The space between—stories of tension and transformation: examining Whiteness through Black vernacular dance and auto-ethnographic performance

In a context where we cannot return to who we were before, nor reach a definitive conclusion, "The Space Between" embraces the words of Hip-Hop theater pioneer Dr. Rennie Harris: “Once you think you’ve got it is when you’ve lost it” (Harris Rennie Harris Rhythm House Class). The work emphasizes the uncertain and cyclical nature of transformation as a central theme, ultimately engaging autoethnographic performance, Black vernacular dance techniques, and the values of African Diasporic storytelling in the artistic process. This creates a theoretical framework for performance and pedagogy known as the “In-Between.”

The In-Between represents a generative space informed by Hip Hop ontologies. It challenges and reimagines whiteness, homogeneous social structures, and Western ideologies of dichotomous opposition, such as the Subject/Object relationship between performer and audience. This research-creation project situates itself within a lineage of intersectional feminist and critical race theories, utilizing these theoretical frameworks to highlight marginalized ways of knowing and being in the production of embodied, site-responsive knowledge.

DOI: https://doi.org/10.25820/56be-z511.