Ma’at Works Dance Collective
a project-based dance collective for time documenters. story tellers. conjurers. healers for black futures & avid believers in science fiction.
.about me.
Mawu Ama Ma’at G. Oyesii, a Brooklyn, NY native currently residing in Philadelphia is a black, queer, Caribbean and multi hyphenate artist. They have choreographed and conducted research globally. Their movement practice is rooted in West African dances deriving from Guinea and Senegal. The praxis they are currently building pulls away from monolithic thoughts of contemporary art. Conversely it leans on multimodal methodologies to move through narrative linguistics rooted in rhythm, community and invitation.
still curious. take a look at my formal biography, here.
something soft is a multimodal performance ritual exploring modalities of softness through diverse ideas of technology. Through multiple invitations we invite the audience into rhythmic somatic patterns, sensory exercises and lullabies to reimagine how we hold, suspend and care for ourselves. Afro Presentism speaks of the future as a moving present. We implore these strategies and use technologies from Alexis Pauline Gumbs, undrowned to imagine ourselves in our softest humanity. The work is inspired by black, neurodivergent, queer, trans and non-binary folk. This work premieres in the Spring of 2024. Our work is made possible through the support of the Painted Bride, the National Performance Network the Velocity Fund and the Leeway Foundation through the Window of Opportunity Grant. Learn more about the project, here.
.current works.
Photographed
Felisha George, Mawu Gora and Jah Elyse Sayers
Photography
by Hanifah Griffith
.works.
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This work explores the natural phenomenon of sunsets as a guide to deep acceptance and empathy. The work symbolizes the connective threads of individuality amongst collectively. What ways do we rise and set? How does witnessing these happenings transform our daily worlds? Sunset Hour is an analogy for the range of possibility in our human existence. This work is a small seed of consideration. Check it out, here
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This duet focuses on the exploitation of black femme bodies through sex trafficking, kidnapping and organ trafficking. Hundreds of black girls go missing every year and it is very rare for these girls to get news coverage or thorough investigation. We address this neglect in reporting by memorializing the missing girls. A song is sung at the end which is a farewell song to those who have passed. We wish them safe travel and we tell their stories in hopes of protecting, informing and paying homage. Check it out, here.
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This work explores our relationship to self isolation within grief. I made this in light of breakups, breakthroughs and my trauma with trains. Check it out, here.
.some old work.
Project Assata: Conscious States of Rage is a four year exploration of time through Assata Shakur. it lends inspiration from original text from Shakur’s autobiography, which captured, frightened and inspired me. i draw a line through past and present, intertwining myself, Shakur and the movement artist involved— every movement artist, from every iteration of the work. establishing an intergenerational dialogue about rage as resistance and rage as a means of healing. images of all of our bodies captured in the present. reimagining a future of existence as resistance, rage as pleasure process and history as a guide to new black futures.
.collaboration.
.images captured by Angel Edwards from Project Assata: Conscious States of Rage. Featured artists: Tyra Jones-Blain, Lee Edwards, Ye’Tsunami Graciella Maiolatesi, Sophiann Moore, Amethyst Quint Lattimore, Edwina Theurtulien and SJ Swilley
