What makes Movin’ Legacy unique?

Movin’ Legacy is an archiving organization that is dedicated to the promotion of African and African diaspora systems of dance, regarding dance as an institution that preserves histories and safeguards culture’s evolution.

What led to the creation of Movin’ Legacy and who does it serve?

In philosophical studies of
performative structures,
European and non-Black forms
have historically been prioritized
—and given intellectual
importance and prominence.

Non-Black performative structures have been deemed less
amenable to situational interpretation, and for centuries, this
philosophy has been used to measure what is intelligible and
therefore regarded as human.

Prioritizing the presence of written letters over embodied meaning
is the foundation of such racist theory and implicit bias. Movin’
Legacy seeks to expand the conversation to reach beyond written
text to include an Africanist philosophical perspective of art –
expressed in how Black bodies claim space and dance through it
to communicate and uphold cultural histories.

Globally, Black-identifying
people, immersed in Westernism,
often feel detached from their
own history that is not widely
honored, respected or
celebrated.

This makes it difficult to forge connections that provide
deeper understandings between both the authentic
self and the world. – and world where Western
scholars rarely address in depth studies of the African
arts pantheon, its rich history, and embodied
cosmology.

We need to take root in and revel in this history – and
memorialize it as it represents, resembles and
resonates with Black people. This information is widely
sought, yet there is a lack of available resources to
support the demand. African and African diasporic
culture is often embodied and safeguarded through
dance, and Movin’ Legacy seeks to cultivate a space
dedicated to the study, collection, and dissemination
of this art.

What can Movin’ Legacy do for communities?

Give people interested in studying
African and African diaspora culture a
definitive space for learning and
collaboration.

Encourage people to acknowledge,
value, and therefore celebrate
African and African diasporic
culture and contributions.

Perpetuate and nurture interest in
these arts and help facilitate the
future of African and African
diaspora dance.

What will be the future of Movin’ Legacy … 10 or 20 years from now?

We will develop into an international repository system for ongoing and ever-evolving research on
African and African-diaspora performative traditions. Our archive will be the leading hub for learning
and will flourish in the public domain, giving communities access to diverse African and African
diasporic histories.

Our institution will foster new perspectives and talent, offer research excursions to African countries,
and present festivals and seminars that celebrate and recognize both traditional and evolving forms
of Africanist dance arts.

How does Movin’ legacy address the current social climate?

We need to understand how Black voices have been amalgamated into
our societies, and the importance these voices serve within its very
infrastructure. Having an in-depth knowledge of these histories enables
us to accurately contextualize them as they relate to the creation and
influence of Africanist arts and culture. The systematic exclusion of Black
voices and their cultural contributions – both in the United States and
globally – has triggered a social tipping point.

Movin’ Legacy is in itself a protest against Western society’s omission of
African contributions to the global cultural sphere.

Movin’ Legacy embodies Black Lives Matter and its demand for equity
and justice. This struggle has persisted for centuries and has made its
mark throughout the various evolutions of African and African diasporic
dance legacy. These times call for a deeper knowledge and
understanding of Africanist perspectives, histories and culture, and our
organization is dedicated to making this information accessible.

Why does the world need an organization like Movin’ Legacy?

We need to amplify Black voices and find the connections between what was then, what is now, and
where we are going. We need to systemize these art structures so anyone can access them and
better understand their evolution and growth. This chrysalis, of sorts, does not exist—and that is not by
accident. African art philosophy has been suppressed for centuries to keep Black people docile and
subservient and to uphold caste hierarchies. Black art has been deemed unworthy of serious
exploration and study. But Movin’ Legacy proves this art can not only stand up, with great integrity, to
the closest of exegeses, but that its innovations and mythologies are worthy of being studied,
memorialized and celebrated as essential to the continuance of upward-reaching societies.

Equity, diversity and inclusion are words that have become commonplace in a system that seeks the
erasure of the contributions of Africa and its diaspora. Racist ideologies hold that African and African
diasporic cultures cannot sustain close and rigorous interrogation. The core aim of Movin’ Legacy is
to demonstrate the intellectual staying power and artful integrity that exist within global Africanist
philosophies. We seek to propel the system to finally recognize, uphold and honor the diversity of the
people who comprise the foundational mudsill of our society.