HEYWARD BRACEY

NANA

Nana is an acknowledgement and offering made to a primordial being – Nana Burukú. In Yoruba (Nigeria) cosmology she is the ancient mother and source of fresh water. She is also the mother of Ọbalúayé, the Òrìṣà who we consider the owner of the Earth. Ọbalúayé is associated with processes related to disease and the possibilities and pathways available to overcome or release illness an adversity. Our cosmology represents an organic process within which we seek balance and respect for our ancestors and the forces which make our lives possible.

Heyward Bracey - butoh dancer / movement activist – has worked and performed with a number of outstanding experimental dance collectives including Los Angeles Movement Arts and The School for the Movement of the Technicolor People – a North America based project addressing the histories and social realities surrounding black and queer bodies. He has collaborated with master butoh artist Katsura Kan in Los Angeles, New York and at the Seattle International Dance Festival. His solo "Stealing Skin 6" was presented at the Bare Bones Butoh Showcase in San Francisco, Pieter Performance Space in Los Angeles and the Convocatoria Dance Symposium in Mexico City.Heyward's interest in the body as a social/political/spiritual process has led to collaborations with Emily Mast in "The Least Important Things," presented in 2014 at the Los Angeles County Museum of Art and "The Cage is a Stage," presented presented in 2016 at University of Toronto Mississauga, the Harbourfront Centre Theater - Toronto, and the REDCAT (Roy and Edna Disney Cal Arts Theater) – Los Angeles. In 2018 Heyward presented "Thick Bones," a solo work exploring the relationship between butoh and the African Diaspora at the Kyoto International Butoh Festival. For the Hammer Museum's 2018 "Made in LA Exhibition" he collaborated with choreographer Taisha Paggett and the WXPT Dance Collective on a series of social justice oriented dance actions. Heyward's work explores the effects of colonialism upon diverse populations – as well as the intersections of butoh, indigenous cosmologies, the African Diaspora, the Pacific Basin Renaissance and street dance.

/ @hbchoreo /