Good People,
Meet The Era, a new documentary by Wills Glasspiegel, we meet a group of talented young people determined to preserve and push footwork culture forward in Chicago and beyond.
Footwork is much more than dance. It is where dance and music flow into one another. The talented dancers in The Era collective seek to interpret and express music as well as the dancers’ own emotions.
As Bulb, one of the dancers puts it, the driving force behind The Era’s vision is “dance and music together,” giving context and meaning to footwork by bringing dance and black dancers into the foreground.
“We want to put the message out there that black dance matters, black dancers matter, footworkers matter,” Bulb explains to Thump. “Why say it? Because we are marginalized. Layers of marginalisation. Dance is marginalised in the art and in the music world. Black dance is marginalized in the dance world. Footwork is marginalised in the black world—it’s not upper class. Not about money. It’s not created by a university, or a gallery, or by the mayor’s office. It’s a do-it-yourself thing.”
The Era is also asking and answering questions about dance around the world: How to push the limits of the craft, how to show the world that their dance is as meaningful as the music is, how to show the world that black dance culture matters.
This is an important documentary for black dancers the world over.
For more information, visit Thump.
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Image courtesy of Thump
