​​​​rhy/ntology (or, to be the rhythm)

​​​​​

​​​LINER NOTES//

With rhy/ntology (or, to be the rhythm), Love remains committed to his positioning of rhythm as an embodied-intellectual method for researching Black cultural histories as he shifts his focus from working “with and through” rhythm to working “as,” or becoming, rhythm. Instead of looking towards what literary scholar Nadia Ellis calls an “elsewhere” of liberatory possibilities for Black queerness or attempting to travel to such a “new and satisfying space of exile” as he has done in his previous work, Love now ventures to explore the possibility of becoming his own “elsewhere.” Ultimately, rhy/ntology encompasses Love's embodied, rhythm-based exploration of legacy, futurity, labor in the name of liberation and pleasure, and the Ellis-ian concept of “resolving” one’s own “potential.”​

​​

The Exercise Series
Beginning in Winter 2026, Love will present portions of rhy/ntology as he develops the full piece. Each Exercise will serve as an opportunity for Love to engage in rhythm-based improvisatory and choreographic explorations with the goal of refining his own method of “working as” or “becoming” rhythm in order to discover possibilities for liberation.

​

Exercise 1 — January 12, 2026: Love at FringeArts and Studio 34 Scratch Night at FringeArts (Philadelphia, PA)

 

Exercise 2 — March 19, 2026: Love's Research Residency Work-In-Progress Showing at NCCAkron (Akron, OH)
 

Exercise 3 — April 11, 2026: Love's Baker Artist-In-Residence Showing at Muhlenberg College (Allentown, PA)
Featuring cast members Jeffrey Clark Jr., Lisa La Touche, Kaleena Miller, and Robyn Watson as well as select students

​

Exercise 4 — April 18, 2026: Love at Cannonball Miniball 2026 at Christ Church Neighborhood House (Philadelphia, PA)

​

 

Photo © 2023 by Justin Williams,

courtesy of The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center, U of Maryland, College Park​​