Gate 56

A Modern-Day Griot Telling Black Folk Stories through a Contemporary Dance Lens.

 

Adult Cast

Tisiphani Mayfield, Chancie Star,

Amaya Yasmin Esteves, Nicole Spence, Orion, Evan,

& Prince Adrean

MHSA Student Cast

Shawn’Nique AlLen-Bradford, Jaida V. McCoy,

Stefani Tillman, Sanaa Malik, John Hughes,

Ivy’Anna Leichman, London Holmon,

Kaia Woods-Hunter, Dnaija Robinson, & Micah I. Hart

 

 Hidden in Plain Sight 1 & 2

The work begins with dancers performing throughout the exhibits. This piece serves as a reminder that Hoodoo, Rootwork, and Conjure are technologies of survival—practices that lived in the cotton fields, in the healing hands of Granny midwives, and remained alive in beauty and barbershops. What was once hidden was never lost; it was simply waiting for the right moment to be witnessed, honored, and remembered.

 

Two Sides, Same Coin

(Praise and Worship )

“Two Sides One Coin” 

Praise and Worship

“Two Sides One Coin” explores the layered spiritual lives carried by many within the Black American experience—where the sanctuary and the root bag, the hymn and the whisper, coexist rather than compete. Set within the language of praise and worship, the choreography reveals a quiet tension and harmony between institutional faith and the ancestral practices of Hoodoo. These traditions are not portrayed as opposites, but as parallel technologies of survival, protection, and healing—each answering a different call of the spirit.

Through embodied prayer, grounded gestures, and cyclical ritual motifs, the dancers move between reverence and remembrance, discipline and intuition. The work honors those who shout on Sunday morning and set lights and prayers on their altars at night; those who navigate sacred dualities without contradiction. “Two Sides One Coin” asks the audience to witness faith as expansive—rooted in lineage, resilience, and lived necessity. In this dance, worship becomes both communal and personal, visible and hidden, revealing that what appears divided may, in truth, be whole.

“Two Sides One Coin” explores the layered spiritual lives of those who move between the church and Hoodoo, revealing these practices not as contradictions but as parallel technologies of survival, protection, and healing. Rooted in praise and worship, the choreography weaves embodied prayer with grounded ritual gestures to honor the quiet dualities many carry—shouting in the sanctuary while tending to ancestral practices in private. The work suggests that faith is expansive and lived, shaped by lineage and necessity, and that what appears divided is, in truth, a unified expression of resilience and devotion.

 

Whispers of The Past

“Whispers of the Past: A Day in the Life of Three Generations” traces a family’s journey from everyday joy to the rupture of sudden loss, as the passing of the matriarch shifts the emotional and spiritual center of the household. What begins in warmth and routine fractures into grief and tension, revealing how memory, responsibility, and ancestral wisdom move through the body and across generations. As the family navigates sorrow, the matriarch’s unseen guidance lingers, and the quiet transmission of magic—ritual knowledge, resilience, and care—settles into the next generation, transforming loss into legacy and continuity.

 

Let the Circle Be Unbroken (Interlude) &

“At The Crossroads” Roberts Story

“At the Crossroad: Robert’s Story” follows a story where a man is standing at a pivotal moment where choice, consequence, and destiny collide. Rooted in the symbolism of the crossroads, the dance explores the tension between fear and faith, past and possibility, as Robert confronts the weight of his decisions and the unseen forces that shape his path. Through shifting dynamics and grounded movement, the work reveals an internal negotiation—what must be released, what must be claimed, and who he must become to move forward. The crossroads becomes both a physical and spiritual threshold, marking the moment where uncertainty transforms into intention and a new chapter begins.

 

Hi(gh) John

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an excerpt from Echoes of Tomorrow by Micah I. Hart & John Hughes

Echos of Tomorrow : Snippet 

      Choreography: Micah Issiah Hart & John Hughes

Hi(gh) John

Working the Roots

“Hi(gh) John: Working the Roots” draws from the folklore of High John the Conqueror as a symbol of resilience, cunning, and spiritual resistance within the Black diasporic tradition. The choreography embodies the labor of “working the roots”—the intentional practice of tending to ancestral knowledge, protection, and transformation through ritualized movement and grounded physicality. Shifting between playfulness and power, the dancers navigate struggle with wit and spirit, honoring the ways hidden wisdom and everyday magic sustain communities across generations. The work becomes a celebration of survival, where folklore, labor, and spiritual practice intertwine to affirm endurance and quiet triumph.

 

Conjuring Tomorrow: A Ritual of Becoming

Conjuring Tomorrow: A Ritual of Becoming

“Conjuring Tomorrow: A Ritual of Becoming” is a dance of transformation that centers the body as a site of vision, memory, and possibility. Through ritualized movement, repetition, and intention, the work explores how we summon futures not yet seen while carrying the weight and wisdom of what came before. Each gesture becomes an offering—shedding old skins, naming desires, and calling forth new selves. Rooted in ancestral knowledge and forward-facing imagination, the dance frames becoming an active, spiritual practice, where hope is crafted through movement and tomorrow is conjured with every step.