"So, there is no ME but...DANCE, my VOICE, my WORDS, my STORY."

Hot summer days and warm nights pass by so quickly. You stop for a second and realize how much time has passed and wonder what you have done. What have you changed? What has changed in you? As the days roll by and the nights come and go in a flash, we dance, we write, we raise our voices, we act out our dreams and put pen to paper to conquer our deepest fears. We have been busy creating and recreating ourselves. But…sometimes it gets hard when you can’t find the words or your body won’t move the way you want it to. Sometimes it gets even harder when we can’t communicate with each other but want so desperately to be heard. Do you feel us? Do you know what we mean? Perhaps you have been there before? But, we keep pushing forward. Step into our world for a minute...



Hidden in Plain Sight

I notice a lot of people never notice me
I’m too silent and reserved
I don’t talk loud enough
I don’t walk slow enough
I don’t
I don’t
That’s all I hear
You don’t try, you don’t kiss, you won’t have sex, you won’t hold my hand
I always felt like an outcast
I never did anything right
I never kept my hair up
I never kept my nails done
I bit my nails
I can’t do my own hair
I’m not materialistic
I never knew to cross my legs when I sat
Hey, I didn’t even know that you were only supposed to wear black panties under white
All of these things were supposed to take away from my womanhood
But it didn’t
I am a woman
-Giselle



If not dance, then what?
If not me, then who?
Why would I smile?
When would I live?
Where would I shine?
If not me then who? who? who?

Searching for that forgotten feeling
that lost memory
that promise of forever
the chance to fill that bliss that love brings
white, blue, green
something borrowed: my body
something blue: the color of love
reaching a mutual understanding of life
something old: my soul
something new: me
--Br-yee




A young lady looking for dance trying to keep it near her heart
Trying to graduate from a young lady into a proud woman of happiness
Hoping to shy away from shyness and speak out so I can be heard
Keeping me and my family proud of me seems to be my main goal
And knowing that I will exceed it makes me feel good
To know that all that aside
I am just a girl trying to be a good woman
--Rijke

Web Aesthetics

We are working with our unbelievably talented web designer, Korey, (big ups!) putting our site together. It is taking longer than we expected, but it is all good because: 1) Korey is pushing us to learn from him so we can maintain the site and update it on our own 2) We are creating a “not your average site” type site that is really stretching our creativity and understanding of what is possible (both technologically and artistically). 3) We want our site to have our distinctive, unique, unable to be copied or replicated flavor all over it.

As Korey says, “The BlackLight aesthetic can’t be rushed.”

Never Enuf

ever since i realized there waz someone callt
a colored girl an evil woman a bitch or a nag
i been tryin not to be that & leave bitterness
in somebody else's cup/ come to somebody to love me
without deep & nasty smellin scald from lye or bein
left screamin in a street fulla lunatics/ whisperin
slut bitch bitch nigga/ get outta here wit alla that/
i didn't have any of that for you/i brought you what joy
i found & i found joy/

lady in orange, Ntozake Shange

Last Friday we saw Ntozake Shange's "For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide When the Rainbow is Enuf".

We have been transported, inspired and touched -- divinely. Words whispered in our ears, hit us in the face, snuck around our backs and sat defiantly on our shoulders. Shange's words, brought to life by the seven mesmerizing women who were the ladies in brown, orange, yellow, red, blue, green and purple, held us hostage and demanded we respond. The set was minimal, streamlined lighting and spare costumes. Shange's words and the women's emotion didn't need to be embellished. The stories carried themselves. It took us a minute to come back to our every day public selves when the play ended. When an artist moves you to places in yourself you have forgotten about or been denying for so long, it can sometimes take a minute to come to. If you have not seen or heard of this play or Ntozake Shange you must find out who she is and read something she's written. NOW!


I really enjoyed the play and the actresses were beyond what I ever expected. I was inspired. I wanted to dance. I thought of spoken word. I thought of art. It was educational and still relevant to black females today. I would definitely see it again. The lady in green seemed to be me when I closed my eyes -- her voice and her style.
--Giselle

**************************


The play was not what I expected but I wouldn't change it. It was the best play I've EVER seen and I wish more people had the chance to see it. Words really can't sum up how I felt.

I could feel the woman in red's pain. The actor really brought her character to life and made you feel like you were sitting there when the tragedy happened. I also liked the fact that everything else was kept simple to make you focus on the story and actors. The music interludes came at just the right time and set just the right tone. What I would take from this in creating my own play would be that things don't have to always be flashy and fake happy for it to be a good or entertaining show. It is also important to be committed to your character and the story you are telling.

A passage I really related to:

& she never looked back to smile
or acknowledge a sincere 'hey mama'
or to meet the eyes of someone
purposely findin somethin to do in her direction

all girls and women can relate to this because every time you go out in the street someone is calling your name or trying to get your attention -- especially men who know they are too old for you.
--Rijke

***************************

I really liked the fact that every person in the play was a necessary part of the production. The energy was high and everyone was lost in their character. I think the ladies really brought the words to life. I read the book the day before and really FELT them during the play. I realize that even though the book was written so many years before I was born those words still serve a purpose today. I really and truly can say I connected to every story. I felt their joy, sorrow and pain. I give this two thumbs up, ten stars and a huge thank you!

this passage is me:

/especially cuz i can make the music loud enuf/ so there is no me but dance/ & when
i can dance like that/ there's nothin cd hurt me/ but i get tired & i haveta come offa the floor

--Br-yee

Thank You, Ntozake Shange!

Tell us about your favorite story, play, song, sculpture, movie, photograph, moment, person.



What moves you?
What makes you not know whether to laugh or cry?
What is your art?
What sustains and inspires you?


Strength & Love,

BlackLight

Ya Heard?

For the remaining three Tuesdays in the month of July BlackLight will be participating in (drum roll, please)...

Discussing Differences - A Dialogue for Detroit's Future

These discussions came out of a collaboration between Detroit Synergy and The Michigan Roundtable for Diversity & Inclusion (MRDI). We will be talking/working on breaking down racial and social barriers among metro Detroiters.

Of course, we'll let you know what we learn, teach, and move towards.

Oh, and a big ps...

We are up on the University of Michigan's Detroit Center website! Take a look in the Projects tab under UM Partners.

We love you, DETROIT!

Don't Miss...

If you are in the Detroit area on July 19th, hit up Cross Movement Records' HISTORY TOUR '07 hosted by ValorJam.

The concert features some amazing hip hop artists focused on the positive and uplift such as: DATRUTH, FLAME, & TADASHI. We met Shawn Williams, the executive program director of Valor Jam, a couple of weeks ago at the hip hop panel in Ypsi. He is doing great things in the community so come show your support.

You'll see BlackLight in the crowd - head bouncin'