Museo de Mujeres

The performance draws on worldwide practices to remind viewers of the global resonance of the crisis impacting the lives of people of color living in this country. There is an obligation for a public call to action – one that draws attention to the urgent need to elevate and change the values and practices of the police and the systems that support these views.

Indigo is one of the oldest natural plant based dyes, used all over the world and ritually embedded with symbolism and spirituality; power and nobility. The color historically represents absolute truth, wisdom, justice, and responsibility.

The traditional function of the Moko Jumbie stilt dancers is to serve and protect their communities. In Western Africa, Moko Jumbie is a spirit who watches over a village, and due to it’s towering height, is able to foresee danger and evil. The Moko Jumbie is traditionally called in to cleanse and ward off evil spirits that have brought with them disease and misfortune to a village. On the other side of the Atlantic, in Oaxaca, Mexico, the Zancudos (stilt dancers) perform annually to call upon the power of their saints to receive protection, blessings, and miracles.

Music and character design was inspired by the Danza de los Diablos (dance of the devils) and used to address the use (and misuse) of the color blue. In the African-Mexican coast of Guerrero, the danza de los diablos is performed to remember all African descendants and to claim their place in society. It is a dance of resistance and rebellion against discrimination, exclusion, and segregation.

Intervention: Indigo was presented on Sunday, September 13, 2015 in New York. The performance began at the Bushwick Police Precinct and ended in the artist neighborhood of Bushwick

Intervention: Indigo project art direction and production
Laura Anderson Barbata
Rene Cervantes: photography, renecervantes.com
Alejandro Mejía: film, www.alejandro-mejia.com

In collaboration with Chris Walker, the Brooklyn Jumbies and Jarana Beat