The Media Does Not Define Us!

Scandalous!  

We are not our Mayor. We are not Defined by the Media...

You may think you know what our life is like. What our struggles are

You see all the negativity and go, "those poor girls."

"Hey...did you see what happened in Detroit last night?"

"Yeah, I saw that on the news"

But that is what's wrong with our city. People are more concerned with what the mayor is doing while these children are falling through the cracks.

Yes. Detroit may not the best place to be, but who cares? 

It takes so much energy to focus on the negative that no one has time to see the positive. 

For the sake of my sanity, I choose to take something negative and turn it into something positive.

The news is nothing more than a ratings war.

So stop judging my city by what you see on t.v.

Come see what's going on here for yourself

Youth are getting involved in the community, and that's just the beginning.

See, what you don't realize is what we are going through only makes us stronger.

Go ahead. Try to destroy us. Try to hold us back. 

It's only fuel for us to teach from experience, lead by example.

Maybe you could do me a favor...

Put down the remote and help restore a sense of self and pride back into the youth of tomorrow, like people in Detroit try to do on a day to day basis.

"Wow, did you see that on t.v.?"

-Toddra (March 2008)

Well, hello!

Yes. We know...it has been more than a minute. But, I guess, you could say we are so busy DOING we haven't had time to document what we are doing - to spread the word to all of you. Basically, just so caught up it was hard to find a minute to write.
What's New?

We received a 5K grant from the University of Michigan's Arts on Earth Program! This money will support our work on the Detroit Narratives Project. For Detroit Narratives we are interviewing Detroiters of all ages, backgrounds, colors, beliefs, and experiences to find out what it means to be a Detroiter - in all of the wonderful and diverse ways it can be thought of and expressed. We are then going to take the transcripts from these interviews and translate them into MOVEMENT, SONG, PHOTOS, and ARTWORK. Yeah, WOW! We have already interviewed over 20 people. We'll keep you posted cause more than likely we'll be calling on you for input in the very near future.

We are teaching ballet at the Boll Family YMCA in downtown Detroit on Saturdays. These amazing little ones have REALLY forced us to up our game when it comes to developing new movement, keeping our energy up and finding creative ways to keep them engaged. You should see us by the end of the day Saturday - tore up from the floor up - after 3 back to back classes. But you know what they say - spread the love, spread the talent and watch the world change. Or, maybe BlackLight just made that one up.



One more thing. BlackLight will be holding a week-long workshop series this summer at the YMCA. Come and be a part of the Light! We'll get back to you with exact dates soon.