In the following passages from “why i had to dance//” Shange speaks of the relationship between her dancing and her writing process:
this is a critical moment/ when i decided that dance was as important to me as writing/ that in order to write, i had to sweat/ to reach some endorphin high to get to the truth/ which was the word/ this would change over time// (56)
in my early adulthood/ politics and the arts were truly wed at the hip or thereabouts// (57)
our commitment to the movement meant that all our resources intellectual as well as physical had to be dedicated to the liberation movement/ which is one of the reasons i had to dance/ (57)
it is possible to start a phrase with a word and end with a gesture/ that’s how i’ve lived my life/ that’s how i continue to study/ produce black art/ (58)