ARTIST STATEMENT
Dancing for world peace might seem idealistic to some during this time of deep global unrest and injustices, but I believe that change on a large level begins with change within. While My Guitar explores the following questions: How do we feel in an embodied and personal way, the sorrow and injustice we see in the world, rather than distracting ourselves from it? How can we take responsibility for our own peace in the midst of outward turmoil? How do we negotiate and perhaps even disturb physical and emotional boundaries, through movement, to provoke awareness and maybe even empathy? Dance as authentic provocative dissent is the vehicle used in While My Guitar, to explore these questions, and hopefully move the viewer into true healing as well as personal action that is aligned with peace.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Dr. Tumí Johnson is a Nigerian-American dancer, poet, and medical doctor. Tumí creates and performs Healing Poemdances, dances that are crafted from her poetry as well as her experience as a physician, to powerfully instigate and propel the unique healing experience of the viewer. Tumí is board certified in Internal Medicine and is also a diplomat of the American Board of Integrative Holistic Medicine. She is also a former Presidential Scholar in the Arts and while living in New York City (NYC), danced professionally as a member of a NYC-based Contemporary dance company. In the fall of 2011, Tumi moved to Paris and there, she began creating her first Healing Poemdance. Tumí has since performed these dances globally, including in several performance spaces in NYC, including Judson, Dixon Place, and WAXWorks. Her live performances and/or videos of her Healing Poemdances, have been exhibited in art and performance spaces outside the U.S., including France, Italy, Haiti, Croatia, Slovenia, Spain, Tanzania, and Thailand. Tumí believes that humanism begins with awareness, and her Healing Poemdances are offered as evocative experiences through which human landscapes can be explored.
© Tumí Johnson