In Performance: Ni’ja Whitson: A Meditation on Tongues (American Realness)

Ni’ja Whitson: A Meditation on Tongues (World Premiere)
Sunday, January 8, 8:30 PM
Monday, January 9, 4 PM

American Realness Festival
Abrons Arts Center, Underground Theater
466 Grand Street
New York, NY United States

The performance begins in the cramped corridor of Abrons Arts’ Underground Theatre. Performer Harold Ninja (of the legendary House of Ninja) is framed in a doorway of light. His body cuts through the crowd like a snap. He dances with precision, pacing, placement, and poise. A live interdisciplinary adaptation of Marlon T. Riggs film “Tongues United”, Director/Adaptor/Performer Ni’Ja Whitson and performer Kirsten Flores-Davis examine the complexities of black gay men. Through words and dance, we see these identities at war with each other. When out of sync, these identities destroy each other. When in sync, the power is as explosive as a well-earned snap. Whitson and Flores-Davis explore Riggs film with precision, pacing, placement, and poise.