Johari Mayfield is a choreographer and dancer based in New York. But she didn't arrive at her calling through the traditional route. It was all because of a jump rope; Mayfield was a double dutch competitor in school, and just happened to follow a friend to a dance class one day. She
discusses her multi-disciplined training and background, the pressures
she feels to conform to contemporary orthodoxy as a black woman, and why she works with kids and not adults.
She also talks about the show she's developing at the HERE Arts
Center; it's about Saartjie Baartman, the Venus Hottentot. Baartman, a South African woman, was exhibited around Europe as part of a freak show during the 19th century because of her exaggerated nether regions.
Excepts from Mayfield's piece can be seen at HERE's Culturemart
presentations in January 2010 (29 minutes).