This work is a love letter to joy in small but mighty doses and began as a solo in an attempt to imagine a better afrofuture. That all changed for me on Saturday Oct. 7, 2023 while sitting alone in a hotel room in Brooklyn. How could I alone imagine a better future without including others? Impossible right? I quickly realized thatI need a team to go on this journey to NOWhere with me.  

So, I want you to look around at everyone in this room, right now. Go ahead and look, I’ll wait… You’re probably here because you have something in common, socially, politically and so on. However I do think we sometimes forget while in the privacy of our own homes that we continue to experience another commonality. A massive shared grief that can feel so very isolating, endless and overwhelming. The NoGoodDoers bring you NOWhere as a reminder to reach out, to pass the note, to pay attention, to work hard and play harder. NOWhere isn’t the solution but it is a step forward to addressing the questions below.

How do we connect with each other despite all of this fear?  I’ll ask it a little differently. How do we navigate  building trust and vulnerability with new people/community when everyone is so fearful? 

I don’t want a team of people who think just like me. I want a team with different strengths, flaws and strategies. I want an Orca pod of teammates, like the ones that sunk the billionaires. 

Special thanks to Velocity for taking this chance on myself and the NoGoodDoers. This collaboration with you came as a shock and I’m still shook if I’m being honest. The time spent on creating NOWhere was a huge reminder of why I do what I do and who I do it for. Big thanks to the cast and crew. Everyone of you, I’ve held dear for longer than we’ve known each other and I’m so glad you said YES! You were all honestly my first “must have in this project” list! The amount of curiosity, integrity and availability you bring to this process  is unmatched! Thanks to Symone Sanz who was involved in this work from the beginning. Sorry that you weren’t able to stay on board but I’m so glad I got to meet you in such a way. Shout out to my fam bam! Angie B, Iesha, Ja, Jasmine, Linn, Jae’lyn, Justice, Jenesis and Syncere. I love you all so much and without you this work would not even exist. Thanks to Peter and Nicole and Jason and Jason and John and you and you and you too!

THE TEAM

Performers and Collaborators:

Olivia Anderson (she/her)

Lore Aschoff (they/he)

Will Courtney (he/she/they)

Emma Lawes (she/her)

Nia-Amina Minor (she/they)

Ry Ruby Rose (they/’em/th’air)

dani tirrell (dani)

keyes wiley (keyes/they/them)

Text: Ry Ruby Rose and keyes wiley, sourced in collaboration with cast 

Sound/Music Design: Chari Glogovac-Smith (they/them)  and dj dark wiley

Lighting Design: Meg Fox (she/her)

Scenic Collaborator: Maria Manness (she/her)

Costume Design/Styling: maia melene d’urfé (she/they)

Photography: Cameron Day O’Connell (they/them)

Production/Stage manager: Maria Manness 

LAND ACKNOWLEDGEMENT + RECOURSES

Velocity Dance Center is a part of a settlement on the unceded ancestral lands of the Coast Salish people, specifically, here, the Duwamish People. We recognize that all Coast Salish peoples are the contemporary and rightful stewards of this land.

Along with the land Acknowledgement, we the NoGoodDoers wanted to share our own personal resource center 

Real Rent Duwamish

Gender Justice League

Findhelp.org

Narrow Bridge To Deir al-Balah

Queer Sick Pay Fund

Lavender Rights Project

The WA Therapy Fund