Compassion and grace are two of the many dimensions of love. When we employ these in our love relationships we can acknowledge differences that make us all more aware. This in turn renders personal responsibility and the acceptance. It is very possible for healing from the hurt bestowed upon us through betrayal, dishonesty and manipulation. In this healing, when we are extend grace and compassion to ourselves, we can forgive ourselves and others. However, forgiveness does not mean you are required to place those people into your life. You can love, but the access does not have to be granted.
Currently in the research phases of my newest work ‘rare.black.roses.’ This experimental video acknowledges commonality but is more focused on the intricacies of being human. Within queer communities we are often regarded through identity politics. But, what if my story was just special?
Dancers: L. Briggs, Benji Stevenson + Patrick Otsuki
Music: unhinged virtue by Colin Harden
Choreography/Videography: Okwae A. Miller
‘Most of us learn early on to think of love as a feeling. When we feel deeply drawn to someone, we cathet with them; that is, we invest feelings or emotion in them.’ -bell hooks
Dancing Artists: L. Briggs, Benji Stevenson + Patrick Otsuki
Music: Circles by Visionist
Choreography/Videography: Okwae A. Miller
At the top of the year, I took a three week sabbatical to California to just heal and work through the pressures of everything that happened to me in 2020. As I took a visit to the water, I reflected and screamed in crying rage. It was for the first time I understood that I was existing in in sorrow, grief and the belief that I was losing. I started to move my body, and tell the story of what I wanted my life to be moving forward. I wanted to live. No regrets, no resentment, no shame, no guilt.
Spirituality is the willingness to unite the way we think with the way we act. All awakening to love is a spiritual awakening. In silence, dancer Lyrric Jackson, journeys through a cosmic meditation to place those things that once existed in the past to continue healing and actualization.
Dancer: Lyrric Jackson
Choreography: Okwae A. Miller
Editing: Okwae A. Miller