MICHAEL J LOVE
INTERDISCIPLINARY TAP DANCE ARTIST
The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection Part I:
The
AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE
COLLECTION
Part I:
GON HEAD AND PUT YOUR
RECORDS ON!
by Michael J. Love
The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection is Michael J. Love's triptych of live interdisciplinary rhythm tap dance pieces that revel in Blackness by way of a vibrant mixing, sampling, looping, remixing, and high-affect juxtaposition
of sounds, media, and performance.
The series includes Part I: GON' HEAD AND PUT YOUR RECORDS ON! as well as
Part II: DOPE FIT! and Part III: (RHY)PISTEMOLOGY! (OR, TO KNOW THROUGH THE RHYTHM)
LINER NOTES//
The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part I: GON' HEAD AND PUT YOUR RECORDS ON! is an exploration and jubilant celebration of Blackness. Love curates a vibrant amalgamation of moments from pop culture and his personal history to examine the various portions of his identity while actualizing self-love and self-care. RECORDS! is anchored by tap improvography and spans a number of performance mediums as it nods to traditions as varied as the Black queer ballroom scene and the Black church, demanding the necessary space for #blackboyjoy.
RECORDS! was programmed by Fusebox Festival in April 2019. In February 2018, Love presented the work in a developmental workshop format and curated a series of post-show talkbacks to accompany each performance.
RECORDS! was developed by way of collaborations fueled by the ARCOS Dance Artist Development Award which Love received in 2016. The work premiered as one half of Michael J Love presents LOVE & RHYTHM: AN EVENING OF TAP DANCE on April 21 and 22, 2017 in Austin, TX — a presentation produced and directed by Love and funded by nearly a hundred Indiegogo backers.
The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, Part I: GON' HEAD AND PUT YOUR RECORDS ON! is approximately seventy minutes in length.
TRACKLIST//
In the spirit of the throwback Black music curation and vocal/ performance methodology of mixtape-making, RECORDS! is an auralvisual mixtape comprised of 10 tracks which merge live performance with found footage and sounds borrowed and repurposed from across popular media.
1. PROVERBS 22:6 "Train up a child in the way he should go/ And when he is old he will not depart from it." 2. LAUGHS PT. I and then 3. LAUGHS PT. II For all the times I’ve been laughed at…
4. INTERLUDE - NINA: BLACK. A reminder. 5. LOOKING UP/ LOOKING BACK/ MOVING FORWARD Or, 20700 Burnt Woods Drive: Still Chasing That Irreplaceable Feeling I Used To Get When I’d Dance My Little Heart Out On That Brown Carpet In The Living Room To Sheila And Jerome’s Records. 6. TOO TRILL “How do you find self-love? You dig. You isolate and you ache from being lonely. You heal. You accept, you look in the mirror and see God.” — twitter: @overlyxclusive. Also, you blast Solange, Rih, Bey, Nicki, and all the other Queens. 7. LAUGHS PT. III ...and for all the times I now laugh. 8. #NOPICKLEJUICE “I met God, she’s black.” 9. INTERLUDE - NINA: FREE. The goal. 10. SELF “Opulence: You own everything. Everything is yours.”
CREDITS//
As presented at Fusebox Festival
in April 2019:
Featuring William Kachi, Taji Senior
and Khali Sykes
Sound and Image Design by Michael J. Love
Jorge Sermini,
Director of Photography
and Editor, “TOO TRILL”
Khellie Braxton/ DJ Breezy EZ,
Music Producer, “TOO TRILL”
Programmed at:
Fusebox Festival
Austin, TX
Saturday, April 20
and Sunday, April 21
2019
As presented in
developmental workshop format
in February 2018:
Featuring Jayla Ball, William Kachi,
and Khali Sykes
Artistic Consultation by Amissa Miller
Sound and Image Design by Michael J. Love
Jorge Sermini,
Director of Photography
and Editor, “TOO TRILL”
Khellie Braxton/ DJ Breezy EZ,
Music Producer, “TOO TRILL”
Additional Artists, Administrators,
and Collaborators:
Post-Show Talkbaks led by
Siri Gurudev,
Ariel Jackson,
and Amissa Miller
As premiered in April 2017:
Original Cast Members Delanté Keys
and Rama Tchuente
Artistic Consultation by Rebecca Whitehurst
Script Editing by Paloma Valenzuela
Sound and Image Design by Michael J. Love
Jorge Sermini,
Director of Photography
and Editor, “TOO TRILL”
Khellie Braxton/ DJ Breezy EZ,
Music Producer, “TOO TRILL”
Production Technical Crew:
Kelley Hunter Smith, Lighting Designer
Te'Juana Johnson, Stage Management
Nate Weiss, Sound Board Technician and Tech Management
Additional Artists, Administrators,
and Collaborators:
Production Marketing/ Public Relations
and Graphic Design by Michael J. Love
Promotional Images by Caroline Fothergill
Production Images by Cindy Elizabeth
Production Videography by Carre Adams