Watch this space introduces new faces and new voices. This month we catch up with choreographer and artist Malik Nashad Sharpe
BlackoutUK: Who are you?
Malik: I’m Malik Nashad Sharpe. I perform choreography under the alias Marikiscrycrycry. Three cries like three cheers.
B. Where are you from?
M: I am originally from the New York City area, growing up between the suburbs and Brooklyn. I currently live in London with my partner.
Photo: Judit van der Made
B: So what’s new?
M: I’m currently making new work, and intensively thinking about pro-Queer, pro-Black aesthetics, what the materials are to make those things visible. I am thinking about amplification: How do I amplify the culture and things that I know, against a fervent European backdrop. I want to try and figure how to say, ‘These dances are just as important as the ones that we always see on stage, or in galleries.’
B: What got you started?
M: I decided to become a choreographer after studying under Hana van der Kolk, who introduced me to an entire circuit of queer and radical performances taking place in Europe and the USA. It was furthered by a workshop that I took with Tere O’Connor, a fabulous NYC choreographer who basically freed my work from thematic imposition within choreography. My work cannot be tamed into themes and linear narratives–it responds in a multilayered way to what I see and experience.
Photo: Share Roman
B: What do you have to say that you think black queer/SGL men need to hear?
M: You are enough–In fact, you are more. You are magical. You deserve much more than this world has given and I really mean that. My hope is that you keep creating spaces, cultures, and movements that are unapologetic and supportive. Keep creating spaces to be unapologetic about who you are and what you want. Destroy stuff if you need to.
Keep creating spaces to be unapologetic about who you are and what you want. Destroy stuff if you need to.
B: How can people see your work?
M: Follow my Facebook page Marikiscrycrycry, and my website maliknashadsharpe.com–I post loads of opportunities to engage with my work through those venues. I’m open to collaborate with just about anyone.
B: What’s next?
M: I’ve got so much going on thankfully – I’ve co-curated this festival called JOY&DISSENT at Hackney Showroom where we are showing some bold work from the underbelly of London’s radical performance scene. I am also showing two works in the festival – “SAD KING” with Dutch producer yEs!yEs! which premiered at Brooklyn Arts Exchange and FiveMyles Gallery in November 2016, and “$elfie$” a new work that is still in development being made in conjunction with Fierce Festival.
I am also starting work on a new co-authored duet with Montreal-based Ellen Furey titled “NO NATIONALISM”. We have residencies scheduled this summer at Studio 303 in Montreal, CA, and Vermont Performance Lab in Guilford, USA. Lastly, I’ve got some writing being published in Hannah Henderson’s newest text “Being, in a state of erasure” titled “PLURALISM WILL NEVER DIE” – you should check it out when it comes out later next month.
Malik co-curates Joy & Dissent: a festival of cultural activism at Hackney Showroom from 27 March to 9 April 2017. Malik performs two pieces as part of the festival’s ‘Joy Shorts II’ on Saturday 8 April. For more information and to book tickets, go to https://www.hackneyshowroom.com/joydissent/
Photo: Judit van der Made
Cover photo: Julia Bauer
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