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Beyoncé's Super Bowl Spectacles and Choreographies of Black Power in the Movement 4 Black Lives

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  25 October 2021

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Abstract

In this article, I argue that the spectacle of American football, and the performance practices of HBCU dance lines birthed within it and seasoned in queer nightclubs, propelled Black “femme-inintiy” from the sidelines to the center of choreographic and discursive practices of Black liberation. I wed queer Black feminism with Yoruba cosmology to analyze three protests instigated during three NFL events in 2016: Beyoncé's Super Bowl performance, the direct actions of Black Lives Matter activists at the Super Bowl, and Assata's Daughters’ protest at the NFL Draft. Ultimately, I theorize the generative potential of spectacle and uplift the organizing and labor of queer Black femmes and gender nonconforming people in the Movement 4 Black Lives.

Keywords

Assata's DaughtersBeyoncéBlack feminismBlack femme-ininityBlack Lives MatterHBCU dance teamsj-settequeer Black feminism
Type
Article
Information
Dance Research Journal , Volume 53 , Special Issue 2: Arms Akimbo: Black Women Choreographing Social Change , August 2021 , pp. 161 - 176
Copyright
Copyright © The Author(s), 2021. Published by Cambridge University Press on behalf of the Dance Studies Association

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References

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