WEBSITE Kara Jenelle    IYAguration Promo PDF 

This fundraiser is to complete the work of my Capstone project for my MFA at The University of California Los Angeles (UCLA). As I persevere  through my final year of graduate school, my cohort and I have had to adjust our choreographic practices to accommodate the restrictions surrounding the Covid-19 pandemic. With that being said, we have been obligated to find resources outside of campus to create dance films for a virtual & socially distant premiere of our thesis work.

As a MFA student in UCLA’s Department of World Arts and Cultures/Dance, I created this Capstone project as a call to action for change and representation. While balancing my work between academia and advocacy throughout the crisis of COVID-19 and the Black Lives Matter movement, my mission is to amplify black voices while also establishing impactful solutions and content. I am proud to say that my piece, ÌYÁguration has been transformed into a short film which will take you on a journey through my culture, sharing the percussive sounds of djembe rhythms, the coily kinks of natural hair, the hymns of modern spirituals and the choreographies from Guinea to Brazil. This film is away to honor the ÌYÁs (great mother’s), history, resilience, joy and sisterhood among Black women throughout the diaspora. Utilizing storytelling, song, rhythms, and movement, this piece encompasses traditional elements connecting black women across nations and generations.

I lean on the collective of women surrounding me, from my production team to my cast, to help me persevere at this time; and I stand proudly on the shoulders of my ancestors who have created a path before me. Honoring the great mothers of this world and the commencement of this work, I introduce to you... ÌYÁguration