Mission
Sydnie L. Mosley Dances (SLMDances) works with communities to organize for gender and racial justice through experiential dance-theater performance.
SLMDances works reflect real life experiences central to our identities, and pulls focus to the stories of women and Black folks.
SLMDances engages audiences in the artistic process.
Our dances provoke a visceral reaction to the physicality on stage and incite conversation toward community action. The movement vocabulary fluidly integrates modern dance techniques and movement of the African Diaspora, while dancers frequently use their voice with spoken text and audible breath.
SLMDances performances, workshops, and community engagement programs appeal to a sense of humanity. Through this work artists, audiences, and attendees feel more empathy and compassion, connect with ourselves and each other, and activate the practice of imagining.
SLMDances works nationally, with deep relationships in Harlem, New York City, and Baltimore.
We have worked across the U.S., including at The Apollo, Brooklyn Museum, Brooklyn Arts Exchange, Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance, Bowdoin College, Center for the Performing Arts at Penn State University, Cornell University, Dance Brigade (San Francisco), Dance Place (Washington DC), Duke University, Joyce Soho, Harlem Stage, Lincoln Center, Movement Research at Judson Church, Spelman College, Triskelion Arts, Utah Tech, 92nd St. Y, among many others.
SLMDances actively partners with local artists and organizations driving community-based initiatives that amplify our mission for social change through dance theater and Black feminist performance art.
“community-engaged, joyfully interactive works”
Siobhan Burke, Dance Magazine
Core Values
 DreamingDreams bring to our consciousness that which is outside of us. Dreaming is the first step to manifesting a better reality. As Zora Neale Hurston reminds us, “The dream is the truth.” We live our dreams. Our imaginings are realities. Our actions make our imaginings so. |  HumanityWe honor the truth that every individual brings to the work. Each human has a unique experience to offer that is worthwhile and enriches the fabric of our dance. And to that extent, we believe that artists and other collaborators who contribute to the work should be acknowledged for that value. SLMDances embodies a “difference-celebrating culture,” as suggested by Sonya Renee Taylor, and we celebrate you! |  ActivismDance is an agent of change. As an activist tool, dance uniquely positions human creativity and physicality as a catalyst for action. Movement of the body fuels cultural movement, one dance at a time. V (formerly Eve Ensler) states: “Dance is dangerous, joyous, sexual, holy, disruptive, and contagious and it breaks the rules. It can happen anywhere, at anytime, with anyone and everyone, and it’s free. Dance joins us and pushes us to go further and that is why it’s at the center…” |
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 Communityadrienne maree brown teaches us that “Relationships are everything.” SLMDances understands itself in relationship to the various communities of which we are a part, or are invited into. We are rooted in, nurture and remain accountable to each of those communities, from our local experience to our national and global reach. Through collaboration, these communities are involved at every level of process. We believe mutually beneficial partnerships can fulfill the needs and wants of all involved. |  LearningNtozake Shange writes, “it is possible to start a phrase with a word and end with a gesture/ that’s how i’ve lived my life/ that’s how i continue to study/ produce black art.” SLMDances devises dances of words and gestures, thoughts and actions, creating opportunities for peer learning, research, critical thinking, discussion, and reflection. SLMDances is not an expert on any topic it tackles, but rather, we deeply listen and share what we discover in every class, rehearsal and performance. |  TransparencyWe value honesty in our movement, activism and organizational practices. It is the earnestness of actually falling, and getting back up again that creates the visceral nature of our work. We witness one another in this practice. We embody Aja Monet’s understanding that when we witness each other and our mother’s movements in this world, “it informs [our] own, their labor to love and live freely, their joy and their pain, their magic and madness.” |
Vision
SLMDances is a creative home for trans, cis, nonbinary, queer, disabled, fat, masculine presenting, Black women and femmes of many generations.
We are dreaming of the liberation of these humans. We understand that by centering and prioritizing their story - they who fall at the intersections of many oppressions - that we may have the tools ultimately free all human beings.
Inspired by SLMDances' 2014 work CAKE, we developed a clear statement and approach to race and gender for our artistic work, articulated and documented during SLMDances' 2017 strategic planning process. Learn more about who our work is for and how we work to manifest that.