Did You Know? Behind “The ‘Black Card’ Project” Collaborators

This month, meet Kelly Berick, Director of Dance at Firestone Community Learning Center (CLC) in Akron. During the creation of “The ‘Black Card’ Project,” and as part of the Knight Foundation’s Knight Arts Challenge grant award they received in 2016, creator Dominic Moore-Dunson and co-creator Kevin Parker participated in a residency at Firestone CLC where the students helped create movement and concepts that were used in the world-premiere of the finished work.

“Dominic is a graduate of our high school dance program, and we have had a long-standing working relationship with Inlet. These two relationships made this adventure an easy “yes.”  When Dominic first described the concept for “The ‘Black Card’ Project” (likely three years ago), I was taken with the unique idea that he had regarding student input into the choreographic choices he would make in the development of the work. I am used to the excitement surrounding the acquisition or commissioning of work for my students; this, however, took the creative process into another step that many professional artists are less willing to go: allowing students a view into the process, and after some steady mentoring, accepting student feedback and suggestions, and inserting those ideas into professional work in a way that is clearly visible, and which represents student investment into the project. Dominic and Kevin were helping students make work, and the students were helping Dominic and Kevin make work. In addition, the teaching methods Dominic employed to teach the craft of choreography, to convey meaning and message to the audience, to perform with conviction and character…these are concepts rarely captured in the standard composition class, and they inspire learning in areas above and beyond any curricular standard ever written. My students were transformed, and now have much greater confidence and command of how to think of and use dance as a language. The buzz that the premiere caused around the school was palpable, but impact will be most felt when we become committed to showing it annually…its message is so powerful, the conversation so important, and the potential so great for far-reaching meaning that we must find ways to share it with all of the students of Akron. Not only do I predict it could change our students by giving them hope (many of whom fit Dominic’s younger self-description), but it could also impact our community with proof that the arts have the power the to make positive change in the world.”