The image is a black-and-white sketch depicting two figures in an intimate embrace. One person sits in the lap of the other, held gently in their arms, creating a sense of protection and closeness. Loose, expressive lines convey the figures’ forms and posture, with minimal facial detail, emphasizing emotion over precision. The style is quick and energetic, capturing the immediacy of the moment. The overall mood is somber and reflective, with a quiet, tender melancholy, highlighting vulnerability, care, and human connection in a fleeting, heartfelt moment. Image by Cassandre Charles.
ID: The image is a black-and-white sketch depicting two figures in an intimate embrace. One person sits in the lap of the other, held gently in their arms, creating a sense of protection and closeness. Loose, expressive lines convey the figures’ forms and posture, with minimal facial detail, emphasizing emotion over precision. The style is quick and energetic, capturing the immediacy of the moment. The overall mood is somber and reflective, with a quiet, tender melancholy, highlighting vulnerability, care, and human connection in a fleeting, heartfelt moment. Image by Cassandre Charles.

Movers and creators will explore my practice-based research method, “Cariactureography,” to examine how reading through observing dance reshapes our understanding of choreography as writing and transcription, and deepens our sense of the relationship between dance and literacy. Participants will also study choreographic approaches to embodying the narratives of Toni Morrison’s characters—the Breedloves in The Bluest Eye and Jadine Childs and Son Green in Tar Baby. Emphasizing inventive movement exploration and nuanced choreographic devising through experimental and experiential processes, the workshop integrates embodied learning with academic inquiry and advances participants’ skills in improvisation and composition.

What to expect
This workshop will deal with text analysis and performance analysis utilizing the following approaches: Critical thinking skills related to dance concepts integrating subjectivity, practice, and evaluation; Demonstrating heightened awareness and perception by discovering relationships in movement and investigating the nature of artistic expression; Solving problems creatively by imaginatively exploring divergent approaches to the examination of connections, limitations, and possibilities; Communicating effectively by expressing ideas and experiences through a variety of forms—kinetic, visual, verbal, written, and creative; Displaying personal growth by developing self-esteem, task commitment, personal responsibility, positive attitudes toward peers, and an appreciation for individual differences.

For workshop-related questions, please email coordinatoraocc@movementresearch.org.

 

Accessibility Notes

  • This workshop includes auditive guidance.
  • This workshop includes printed materials.

To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, AoCC Pilot Workshop” at least three (3) weeks prior to the class date you plan to attend.

For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “AoCC Pilot Workshop.”

Register for this workshop

In-Person

    This is a FREE workshop, a suggested $5 donation is encouraged and appreciated!

    Please ONLY register if you plan to attend. Each person wishing to attend must register individually.

    Once registrations have reached capacity, a waitlist will become available. Entry from the waitlist will be according to the date and time each name was added.

    $

    Location

    The Bob (previously known as 9th St Studio)
    150 First Avenue
    New York, NY 10009

    • Get the Green - IRT Lexington Avenue Line numbers: 6 to Astor Place
    • Get the Light slate gray - BMT Canarsie Line numbers: L to 1st Avenue
    • Get the Orange - IND Sixth Avenue Line numbers: F to 2nd Avenue

    Artists

    Ayo Joy Walker

    Ayo Joy Walker

    Dr. Ayo Walker is an Associate Professor of Critical Dance Studies at Columbia College Chicago. As an anti-racist educator, she centers culturally relevant and critical dance pedagogies that affirm the techniques, genealogies, and embodied knowledge of historically marginalized dance aesthetics in higher education. Her choreography highlights Africanist and Black dance principles—“blood memories,” the “aesthetic of the cool,” and the “get down”—to challenge reductive assumptions about Black embodiment.

    Read more