Born: 1971, United States (assumed)
Died: NA
Country most active: United States
Also known as: NA
The following is excerpted from Infinite Women founder Allison Tyra’s book The View from the Hill: Women Who Made Their Mark After 40.
After more than a decade of collaborating with African American choreographers on solo pieces created for her as a dancer, Gesel Mason turned that body of work into a digital archive, “No Boundaries: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers,” in her 50s. Along with interviews, the archive features performances of works by Donald McKayle, David Roussève, Bebe Miller, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Rennie Harris, and Kyle Abraham, to name a few. The project has been supported by the National Endowment for the Arts and National Endowment for the Humanities, among others. It’s not just happenstance that the archive coincided with a significant injury. “I ruptured my Achilles in July 2018. Something that became really apparent is that I can’t do this forever. So how do we continue to share important works with a wide audience?”
A choreographer herself, Mason’s works like 2022’s Yes, And center the knowledge and lived experiences of African American women, asking “Who would you be and what would you do if, as a Black woman, you had nothing to worry about?”
I’m fascinated by articles that discuss why oppressed folks need space for themselves. The necessity keeps showing up. People are ready to try something new.
It’s important to think about the impact of the work we’re making, the bodies that we’re using and the audiences it is for. No Boundaries re-centers conversations around African-American choreographers, so instead of saying, ‘Please include this in the dance canon,’ it’s like, “No, shift the whole thing.” What happens when we look at these choreographers for the impact that they’re making on the field?