Dancing in A-Yard

photo © Michael Tyrone Delaney for The New York Times

Last year, I had the opportunity to witness something few people get to access. It was an experience many would have no interest in about a topic that can divide a room, often falling upon political lines. Through my connection to the non-profit organization Words Uncaged, organized by its founder, Dr. Bidhan Roy, and choreographer Dimitri Chamblas, I went inside Chino Prison and witnessed firsthand a contemporary dance performance by incarcerated dancers.

The performance included a mix of performers. Dancers who pushed, pulled, swayed, and embraced—something that is not done on prison grounds—especially between former gang members and a former member of the Aryan Brotherhood. They expressed their trauma and triumphs through a collaborative choreography that told of their journey, performing before a crowd of forty strangers. Their vulnerability overshadowed the numbers printed on their standard-issued shirts. 

While the performance was moving and inspiring, the words of redemption that followed, delivered in small breakout groups with each dancer, gave me pause. I felt a guttural response, a knot in my stomach, as I questioned the fairness of this world. I understood, empathized, and related to the anger that can stem from trauma and having nowhere to direct it other than outward. As I tried to make sense of my own trials while growing up, I was fortunate to have the "right" skin color. To have a grandmother who believed me and held me tight, and somehow, by the grace of whatever God that may exist, find the strength to persevere and find a life beyond what could have been. 

The dance class that started in 2019 inside Lancaster prison, only to be paused due to the COVID-19 pandemic, was documented by the documentarian Manuela Dalle. The film's summary provides a glimpse into why this should be required for all of America to watch. 
A documentary that follows a modern dance choreographer detailing the journey of several inmates incarcerated in a US prison as they create and prepare for their own performances. Hearing their stories, we understand the need for focus and creativity in a hostile arena.

In February, I attended the screening for Dancing in A-Yard, the culmination of Manuela's years-long work documenting the unfolding of this life-changing, first-of-its-kind dance class that portrays the passage of these men who first entered prison as teenagers lost in an imbalanced society. I was so moved by this film, convinced that it needs to be out in the world on a grand scale, that I have provided a matching grant to Manuela and her team so that more screenings, discussions, and understanding can occur. If you can help, please do. If not, please watch the trailer and ask yourself, "What if…" as you consider your circumstances.

We are not born on an equal playing field. But what if we lived in a world where, at a minimum, we were aware of that inequity and worked to have empathy and ambition to make things different? What if...? What then…? What might the world become?

-trw