Collectivity Through Choreopoem

Shange’s work is rooted within the tradition of black women healing through art, speech, and togetherness. In Sister Citizen (2011), Melissa Harris-Perry writes about this tradition through an analysis of Baby Suggs, Janie’s grandmother in Zora Neale Hurston’s Their Eyes Were Watching God:

“Her words are the conduit of healing for an entire community of free blacks who are scarred by the world in which they find themselves. Rather than asking them to deny their pain or to bear it stoically in order to prove their strength, Baby Suggs encourages them to release it through song, dance, open weeping, and togetherness. She also asks the black people assembled in her clearing to embrace a new faith based on reimagining their own bodies as something beautiful and worthy of love.” (Harris-Perry 264)

For Colored Girls seeks to heal black women and girls from their pain through “song, dance, open weeping, and togetherness” as well, but does so in the form of the choreopoem. In “Black Feminist Collectivity in … for colored girls…” Soyica Diggs Colbert explains the significance of this choice: “The choreopoem creates collectivity based on the intertwining of bodies in space and words in rhythm in order to counter the displacement and dehumanization of black women’s voice, bodies, and experiences.” Not only does Shange write about black women healing through collective artistic expression, she also reinforces this tradition by placing her ladies in a physical and psychic collective and artistic space via the choreopoem.

The final poem in For Colored Girls, “a layin’ on of hands” demonstrates what this kind of space makes possible. After the lady in red says “i found god in myself & i loved her,” all of the ladies repeat these lines until it “becomes a song of joy” and “the ladies enter into a closed tight circle”. The voice of one woman, affirming herself and practicing self-love, is transformed into a collective affirmation and practice, through song. Their collective healing is then physically displayed by their closed tight circle. Diggs Colbert writes:

“The final piece, “a layin on of hands,” enacts a ritualized mode of performance that draws from spiritual practices and allows women to connect physically and on equal ground. The engagement of touch and speech offers a way to appreciate communal belonging that affirms black women’s humanity.”

Shange’s work, specifically in For Colored Girls, is so important because of what it adds to black women’s healing traditions and, ultimately, what it makes possible for women’s resistance. By affirming black women’s humanity through art, speech, and togetherness, resistance is made stronger and becomes an act of joy.

This week’s readings reminded me of the song titled, “Young Girls” by New York based Puerto Rican artist Destiny Frasqueri, who performs as Princess Nokia. The music video depicts a group of women of color leading young girls of color in a series of movements, dances, and songs. They are sitting in a tight circle, alone in a natural environment. The lyrics intentionally affirm and collectivize these young girls of color.