DOMINICA GREENE
Artist Statement
I am a bi-racial Black woman of Caribbean heritage navigating the world through time and trance-based movement practices. Wrestling with imposter syndrome and feelings of displacement, I have consistently turned to my body for a sense of safety and belonging. Over my twenty-five years of movement study, I've discovered that the body harbors wisdom only accessible through movement. Consequently, I regard dance as one of the most fundamental conduits of existential and ancestral knowledge. My objective as an artist is to craft language and environments that serve as mirrors to this truth, guiding as many people as possible toward experiencing it within themselves.
My praxis is deeply rooted in philosophy. I propose that dance encompasses anything that moves; thus, any existing entity or object possesses the capacity to dance or be perceived as such. Demonstrating this theory, my physical output embodies the concept that dance is a natural phenomenon, which can be dissected into two sub-concepts. First, dance is an innate and pre-existing entity, integral to human nature. Second, the body, composed of matter derived from natural elements such as the Earth and land, is itself a reflection of nature, making dance a personification of nature’s elements. My physical practice, an improvisational amalgamation of somatic principles, raving, ancestral channeling, and imperceptibly slow movement, enables me to engage tangibly and energetically with these elements on the physical and spiritual planes. I practice durationally to achieve trance state, where I believe the mind, body, and spirit converge in energetic confluence. It is from this apex that I craft my work, exploring the intersections of movement, energy, and spirit.
What if the body could be employed as a channel to transmit energy and wisdom both subliminally and abstractly, influencing our surroundings to create safer, more holistic, and more livable ecosystems? With this question at the heart of everything I create, I construct immersive ecosystems that delve into themes of legacy, time, humanity, and love. Fascinated by the ways we consciously and unconsciously embody our ancestors, I infuse my work with references to ecology and botany as metaphors for lineage and generational inheritance. My total investment in presenting palpably human (and thus natural) experiences inspires me to open portals which guide both the purveyors and spectators of my work into trance state. If an audience member is left thinking “I feel like I can do that,” I have achieved my goal.