Through It All

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About the Project —

The collaborative creative process for the development of Through It All began with a tour of the Westhampton Burying Ground and the Eco-Corridor. Students delved into UR’s institutional history and its connection to enslavement as an entry point into their research of public transportation in Richmond, VA. Walking through the eco-corridor was an opportunity to learn about the human ecology of the land and its connection to systems of extraction, exploitation, and racial violence. The corridor’s connection to waterways also served as an important reference to thinking about transportation across time in myriad ways. From this early research, the dancers created movement responses, a sort of movement-inventory with accompanying phrases like “excavating history,” “tracing,” “ancestral scoop,” “paving the way,” and “attention!” The dance solos they generated at that time, informed the rest of their work as they continued to engage with oral histories of GRTC bus operators who defied the limitations of racial segregation and gender discrimination.  

Through It All was created in conjunction with the GRTC Transit Museum exhibition Through It All: Families Moving Richmond, curated by Alexandra Byrum and co-created by students in the community-engaged course “Public Transportation in the Time of  Two Pandemics,” co-taught by Laura Browder and Patricia Herrera.

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Artistic Director
Alicia Díaz

Dramaturgical Director
Patricia Herrera

Movement Research and Choreography
Izzy Brazzel, Kinme Reeves, Kayla Schiltz 

Dramaturgical Team
Liam Keenan and Maya Lieberman

Music
I’ve Been in the Storm so Long, arranged by Jeffery L. Ames;  I’ve Been in the Storm so Long, The Riverside Singers; How I Got Over, performed by Mahalia Jackson, In the Garden performed by Sister Rosetta Tharpe; 123 Victoryperformed by Kirk Franklin; Additional acapella humming of I’ve Been in the Storm so Long by Kinme Reeves  

Costume Design
Johann Stegmeir

Light Design
Maja E. White

Projection and Sound Design
Liam Keenan

Projection Engineer
Robby Williams

Portrait Photography and Video
Tania Fernández and Joey Tran

Archival Material
Looking Back in Richmond – CBS News (1989); March on Washington – CBS News (1963)

Dancers
Izzy Brazzel, Kinme Reeves, Kayla Schiltz