Art Under Construction: WATERWORKS Fellow Naia Neal
January 2
ABOUT THE WORK
My work is a dance-theater exploration of Black womanhood, our lineage, our multiplicity, our sisterhood, our joy, and our becoming of who we are in a world so often focused on telling us what we are not. The piece follows a cast of nine dancers through a journey that begins with a vibrant call of community, sisterhood, and celebration. As the dance develops, subtle fractures appear: moments where doubt, disconnection, and inherited pressures seep into the shared joy. The initial contentment of our bareness in bringing all that we are to spaces is suddenly replaced with a faint feeling of inadequacy. These feelings drive an exploration of five declarations about ourselves - declarations that speak not only to me but to all Black women: we are fearfully and wonderfully made, we are stronger and resilient beyond comparison, we are creative in spirit, we are rich in lineage, and we are the daughters of the Most High King. Through movement, spoken word, and dialogue, the work navigates identity, becoming, and the journey of arriving at an indisputable truth about our being: you belong and you are enough.
Why This, Why Now
The urgency of the pieces lies in the insistence that Black women are enough in their fullness, an idea still too often overshadowed by narratives of limitation, expectation, and erasure. Although the body of work unapologetically centers Black stories while amplifying the layered truths of our existence, the pursuit of belonging is a universal struggle, and the undeniable truth that we are enough as we are, is one that we all need a constant reminder of. We exist in a time when we are constantly seeking ways to elevate ourselves, reflecting on things that we wish we would’ve known sooner and need to implement now in order to achieve greatness later. When asked“What would you tell your younger self?,” the array of offered answers can be overwhelming and deafening. But underneath the noise, almost every answer, whether whispered or declared, returns to the same core, something we all strive to know and believe as truth and wish we would’ve known sooner: You belong. You are enough. This work seeks to create space for reflection, affirmation, and collective healing. It is an offering of joy and vulnerability, a reminder of the beauty and value found in our bareness.
Concept
At the heart of the project are the five declarations mentioned above. These affirmations guide the structure of the piece and the emotional arc of the dance. The movement language blends grounded Black foundational movement, balletic, modern and contemporary technique, and theatrical storytelling, accompanied by percussive polyrhythms, jazz, strings, piano, and cinematic crescendos. Spoken word and dialogue thread throughout the work.Their presence aims not to tell the full story, but to open the door, offering glimpses that invite audiences to add their own voices to the narrative. The clarity of the messages exists alongside an invitation to discuss meaning, to reveal, to question, and to invite audiences into the narrative. The piece honors the expansiveness of Black womanhood while carving space for joy, sisterhood, resistance, and becoming. It is, ultimately, a love letter, both to who we were and who we are becoming.