In 2011, filmmaker Ava DuVernay founded her Peabody Award-Winning arts and social impact collection, ARRAY, that is dedicated to narrative change. Curated by ARRAY Senior Vice President of Public Programming Mercedes Cooper, the summer events include a film series inspired by and is dedicated to the American artist Jean-Michel Basquit who found success during the 1980s as part of the Neo-expressionism movement and Emmy Award winning television and film American actress Niecy Nash-Betts. Nash-Betts has a personal connection to shooting tragedies as her 17 year old Michael brother was shot and killed at his high school in California. The project will culminate with a four-day pop-up exhibit in concert with the Los Angeles Design Festival at Row DTLA on June 22-25. and they are open to the public at no charge.
Francesca Harper – Photo by Nina Wurtzel
Also on the series is the debut of two newly commissioned projects from ARRAY’s Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP) that was created in response to the murder of George Floyd in 2020. Since then, it has commissioned, funded, developed and released six artist’s works across various mediums that center officers who murdered innocent, unarmed Black citizens. The LEAP projects that are having their ARRAY debut are works by dancer/choreographer Francesca Harper and multimedia artist Julian Stephen.
One of the two commissioned works is Francesca Harper’s dance film The Reckoning, set to music by rock star Nona Hendryx and features six dancers, Brena Thomas, Raven Joseph, Christopher Taylor, Spencer Everett, Timothy Stickney, and Nicolas Begun. The score is by Nona Hendryx who also performs as a vocalist for the film. The Reckoning will be shown via video loop throughout the entire festival.
The Reckoning is a dance film conceived, directed and choreographed by Harper. It was inspired by and reflects on the 2010 case of seven-year-old Aiyana Stanley-Jones who was killed by a single gunshot while sleeping on her grandmother’s couch. What makes this case even sadder, outrageous and unforgivable, is that young Aiyana was murdered during a raid by the Detroit Police Department’s Special Response Team as they were taping a segment for the A&E reality television show, Detroit SWAT.
Events such as this are sadly continuing to occur and over and over again one asks, why? Harper’s film takes on that question through choreography inspired by the work of Carrie Mae Weems, an American artist best known for her photography. Harper states that “This is a moment of reckoning where Jones’s future self-confronts Officer Joseph Weekley for shooting the bullet that ended her young life.” Press release.
Francesca Harper – Photo courtesy of the artist.
Francesca Harper is an internationally acclaimed, multifaceted artist who began her professional dance career with Dance Theater of Harlem, becoming a principal dancer in 1994. She has performed with William Forsythe’s Ballet Frankfurt; Dancing Pleats, created by designers Issey Miyake and Gianni Versace; and Broadway productions, including Fosse, The Producers, All Shook Up, The Frogs, and the Tony-nominated The Color Purple. Harper has choreographed works for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theater of Harlem, Richmond Ballet, Ailey II, Tanz Graz, Hubbard Street II, The New York Choral Society, The New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, Dallas Black Dance Theater, and her own company, The Francesca Harper Project, which was founded in 2005.
Brena Thomas in “The Reckoning” a film by Francesca Harper – Photo by Francesca Harper
I inquired via email how Harper found out about this event.
“Social justice and transparency around under-represented voices has always lived at the foundation of my artistic work. I was delighted to learn about Ava Duvernay’s LEAP initiative and honored to have been chosen to create a response to work. At the beginning of our process, Ava and Mercedes Cooper shared a few police cases with me and we collectively decided the importance of sharing the story of a young
African-American girl, Aiyana Jones. The reality and tragedy behind the event was deeply impactful. The fact that the officers invaded the wrong apartment, and through their neglect, ended up murdering a young girl was what inspired me to utilize my artistic voice as a means of speaking out against this injustice,” Harper answered.
In The Reckoning, Harper examines this tragic incident through movement and the perspective of several characters reflecting on how the media’s coverage and documentation of such deaths as Jones’, are exploited as entertainment and/or television ratings.
“I feel it is important for people to come see the film to celebrate the life of Aiyana Jones who was taken away from us entirely too soon. The film utilizes dance which offers a poetic element to the work and a beauty which I feel enhances and elevates Aiyana’s voice. The juxtaposition and symbiosis that exists between the pain and the celebration of life in this work will leave audiences feeling inspired and moved. My hopes are that this film will also help audience members recognize the power of their voice and to speak out against injustice.”
Raven Joseph and Brena Thomas in “The Reckoning” a film by Francesca Harper – Photo by Francesca Harper
The Reckoning was conceived, directed and choreographed by Francesca Harper and was co-directed by Redha Medjellekh whose Company Red is Dancing edited the film with additional editing offered by Derrick Belcham and Noah Bashevkin. The dancers include Brena Thomas, Raven Joseph, Christopher Taylor, Spencer Everett, Timothy Stickney, and Nicolas Begun. The score was composed by Nona Hendryx who also performs as a vocalist for the film.
The second commissioned work on the series, The Aura, is an audio drama experience by multimedia artist Julian Stephen, collates varied perspectives to highlight the murder of Elijah McClain, a 23-year-old Black massage therapist from Aurora, Colorado, who died after being restrained by police and then administered a high dosage of ketamine by paramedics while walking home from the store. This occurred on McClain August 24, 2019, when someone called 911, saying he “looked sketchy” and was wearing a ski mask and waving his arms. It is unclear exactly if young McClain death was caused by the two carotid hold administered by the police or the injection of ketamine.
LEAP will culminate with a four-day pop-up exhibit in concert with the Los Angeles Design Festival on June 22-25. at Row DTLA.
To learn more about the Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP), please visit their website.
To learn more ARRAY, please visit their website.
Written by Jeff Slayton for LA Dance Chronicle.
Featured image: Brena Thomas in The Reckoning a film by Francesca Harper – Photo by Francesca Harper
