InfiniteBody

art and creative consciousness by Eva Yaa Asantewaa

I think with all of the unknowns, it’s all a matter of regrouping and adjusting to society. With times of uncertainty, creativity visits the mind to help regroup old plans and thoughts and reinvent them in today’s time.

An Interview with MurdaMommy

BY EMMALY WIEDERHOLT; PHOTOS BY JASON PINKNEY

MurdaMommy is a footwork dance and music artist based in Chicago’s South Side. Her recent #TakeOffFridays give-away competition series and Take Flight footwork Zoom classes seek to engage and address the needs of her community through dance. Here, she describes her entrance into footwork culture, how her community has been affected by the pandemic and protests, and how footwork has adapted to virtual spaces.

Dance As Justice

By JEREMY GUYTON

Multiple times throughout our interview, she stated, “Footwork saves lives.” MurdaMommy offered examples of the role of the footworker as a peacemaker and mediator in the community; if an altercation is brewing or police show up to an event, footworkers immediately begin dancing, placing their bodies on the frontlines to elevate the energy and protect their community from state-sanctioned violence. Footwork, she said, literally saves lives.