ADF and DANCECleveland to premiere 

Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber
by
GREGORY VUYANI  MAQOMA and MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH

Premieres Thursday, February 25 at 7:00pm EST
(available for viewing 30 days following the premiere)

This is a FREE event although there is a suggested donation of $10.
 

Building upon their partnership over the past few years and with a desire to work together to support artists and their creativity during this extraordinary moment in time, The American Dance Festival (ADF) and DANCECleveland have commissioned a new dance film by South African choreographer Gregory Maqoma and poet, arts activist, and educator Marc Bamuthi Joseph. The new work, "Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber," will premiere online on February 25th at 7:00pm EST. The screening will be followed by a conversation with the artists moderated by Gina Belafonte and Jefferson Tshabalala. The work will be available for additional viewings for 30 days following the premiere.

"Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber" is a trans-Atlantic, pandemic-backdropped missive between almost strangers. Gregory Maqoma and Marc Bamuthi Joseph met in the fall of 2020 to begin discussing the matter of Black life as filtered through 25 years of South African democracy and one particularly hot summer on the American racial timeline. The result is a piece that connects these world-scaled events to the intimacy of the artists’ respective homes and sanctuary spaces. "Untold Secrets of the Heart Chamber" is an 18-minute long dance film/live performance shot on two continents in the time of COVID-19. Edited by David Szlasa and performed by Maqoma and Joseph, the work ponders democracy, what grandmothers leave behind, and the safety extended from Black fathers to their sons.