HomeClasses and EventsEventsMELT Event: Listening Session – Holy Defiance
Angie Pittman crosses hands in front of face and standing on hardwood floor. Tech photo from BAM. Rachel Keane
ID: Angie Pittman crosses hands in front of face and standing on hardwood floor. Tech photo from BAM. Rachel Keane

For the final MELT Event of the summer, Movement Research is excited to host a Listening Session of Angie Pittman’s first album, Holy Defiance. In June 2024, Pittman’s Bessie award-winning multidisciplinary performance project, Black Life Chord Changes, premiered at The Chocolate Factory Theater (NY). The research around this performance work continued into a vinyl album that was released in October 2025.

Holy Defiance is a pagan gospel blues album that is grounded in the belief that Black resistance is sacred, and acts of defiance are holy. The work explores the transformative power of embodied resistance and features recorded songs from various Pittman performances (from 2020-2025) and field recordings of improvisational scores, remixed to offer a durational listening experience as a form of meditation, honoring these rich traditions.

Executive Producer: Angie Pittman
Producer: Cody Jensen
Engineering, Mixing, and Mastering: Cody Jensen
Research Assistant: Talia Bartley
Insert Design: Angie Pittman and Jessie Young
Cover Art: Katie Dean

Special thanks to contributing artists: Myssi Robinson, Lola Honeye, Cody Jensen, Carla E. Jones, Tiffany Williams, Aaron (A+) Wilson, and Iris McCloughan.

For event-related questions, please email programs@movementresearch.org.

 

Accessibility Notes

  • This event includes auditive guidance.
  • This event will include text/images/video shared on a large screen tv.

To request ASL interpretation or Audio Description, please email accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “ASL/Audio Description Request, MELT event ” at least three (3) weeks prior to the event date.

For access-related questions and requests, please contact accessibility@movementresearch.org, subject line “MELT Event.”

Register for this event

In-Person

    This is a FREE event, 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 RSVPs 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

    MR Courtyard 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

    Angie Pittman

    Angie Pittman

    Angie Pittman is a New York-based Bessie award-winning multidisciplinary performance artist whose choreographic work uses dance, text, and sound.

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