US majorette lines at various historically Black colleges. Leagues of Black queer men, prohibited from trying out as majorettes, would create competitive teams to practice the form in gay clubs and pride parades. Choreographic phrases are extremely set, confidential until they publicly premiere, and strategically “call”ed by a captain to be “respond”ed to by their squad. Searching for both satisfaction and subversion within relationship to J-Sette’s structure, jumatatu and Jermone create performance work that exists within a variety of settings. As the series grows, the performance continues to grow modularly alongside, most recently formatting itself into a densely populated procession performed on sidewalks and in alleyways in historically and/or predominantly Black neighborhoods. While the artists see performance as an opportunity to communicate across various cultural distinctions, they see their work as chiefly in conversation with other Black queer alien artists.

From Fusebox Let ‘im Move You: Intervention, from the performance series This is Formation, is born out of 10 years of research by dancer/choreographers  jumatatu m. poe and Jermone “Donte” Beacham into the J-Sette dance form, originally performed by Black southern US majorette lines at various historically Black colleges, and re-imagined by the artists for the club, the theatre, and the street. Come and witness their pop-up processions featuring national and local dancers, which highlight the history of Austin’s Rosewood neighborhood, and celebrate Black, queer identity. We’re proud to present this work in collaboration with The Carver Museum.