Letter to Obama at Busboys & Poets

Now I had never choreographed a solo piece for myself professionally. Other than solos for two dancers of mine (one for the annual high school dance concert, another for an audition to get into a college dance program) the only other time I'd choreographed solos was back in undergrad at UMD (for Choreography I).

Anyway, I was actually approached to create a piece for this event from Holly Bass, the host, and turned it down, but this was when the event was originally scheduled to happen in January.

The universe has a funny way of making things work out, sometimes.

For whatever reason, Letter to Obama, a collaborative piece of artistic citizenship developed and executed by Liz Andrews, was rescheduled. I was asked again, and I said yes.

The thought for my work was to create a piece of movement to Obama's spoken word.  And as the day drew closer, I was drawn more and more to Will.I.Am's Yes We Can.  It was a process unlike any I had done before in creating a dance, which was refreshing.  I didn't sweat the details, and while it told a story, it was still wide open to interpretation.

Part of the journey, was revealed as I literally revealed layers.  I started out the piece in a graduation gown, which when removed showed a shirt saying Filipino American (a bit of swag I got from the tour of The Debut), and under this was simply a navy blue sleeveless shirt that had U.S.A. on it.

Before the reveal of the second shirt, I actually turn around holding one of many Washington Post issues that I saved from Obama's first hundred days or so (including the 100 Days one).  The one I held up was the Outlook section from November 30, 2008, with the two headliners, I'm Not Post-Racial and He's Not Black. It spoke to my own identity and path growing up as a mixed person.

Anyway, this article was the first of many Washington Post pieces from mostly early 2009, post-inauguration, I share in the piece.  But why?

I don't know, honestly...it just felt right, the sharing of information, the reminder of what the news was barely two years ago, and inadvertently the feelings we had at such a historic time.  I can't even really tell you what the audience got from it, or from the rest of the dance...but from the look in their eyes as I scanned the room at the end of the solo, making sure to make eye contact, with a hopeful smile on my face, with each person...well I just knew that everyone got something.

And I, through the invitation of Liz Andrews and Holly Bass, got to do something artistically that I couldn't have imagined on my own.  That is one of the reasons I love living in DC, as an artist, and particularly a performer.  The possibilities are numerous, and they will surprise you. :-)

- J Street Jr


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