INTERDISCIPLINARY TAP DANCE ARTIST
The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection is Michael J. Love's triptych of performance installations that sample and loop various media and sounds to envision sites of liberation. 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).
The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE COLLECTION,
Part I: GON' HEAD AND PUT YOUR RECORDS ON!
LINER NOTES//
With the first installment of Love’s The AURALVISUAL MIXTAPE Collection, the artist 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 resilience.
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.
TRACKLIST//
In the spirit of the throwback Black music curation and vocal/performance methodology of mixtape-making, RECORDS! is an auralvisual mixtape comprised of ten tracks which merge live performance with found footage and sounds borrowed and repurposed from across popular media. Tracks include: 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 others laughed... 4. INTERLUDE - NINA: BLACK. A reminder. 5. LOOKING UP/LOOKING BACK/MOVING FORWARD Or, 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. 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 in April 2017:
Written, Choreographed, and Directed by Michael J. Love
Original Cast includes Delanté Keys and Rama Tchuente
Artistic Consultation by Rebecca Whitehurst
Script Editing by Paloma Valenzuela
Sound and Image Design by Michael J. Love
The premiere included the original video TOO TRILL as Directed and Edited by Jorge Sermini and featuring music by Khellie Braxton/DJ Breezy EZ.
The Production Technical Crew included Lighting Designer Kelley Hunter Smith, Stage Manager Te'Juana Johnson, and Sound Board Operator and and Tech Management by Nate Weiss.
Additional artists and collaborators included Promotional Images Photographer Caroline Fothergill, Production Images Photographer Cindy Elizabeth, and Production Videographer Carre Adams.
As presented in developmental workshop format in February 2018:
Written, Choreographed, and Directed by Michael J. Love
Cast includes Jayla Ball, William Kachi, and Khali Sykes
Artistic Consultation by Amissa Miller
Sound and Image Design by Michael J. Love
The workshop presentation included the original video TOO TRILL as Directed and Edited by Jorge Sermini and featuring music by Khellie Braxton/DJ Breezy EZ.
The premiere included post-show talkbacks led by siri gurudev, Aryel René Jackson, and Amissa Miller
As presented at Fusebox Festival on April 20-21, 2019:
Written, Choreographed, and Directed by Michael J. Love
Cast includes William Kachi, Khali Sykes, and Taji Senior.
Sound and Image Design by Michael J. Love
The workshop presentation included the original video TOO TRILL as Directed and Edited by Jorge Sermini and featuring music by Khellie Braxton/DJ Breezy EZ.