♪♪ ♪♪ Bauman: I'm Maria Bauman, and I am a community organizer and a dance artist.

And I live in Brooklyn, New York, Lenapehoking.

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♪♪ The motto of my dance company is "Sweat your truth."

When I dance and when I perform, inevitably I'm drenched in sweat.

And I always think like, "Man, I gave you myself," you know, to the audience.

I feel like this came from inside of me, you know?

♪♪ ♪♪ And then there's that idea of sweating, like, "Oh, I sweat you" or so-and-so sweats somebody, meaning that they love them, that they're on them, that they're trying to be up around them, you know?

And so, for me, it's really important, this idea of loving up on our own truths.

The thing that we really want to get at is helping people have a sense of our own humanity and interconnectedness as a way to find out how to be together better.

My story of black folks, of queer folks, of trans folks, is about our wealth, is about our abundance, is about our imaginations, our labors, our joy.

One of the aspects of black wealth that I've really been intrigued by is mentorship.

It's a place that I feel really rich in my own life.

From Sharon Bridgforth to Jawole Zollar to Dr. William R. Jones to Nia Love, many, many amazing folks who kind of blow all around you, you know, at your back.

But just going, like, "Go, go, go, go, go."

And I'm so grateful.

And now I get to be part of that.

It's not lost on me that having an undergraduate degree in dance and a graduate degree in dance from the academy, I couldn't name three queer, let alone trans, artists of color.

And yet, from my experience outside of the Academy, I know tons, and thank God for queer and trans mentors who have helped me understand our lineage.

And so, I really wanted to offer that forward.

And so, I thought, "Oh, the opportunity to work with Ailey students," but in this kind of open-ended process, was a gift.

So, today, what I'm going to do...

These days, I'm up to really facilitating spaces where people get a sense of their own power, either through organizing to undo racism and/or doing that through our bodies.

Sometimes those things go like that.

Let's see, Dr. Jones.

Here we go.

So, we've got Jones' ethical perspectives, then "Black Theology: Malcolm and Martin."

Dr. Jones: If I had to make a comparison, Camus, to me, comes closer to Martin Luther King.

Sartre comes closer to Malcolm X. Bauman: This piece started around black wealth, and one of those kinds of black wealth that's been important to me is mentorship.

And that funneled down to thinking about a particular mentor of mine, Dr. William R. Jones.

Dr. Jones: If you read what Malcolm X says about any means necessary, and, again, that's grossly misunderstood but is determined in a contextual way by looking at what the oppressor himself or herself uses.

Back when I was 19 years old in Tallahassee at Florida State, Dr. Jones was one of my professors, and he was a black-liberation scholar, a theologian, a philosopher by trade.

And I took his class, "Theories and Dynamics of Racism and Oppression."

And his class had such an impact on me.

Dr. Jones: If you encounter...

So, this is that I disagree.

Dr. Jones: ...by Camus'... symbolic violence.

I think that's how he would do.

I kill one person and then stop.

What Sartre argues is that that approach doesn't change the institutional structure of oppression.

It is permissible to use the tactic of the oppressor up to the point where the oppressor uses that tactic himself or herself.

What's your point of view?

You know, are you pissed off by what he's saying?

Are you bored by it?

Are you excited?

Are you confused?

Dr. Jones: ...contextual way by looking at what the oppressor himself or herself uses.

It is permissible to use at least the same amount of force against the oppressor as the oppressor uses to keep people oppressed.

What about the feet?

Can the feet be a building point of contact?

...different kind of structure than what Camus is talking about.

Camus to me comes a little closer to Martin.

If I make a distinction, if I make a comparison... Bauman: This residency is super helpful in that I get to bring something...

I don't know that I want to say forward because the process isn't always linear, but, you know, move it.

We'll say that.

Move it in some direction, diagonally, backwards, maybe a little forward.

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