Choreographer jhon r. stronks is joined by former student Jasmine Hearn for B.L.K. Gurls ~n~ W.H.T. Boiz: Singin’ ’bout Gawd!, an evening-length program made up of solo and duet performances addressing spirituality and reconciliation. ”A lot of the girls that I grew up around were African-American,” stronks tells us. ”I would go to church with them and sing in the choirs with them. We were just enjoying being young and small together.” Race, sexuality and class issues eventually intruded as stronks and his friends grew up, he says, and they grew apart. When he saw the pieces Hearn was working on recently, he noticed strong elements of spirituality and reconciliation. It seemed the perfect opportunity to address his own feelings about the topics.
The program is set to what stronks calls ”an anthropological mixtape,” with samplings from music by Nancy Wilson, Tupac Shakur and Ekova along with original text by Hearn and stronks. Composer/bassist William von Reichbauer joins the pair for the performance.
Oh, and just in case you think you know what the title B.L.K. Gurls ~n~ W.H.T. Boiz means, ah, you’re wrong. ”My titles are always crazy,” laughs stronks. ”It is and it isn’t literal.” Yes, Hearn is a black woman and stronks is a white man, but the unconventionally spelled words are also acronyms. ”B, l, k stands for ‘boys love care’ and w, h, t is for ‘women honor tears,’ ” stronks confides.
7 p.m. City Dance Studio, 1307 W. Clay. For information, call 713‑529‑6100 or visit thereinthesunlight.com. $15 to $20.
Sat., June 1, 7 p.m., 2013
This article appears in Jun 14-20, 2012.