Our obsession with locations of embodied knowledge and influence is an important topic in the conversation between Shamell Bell and d. Sabela Grimes. They interrogate hegemonic tools of institutional legitimacy and challenge sites of affirmation by centering on street dance activism and Black liberation. They ask, “Who am I in the street? Who am I in the institution?” “How do we affirm ourselves in the streets?” I come away from this conversation reminded that rejecting the identity crisis the academy wants us to have is a daily practice of decolonizing our minds.
I am reminded that the academy is just the white hood. Likewise is the studio. The creative and intellectual gatekeepers in these spaces make up the rules of engagement, just as much as we do in a cypher. (They just pay themselves more.)
This conversation honors people who dismantle institutions. Kariamu Welsh, Tommy the Clown, Sonia Sanchez, Shamell Bell, and others create spaces for people to show up and put their bodies on the line. They invite us into spaces where we are not “supposed” to be and insist on the importance of spaces too easily dismissed. Terms, labels, and structures come and go. And they usually don’t work in our favor anyway, so we just keep doing the work. While it is important to resist labels that institutions try to place on us, we should also be proud of our accomplishments. All four people involved in this conversation have or will soon have terminal degrees. But I’m confident they will not let academic institutions kill them. My words here are just part of the conversation—another hyperlink. They are the “they” that say. They will continue to affirm our right to define ourselves, locate meaning, and produce knowledge on our own terms. We see each other, no matter our experiences. Black people see each other. I see them seeing each other, and me. We know there is transformational Black magic in all our corrugated dance spaces—as long as we keep it moving.