Jamming the Whole Way Through 

Step into the darkness and let the journey begin with xxJAMxx – a performance score in four parts that challenges, transforms, and converges personal practices and values. As part of Cannonball’s CRASH series presented at FringeArts, xxJAMxx is crafted collaboratively by Angel Shanel Edwards, Jonathan González, and Marguerite Angelica Monique Hemmings in 2021, xxJAMxx takes the audience on a mesmerizing improvisational exploration of movement, sound, and being, “, that attends to the preposterous task of performing and being Black.”

Entering the space, there is complete darkness and silence. Audience members are given miniature flashlights to guide their way to an open seat. As audience members proceed further into the space, a performer is lying on the floor at the side of the stairwell leading to the balcony. The performer is on their back, engaging in scissor kicks, seemingly as a way to warm up, while being aware of their proximity to others.

Upon the start of the performance, the performer lying down begins to vocalize adlibs. Suddenly, there were voices heard saying various adlibs from all over the room. These individual voices connect and become a call and response. The first dancer is seen making their way on the ground level throughout the main space. From upstage of the audience, another performer arises and joins the main space by rolling, crawling, and sliding alongside the other performer. The house lights are still down, so audience members are using the individual miniature flashlights intermittently as a way to light the performers. This creates an effect that decorates the dancers as 3-D shadows..

Slowly, dancers rise to their knees in the mid-range as a third dancer enters from offstage, also vocalizing excited interjections. They all join together between the mid-range and high range, with weight shared among them. Silence accompanies the dancers, so there are audible giggles, heavy breathing, and grunts. Gradually melting together into a lounging position on the floor, a screen lights up and begins to play, showcasing Ishmael Houston Jones’ and Fred Holland’s “Wrong” Contact Manifesto (1983).

The three dancers stare adoringly as we watch Houston Jones and Holland improvise with each other. Dancers on stage begin to mimic the movements that are playing on a loop. Continuing to travel throughout the audience, dancers begin playing with their hair and neck scarves. The gentle, forgettable background noise gradually grows into noticeable white noise with static. One dancer stands behind a podium and sparks a lighter from their pocket. They begin to smoke in the theater and bob their head to the sound, beginning to transition to a deep lo-fi beat that grounds the space. This position reminds of a DJ at a party influencing the vibes of the atmosphere. The other two dancers are in different sections of the audience, jamming to the changing beat with sways and head bobs.

The call and response between them increasingly becomes adult in language. Clothing articles begin to be removed by each performer to reveal more and more skin. The swaying and head bobs become an increasingly active shaking that overtakes the entire body. This continues for a few minutes as the dancers travel throughout the performance space. Performers speak during this shaking, describing the feeling as increasingly satisfying. One dancer ends up being partially nude as they continue to remove more layers of their top.

In this immersive experience, performers move through a live and emergent manifesto, a response to Houston Jones’ and Holland’s “Wrong” Contact Manifesto. They embrace the ‘wrongness,’ allowing it to permeate their bodies in relation to the performing arts and expressions of Black life. As the performance space becomes a canvas for creative collisions and expressive recharging, xxJAMxx offers a unique and thought-provoking exploration of the boundaries of performance, identity, and cultural expression. It’s a Cannonball Crash into FringeArts that leaves a lasting impression on the audience’s senses and perceptions.