♪♪ Welcome to ALL ART presentation of the 2022 "Artist in Residence" program.

I'm James King.

In July of 2021, artist Le'Andra LeSeur presented "There is No Movement Without Rhythm" at New York City's The Shed as part of their annual open-call gallery installation.

In this film representation of that work, you'll experience LeSeur's multi-channel video and performance piece.

Featuring dance, a choir performance, and more, this work demonstrates the important role played by rhythm as a source of transcendence.

We hope you enjoy.

♪♪ ♪♪ [ Mid-tempo jazz plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Liquid bubbling ] ♪♪ ♪♪ It is within us not to feel, but to be.

There is spirit there, lingering, longing, elevated caressing the bones so bent on moving that we allow ourselves to see what it's like to be keen, to be deemed as you, as you are, you, you, you.

You, the small touch of your skin layering.

It becomes felt again.

You become felt again.

There is no question.

There's only rhythm.

And we move, we move.

We move only to rhythm.

[ Soft, dramatic music plays ] ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Traffic passing in distance ] My name is Le'Andra LeSeur.

I am a human being first.

I'm an artist.

I am a proud, Black, femme queer.

I'm a caring and empathetic person.

I'm a lover of all things minimal.

I am a curious and forever-learning soul.

And I am continuously unraveling.

With this piece, I was really focused on Gnawa tradition, thinking about the Diaspora and really focusing on the different thread lines coming from Gnawa music.

In doing some research, I realized that all of these traditional ceremonies that were taking place were always led by men.

My work focuses on specifically who I am as a Black queer woman.

So I wanted to show the process and to think about this kind of pure and deliberate intention and refusal, and what does it look like when you come into a space where femme and nonbinary people are leading that space and really pushing this beautiful, tender love, care, and nurture into the work that you're experiencing in this space.

The space was important for it to be intimate, to think about how do we create intimacy in spaces that hold no heart.

It was really intentional to use those red lights in the space to activate the space in that way, where you really have to reflect on how you honor a life and how you connect with a life, so you become akin in learning, unlearning, and then relearning who we are, where we came from, where we're going.

[ Drum plays ] ♪♪ Hobbs: I am India Hobbs.

I'm a learning being.

I love to learn.

I'm a healer, and I'm also learning to heal.

I am passionate.

I'm reserved and very observant.

I think love is the catalyst of change and the reason we exist.

My work as a mover and a dancer is always experimental.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ The performance is the process.

Dance, for me, is a process, it's a journey.

I'm always learning.

I'm always exploring the limits or the nonlimits of what my body can do.

I think it's beautiful when the person who's observing what I am doing is moved by it, no matter how they feel.

I just -- I love that I can make someone feel something.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Water running ] LeSeur: I found you by the river, gasping for air.

You were squeezed and drowning, picking apart every single shell that landed in your lap.

How did you find it, that wave below your belt?

The rhythmic thump of water that pushes in between a blue that comes and goes, allowing for rest.

In the ebbs, you look up.

The light gathers you, re-collecting thoughts you once deemed free.

Those memories, the movement of beat, so pleasantly open a slow draw.

These are the very waters that were once occupied.

Yet how could water be so cold?

Beyond me.

It is not of me to move me yet.

I found you by the river, still, still.

Still in pieces, by the river.

[ Water continues running ] [ Water stops running ] The contributions of African-American music to the American musical landscape needs to be savored and celebrated, and through young people, the words, the lyrics that help them get over the difficult times.

We understand, through call and response, that you can actually change your brain and move yourself from victim to victors.

And that's what we do here at the Mama Foundation for the Arts, knowing that your current circumstances does not mean your destiny.

♪ Whether the wrath of ♪ ♪ The storm-tossed sea ♪ ♪ Or demons or men ♪ ♪ Or whatever it be ♪ ♪ No waters can swallow ♪ ♪ The ship where lies ♪ ♪ The Master of ocean ♪ ♪ And earth and skies ♪ ♪ They all shall ♪ ♪ Sweetly obey thy will ♪ ♪ Peace ♪ ♪ Peace, be still ♪ LeSeur: Movement is unbeknownst to me.

I am of rhythm.

I am of many things that move, but I am not movement.

I am still.

Just waiting for the journey to peak.

♪♪ Dodd: My name is Muse Dodd, or MUSE(O)FIRE.

I am a creative, artistic, insightful, caring human.

I contain multitudes.

I'm not afraid to change if I need to, and I'm always open to learning new things.

My work centers Blackness.

Blackness is my universe.

And everything comes out of that.

In my work, I use my body and my different tools, whether that be deejaying or filmmaking, to channel ancestral knowledge, trauma, and use it to make something different.

I believe art is alchemy.

So it's like my superpower to be able to take something that wasn't the best and make it into something new.

I move from a space of really just trying to channel spirit, and I try and be as honest as possible, and in the different forms that movement can take place, like through music, through dance, even just sparking conversations.

Movement is spirit talking to each other.

So I do think that it has a special place in my artistic practice.

[ Mid-tempo music plays ] ♪ Flowers ♪ ♪ Flowers, flowers ♪ LeSeur: Her hand, like magic, allowed herself space.

Without it, the wind could not move her, gushing sounds at the sight of, "Wait, where would she be?"

We tremble when we feel, touch that part that is the most bewildering, a tremble.

But watch as it sits in your system, the gentle ambivalence of air.

Nothing, nothing, nothing.

Nothing without touch.

♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪ Oh ♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ ♪♪ [ Singing indistinctly ] ♪♪ ♪♪