JAMEL GAINES CREATIVE OUTLET

Jamel Gaines Creative Outlet presents Remembering at Brooklyn Academy of Music. A multimedia performance that reckons with the Middle Passage, slavery, and emancipation.

Drawing from The MAAFA Suite and the teachings of Bishop Rev. Dr. Johnny Ray Youngblood, Remembering fuses contemporary and African dance, choreographed by Ryan Greenidge and Jada Williams, with spoken word, music, and African drumming. The work channels American history through African voices, using movement, rhythm, and layered audiovisual design to embody memory rather than simply recount it.

Though at BAM for one night only, the piece plans to tour 40 New York schools before traveling internationally. Remembering began with the drum ensemble: Abou Camara, Aliseni Bangoura, Jahi Smith, Jaziah Kefentse, and Forest Holmes-Dodge dressed in bright orange traditional African
garments.

As the musicians played, they ushered ensembles of young Black girls and boys from the community onto the stage. The dancers moved to the beat in deep plié, diving their upper bodies toward the ground before rising again, repeating the pattern with focus and pride.

Between the dances were performances of spoken word, poetry, and an educational narrative on the “founding fathers.” A powerful reading of Langston Hughes’ “I, Too,” performed by Gha’il Rhodes Benjamin and Talu Green, resonates deeply, alongside a spoken word piece by Theara Ward written by Cheryl Wills.

The second half brought professional dancers to the stage. “Hanging Tree,” a solo performed by Wayne Reynolds, depicted a young Black man beneath a hanging tree, haunting and restrained. “Mothers of War” portrayed Black mothers losing their young men to the draft, performed by Rose Barbatan, Kayla Chietan, Douglass Baldeo, Kevin Hunte, Raquelle Koonkoon, Ryan Rankin, Wayne Reynolds, Toni Owens, April Watson, and Devin Crawford.

The evening closed with “What’s Happening Today,” an African and contemporary dance work performed by much of the company in celebration.

Remembering is a powerful way to educate young audiences about Black American history and African culture. The work is urgent: remembering Black history in a predominantly
white country built on erasure and forgetting.

EYE ON THE ARTS, NY — Frankie Lehr