Springboard Performance

  • Our initiative is to continue the pioneering task of delivering a multidimensional rendering of Black contemporary expression to Calgary’s mainstream. Highlighting contemporary dance in collaboration with a range of visual and performance art disciplines, our project seeks to:

    ● Create a distinguished evening-length experience that is accessible to Calgary’s Black community of artists and arts-curious individuals;

    ● Showcase Black contemporary dancing bodies in the theater setting to disrupt the illusion of their absence in the genre;

    ● Lay the foundation for national outreach by hiring a national choreographer to set work

    on our cast;

    ● And, hire local Black artists in Calgary to showcase the wide range of artistic expressions in the growing arts industry.

N.A.P.P.Y Dance

NAPPY Dance Collective is an emerging all-black contemporary dance collective that is committed to emboldening the arts and the spaces they inhabit, exposing them as capable environments for nurturing the pursuits of Black creatives. NAPPY is an acronym for Not A Political Playground Y’all. The history of the word “nappy” is tangled in Eurocentric beauty standards that were used to justify painting Black bodies as “lesser than” their white counterparts. The term has historically been used to negatively describe Afro-textured hair as dry, kinky, coarse and dirty. We plan to confront and reclaim the term to describe that which is unique and beautiful and invite Black creatives to unapologetically embrace their multifaceted selves. Although Black existence is inherently political, we value stylization, individuality and humanity in pursuit of displaying local Black virtuosity, collectivity and diversity in its many facets and artistic disciplines.

Contact Info

Email: nappydancecollective@gmail.com

Instagram:https://www.instagram.com/nappydance?igsh=MTc5dnN6cnlqejcydA==

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/nappydance/

Website: www.nappydance.com (underconstruction)