Aku Kadogo, Department of Theater & Performance
A Digital Choreopoem: Stonecatcher
Stonecatcher is a digital choreopoem that began with a simple question, "how can we survive in the world?" Utilizing images, sound, percussion, and video visuals, this iteration of the project responds to the historic moment of the global pandemic COVID-19. This project's germination began in 2018 when South Korean performer/director Young Hee Park and I shared life stories and our perspectives on racial and social injustices, mainly related to women's issues and African American lives, to develop a stage performance. What we discovered in 2020 is that our concerns morphed into more extensive and more pressing matters.
What is Choreopoem?
Choreopoem is an approach to performance incorporating dance, vernacular movement, and language, including the fluidity of language i.e. Hangul and English and Konglish and Ebonics. Included in this process is an improvisational approach to gesture, music, and sound. It is a distinctly African American form of embodied performance "that draws on the poetry of the church, jazz improvisation, the spontaneity of ring shouting, scat singing, and improvised creativity" -– a description which comes from Aku Kadogo's chapter in Black Acting Methods (Luckett & Shaffer eds. 2016).
A Digital Choreopoem: Stonecatcher
Artist Talk
Our Artists
The Stone Catcher Project began in 2018 by a respected senior artist and academic Aku Kadogo and an independent artist, educator, and art activist Younghee Park, supported by Arts Council Korea and Spelman College(USA).
Poem & visuals by:
Aku Kadogo and Younghee Park
Drums & percussion by:
Pheeroan Aklaff
Edit by:
Nathan Stoneham
Art by:
Tyree Guyton/Sam Mackey (from Guyton Private Collection)
Special Thanks to:
Ayoka Chenzira, Ph.D.,
Catherine Pease, Charles Martin, Jenenne Whitfield,
Jeremy Neideck,
Juno Gemes, Rachel Greig,
Rebbeca De Regt,
Zanzi Mann,
Supported by:
Spelman College, Carnegie and Rockefeller Division of the Arts Priority Award.
Stone Catcher Project, started in 2018 and supported by Arts Council Korea and Spelman College the US.