about

Oh on and on and on and on

My cypher keeps moving like a rolling stone (On & On, 1997)

what is the cypher:

The cypher is the well-known freestyle battle in Hip-Hop, involving both the competition between two (or more) primary contestants and the participation of "audience" (fellow cypher) members through cultural modes such as call and response and tonal semantics;

In my "African American Dance" class, it is also a process of being in a transcultural, transhistorical dialectic on various topics, always related to The Culture;
- "Y’all know what a cypher is? It’s all kinds of cyphers. A cypher can be represented by a circle, which consists of how many degrees? What? 360 degrees. And my cypher keeps moving like a rolling stone... my cypher represents myself or the atoms in my body and the rolling stone represents the Earth. The atoms in the body rotate at the same rate on the same axis that the Earth rotates, giving us a direct connection with the place we call Earth; therefore, we can call ourselves Earth." - Badu, 1997

It is also a method of encryption and/or decryption- or disguising meaning/language through code(s)- both in semiotics and cultural studies;

It is the process of all these cyphers being in dialogue with each other and informing the general cypher for this project: Black dance (and thus, inseparably, Black music), whether through encrypted social codes or connecting to the oneness of Earth, but both through the "multilayered totalizing expression" of Blackness.

It is easy then to imagine ballroom and disco culture as primary music/dance/fashion cyphers for Black queer folx, informing Black queerness both on and off the dancefloor.

social media course material action project:

renaissance and social media as

grounds for the black queer cypher

Inspiration for the project is owed to the visual anthologies crafted by Jaylen Brown and Olivier Rousteing in dance and fashion, respectively, as tributes and creative responses to RENAISSANCE.

Thus, in an effort to blend creativity and theory, I bring together some of the various actors and platforms in the RENAISSANCE social media cypher for cross-analysis and a multipurpose project that both studies and adds to the cypher.
- the exhibits are interactive: you can enlarge, download, and like the pictures (pieces); there is text and analysis alongside many of the pieces (**click on them**), but the couture section only has descriptions provided by Olivier

The RENAISSANCE Exhibit is meant to both appreciate and analyze the artistry of the album itself and the various work from artists and fans in response to it, while also encouraging the critical analysis of art forms- specifically art and dance- from a sociocultural perspective.
- What is/are the origin culture(s)? What are the means of cultural transmission, and are they in good faith? Regardless of intent, what is the impact?

research questions

How does the continued survival and transformation of disco and ballroom cultures reflect the continued struggle of Black queer and trans communities, as explained above but further analyzed in my material analysis of "COZY"?

How is this exemplified in both Beyoncé’s interaction with this culture and the community’s response to her artistry, specifically in Jaylen Brown’s visual anthology, RENAISSANCE: THE DANCE SERIES ?

the right answer but finish reading

disclaimer

I do not claim any credit for any pictures posted here. Any and all content was found online on social networking services- in line with my project's topic- that allowed for content download, and credit is given in the form of direct links for any content whose source is not explicitly stated. Furthermore, all content on this website is available for download as well.

SPRING RENAISSANCE