Shot and Captured Turf , YAK Films, and the Oakland, , R.I.P. Project Naomi Bragin

When a group comprised primarily of African-derived “people” — yes, the scare quotes matter — gather at the intersection of performance and subjectivity, the result is often [...] a palpable structure of feeling, a shared sense that violence and captivity are the grammar and ghosts of our every gesture. — Frank B. Wilderson, III (2009:119)

barred gates hem sidewalk rain splash up on passing cars unremarkable two hooded figures stand by everyday grays wash street corner clean sweeps a cross signal tag white R.I.P. Haunt

They haltingly disappear and reappear.1 The camera’s jump cut pushes them abruptly in and out of place. Cut. Patrol car marked with Oakland Police insignia momentarily blocks them from view. One pulls a

1. Turf Feinz dancers appearing in RIP RichD (in order of solos) are Garion “No Noize” Morgan, Leon “Mann” Williams, Byron “T7” Sanders, and Darrell “D-Real” Armstead. Dancers and Turf Feinz appearing in other

TDR: The Drama Review 58:2 (T222) Summer 2014. ©2014 New York University and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology 99

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100 Naomi Bragin expression ofmourninganddeath. ing ofblackperformance created inthewakeofyetanotherfriend’spassingdovetailswithfilm’sparticularlyaptstag- Stage: Set. Scene:ShotandCaptured. Frozen inadeeplunge; thecarmaneuvers aroundhisstillsilentbody. he stepsintothestreet. Disappears. Cut. Reappears. Robotically, hedirects traffic. Cut. stretch skyward. Handsgripforinvisiblesupport. Waking inmourning. Cut. as thecorner A carturns pickup,drumbeat’s onerituallycrosseshimself. aclassicturfingmove Heperforms crossroads. Pan back downontwo bodies. Identified. MacArthurand90th. Swollen chords. Intimetothe distended strains ofsynthesizerchords. Swelling soundtrack. Closefocusinontwo street signsmarking keffiyah down revealing brown. Skin. Cut. corner,Patrol carturns leavingtwo bodieslingering amidst (Screen grab of courtesy YAK Films) FEINZ RIP RichD Dancing in the Rain.”just be dancin.” “TURF YAK Films, Oakland, CA, 2009. Leon “Mann” Williams (behind car) remove of the cops’ their hoods under the terms better “Y’all warning, Figure 1. (previous page) Capturing the scene of routine police violence. Garion “No Noize” Morgan and matic realityconditioninglifeinEastOaklandneighborhoods. bodies andsituatesthehooddanceofturfingincontexteverydaypoliceviolence simultaneously framesthedemandforblackperformanceinexistentialcriminalityof hostile termsunderwhichblackmalesmaystandonstreetcorners(MTV2013b). The scene “we diditinonetake,” thepolice’spartingwarning [...] amoreinarticulableevilofbanality” (171). were thereonthestreetlookingforthiseventinfirstplace, asamatterofroutinebusiness tutes theparadigm repetition rehearse “an invidiousethosofexcess” (MartinotandSexton2003:173)thatconsti- 2013), demonstratingtheperformativityofinterfaceitself. Inthestreetandonline, actsof monitored movement. effect ofthepolicecarpassingoverperformers’bodies. Blacknessexistsinthemomentof cation ofblackbodiesundertheregulatorysanctionlaw removal ofgloves, hood, andkeffiyahtoshowbrownskinmarkstherevelationidentifi- which theyoungmen’sevidentlycriminallingeringbreaksintostreetsideperformance. The to showup, confirmstheinevitabilityofnarrative. Policepresenceistheconditionunder sanctioning. That thefilmwasnotstoryboardedinadvanceandpolicejust “happened” able scene:twoyoungblackmenbidingtimeonastreetcorneraresubjecttosurveillanceand The openingshotsofthefour-minute YouTube filmRIPRichD (2009c)relayarecogniz- PerformanceBlack Liveness/Black 2. On theSeason Two openingepisodeofMTV’sWorld ofJenks, dancerD-Realrecallshow YouTube userscanreplaythesceneinperpetuity(nearlysixmillionviewsasof11December Hood” at MTV.com (MTV 2008) . tional hood dance videos, see host Lenaya “Tweetie” Straker and producer Sway Calloway’s “ From Tha spaces (home, rooftop, bus stop, YouTube) hold potential to become stages throughFor performance. - instruc borhoods. Hood dances I use the term Ben Tarquin. Looney” Thompson, and Denzel “Chonkie” Worthington. YAK Films Kashif “Bboy Phlauz” Gaines, William Latimore, Davarea McKinley, Jeremiah “Joyntz” Scott, Rayshawn “Lil RIP videos are Larry Alford,videos are Eric Larry “E-Ninja” Davis, Deondrei “Pstyles” Donyell, Danny “Bboy Silver” Fiamingo, hood dance to define dances created in response to local histories of specific urban neigh- — not inanyspectacularactofviolencebutrather “in thefactthesecops circulate through club, theatre, street, cyberspace, and studio, such that even unexpected — a stagingthatcapturesthesociallifeofturfingasanembodied — “y’all betterjustbedancin” is Yoram Savion, Kash Gaines, and 2 — The factthatRIPRichD was accentuated bythevisual — the Busta. Arms

— setting the — a trau- Shot and Captured 101 - when Student Essay Contest Co-Winner Student Essay and the collaborating artists solicit empathy for and politicized awareness

Sasha Torres has noted television studies scholar Jane Feuer’s description of an “ideology of has noted television studies scholar Jane Feuer’s description of an Torres Sasha ensures the demand for blackness-as-liveness , regard to the screening of RIP RichD With is a PhD candidate in Performance Studies at UC Berkeley. She works at She works Studies at UC Berkeley. in Performance is a PhD candidate Naomi Bragin and ethnography, black theory, studies, critical of dance, performance the intersection Founding Artistic activist, and educator, a street dancer, her background as drawing from “The Black Power Her dissertation, Dance Company. Oakland-based DREAM Director of California of hip hop’s Kinesthetic Politics,” is an ethno-history of Hip-Hop Dance: On politics and ethics of 1960s and 1970s, and a critique of the foundations during the that denies freedom to dance culture in a contemporary context participating in street black people. [email protected] The PhD program in Performance of California, Berkeley, Studies at the University directed at advanced and individually crafted curriculum provides an interdisciplinary theories of performance performances, cultural contexts, and studies in the literatures, Dance, and Performance Based in the Department of Theater, throughout the world. drawn from across the arts, affords access to a rich range of faculty Studies, the program distinguished Berkeley’s sciences. It at once takes advantage of humanities, and social to a wider interrogation of drama and theatre studies, and opens out history in the field of in the PhD program of performance studies. Students the disciplines and methodologies methodologies and topics, and conduct research in a diverse array of interdisciplinary activities that complement dissertation have the opportunity to engage in performance a six-year program (12 semesters). It offers research. The PhD program is designed as of emphasis. Each student determines an core courses, but no predetermined areas field of performance studies, using faculty individual research agenda within the broader and a sense of interdisciplinary resources to develop both a clear field specialization innovation. liveness” that promotes “the false promise of television’s immediate access to and transmission “the false promise that promotes liveness” representations of “authentic” control over Considering televisual 1998:7). (Torres of the real” to encompass what José Esteban Muñoz calls extends the ideology of liveness Torres black life, ‘the live’ mean[ing] in “be only that the minoritized subject a demand “burden of liveness,” the Challenging celebratory imputations of per (1999:189). that one is denied history and futurity” “encouraged [...] especially Muñoz argues that liveness is formance’s radical potential, evidently adds that televisual liveness is most Torres (187). human and civil rights disintegrate” in that its “as one of the chief mechanisms in the reproduction of racial hegemony,” revealed (2003:49). up” ‘live’ blacks tend to proliferate just as dead black bodies are piling “depictions of “substitute[s] for the demand to perform not only I would argue that in the case of blackness, for onto- (Muñoz 1999:188) but moreover is a scheme historical and political representation” same as Experiencing black performance is the logically positioning blackness-as-liveness. a world within What remains overlooked is how, “immediate access to [...] the real.” gaining blackness is absolute negation. predicated on serving and protecting non-blackness, securing the ontological disappearance of that conditions of black life are radically misread, When hood dance is screened on popular social networking sites like Facebook and the black. antiblack discourse extended through its global proliferation and it encounters an YouTube, the hood dance , RIP RichD Through the recognition of blackness as captured life, reception. practice of , the RIP dances gain visibility and in an antiblack world, Circulating of black life and lives lived. insured) by the turf dancers’ embodiment of captivity ensured (and value on the global stage, and death. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01October 2021

102 Naomi Bragin the blackimprovisationprinciples thatvitalizehiphopdance. tacle ofpopulardancerealityshows thatpromoteformulaiccreativepracticesantagonisticto be theprimarywaypeopleview, interpret, and evaluatedance, mostevidentinthejudgingspec- elite andavantgardeEurocentrictradition. Within masscultureaswell, tendsto ciated fromahistoricalprivilegingofsingleauthor, proscenium, concertstageworksthatfollow constitutive. Within dancestudies, thepriorityofatheoreticschoreographycannot bedisso- black socialliferemainslargelyincomprehensibleandignorable, asthetwofactorsareco-­ resources andtheways Western intellectualismproducestheconditions ofpossibilitybywhich ceptual fusion:abstraction, development, structure, coherence, stability, maturity. author-choreography. Whiteness doesnotnecessarilymapontowhitebodiesbutindexesacon- formers” (Kraut2008:57), overandagainstthearbitration ofartiststrainedinwhite Western to framehooddanceastheim/mediate(d), “putatively ‘natural’ expressivebehaviorofblackper ness andblackperformance. Blackness-as-livenessfunctionswithinthechoreocentricoperation cal, spontaneous, disorganized, intuitive, raw, incrisis improvisation binarycontinuestoenablestereotypesof “instinctive blackperformativity” (57). and intentionalthelatterseenasimpromptuhaphazard” (2008:56). The choreography- division betweenchoreographyandimprovisation, withtheformerperceivedaspremeditated ular forms. The choreographer’selevated(infactmythicandtranscendental)statuscreates “a its discursivefunctionsinEuropeanclassicaldanceandcritiquingrelevancetoblackvernac- mance” (2001:44). Likewise, Anthea Krauthistoricizestheconceptofchoreography/er, revealing ative structuring, orthechoreographing, ofhumanmovementinthemomentritualperfor there isnodivisionbetweenimprovisationandcomposition[...]meansthecre- argues: “[I]n African-American vernaculardancinginitsoriginalsocioculturalcontexts, where the conceptofchoreographyencompassedbyblacksocialdancing, asJonathanDavidJackson tic to Western modesofthinkingandbeing. Idistinguishthelogicofchoreocentricityfrom to evaluatepeoplesandculturesthatarenon-Western, notcompletely Western, orantagonis- racialized logicthatsustainsaEurocentricdiscourseofchoreographyasthestandardbywhich (2004:67). action,” communicatingmeaningbothwithinandbeyondtheimmediateperformancecontext DeFrantz’s definitionofcorporeal orature , “align[ing] movementwithspeech[...]toincite black participantslocatedindifferenttimesandplaces. This kinestheticprocessfollows Thomas tive formationandongoinginnovation, hooddancingsupportsanintramuraldialogueamong that locatemovementstyleinthesociallifeofblackneighborhoods. Intheprocessofitscollec- gotten, ignored, ordenied. of aformblackpower sensory-kinesthetic modalitythroughwhichthelogicofracialblackness duction. As importantly, blackstreetdance taining criticallyunstablerelationshipstoformal, andoftenelite, institutionsofartisticpro- that retainintheirpracticesandpoliticsastrongalliancewithdiscourseofthestreet, main- range offormaltechniques, basedinimprovisationanddrivenby African-derived grammars Hood dancesareanelementofblackstreetdance, whichIdefinetoencompassatransnational Hood DanceandChoreocentricity

3. In addition, acritiqueofchoreocentricityconsidersthe limitationsofscholars’discursive Choreocentric logicframeshooddanceaschoreography’sontologicalopposite:nontechni- As amodeofblackthoughtandsociality, hooddanceresiststhetermsofchoreocentricity —a Based inblackimprovisationalpracticesthatteachhiphopaesthetics, hooddancesareacts assimilates hip hop movement into a choreocentric commercial frame, policing total uniformity of timing and Judges on MTV’s America’s Best Dance Crew consistently demand dancers be “clean,” a management strategy that — remains operative, even, andperhapsmoresignificantly, whenfor is aconceptualframeworkforstudyingdanceas — concepts boundupinnotionsofblack- 3 — and theimagination - - ­ - Shot and Captured 103 the — bodies), bodies), being hip hop’s musi- hop’s hip being funk

6 — A playful narrative process 7 blackness funky the smelly, unclean, super-bad. The recent genre genre recent The super-bad. unclean, smelly, the Dances like the “Brookfield” name and name “Brookfield” Dances like the 5 — At the same time, turfing transmediates ritual turfing transmediates At the same time, to describe fictional narratives that develop across media media across develop that narratives fictional describe to 4 discourses that are most effective when their imma- discourses that are most — transmedia transmedia films, bridges embodied and virtual and embodied bridges films, RIP expression. of mediums

commercial/political, entertainment/art, sacred/secular, aural/kinesthetic. Hood dances aural/kinesthetic. sacred/secular, entertainment/art, commercial/political, — ­

Turf movement is highly intertextual, linked to local language, rap lyrics, street culture, and street culture, rap lyrics, linked to local language, movement is highly intertextual, Turf movement. The judging operation effectively cleanses hip hop of its of hop hip cleanses effectively operation judging The movement. everythingfor standing and not does whiteness predecessor cal has evolved in step, marginalizing black improvisation principles of multifocal orientation, rhyth- orientation, multifocal of principles improvisation black marginalizing step, in evolved has choreo hop hip innovation. collective and subtlety, dynamic complexity, mic term the coined has Jenkins Henry While In the early 2000s, dancer Jeriel Bey created the acronym TURF (Taking Up Room on the Floor) to counter neg- counter to Floor) the on Room Up (Taking TURF acronym the created Bey Jeriel dancer 2000s, early the In media increased Bey Angeles, Los from Oakland to moving After 2013). (Bey style the about assumptions ative dance crew sport, city a Architeckz as cofounding and turfing of battles local organizing recognition civic and Zigler. Demetrius with Close Mind, the of Demons Robotroids, the and Granny period: that of fewa only name groups dance To Mechanical aka Messengers Black The Resurgents, Black The Francisco); (San Kind Funkiest the of Encounters Machine Green Robots, Mechanical Lady Androids, Audionauts, Robots, Richmond (Oakland); Devices Jose). (San Inc. Playboyz and (Richmond); called move a created and turfAnimaniackz the (Oakland) of cofounder is crew Neal-De-Stanton “Rawnay” René walk. “stutter” the A theory of hood dance seeks to make scholarship conversant with the discourse of hip with the discourse make scholarship conversant hood dance seeks to A theory of Turfing developed in the early 1990s as people created signature dance moves representing developed in the early Turfing platforms (2006:96), I use the term to consider dance as a kinetic mode of storytellingof mode kinetic a as dance consider to term the use I (2006:96), platforms particularthe in that, the of instance

4. 6. 7. fashion. First-generation turfer Rawnay defines turfing by its “unorthodox movements” based in “unorthodox movements” First-generation turfer Rawnay defines turfing by its fashion. “things we do in our daily life.” storytelling and pantomime about hop practitioners, to participate in the grammar and life of hip hop culture, and to make vis- and to make life of hip hop culture, in the grammar and to participate hop practitioners, own distinct and that maintain their in dance practices labor embedded ible the intellectual - racialized distinc a range of implicitly Hood dancing undoes systems. coherent theoretical tions unmarked ­ forms (and read against institutionalized bodies) are persistently (and black making them immediately available to institutional seizure and control. When hood dance control. available to institutional seizure and making them immediately in larger dis- status gets caught up even anti-institutional, its unstable, YouTube, appears on and blackness courses about black people dance forms circulating in mass media A consideration of hood obscured. nent antiblack logic is and mediation, embodiment, liveness, relations between blackness, foregrounds the stressful mass reception. lay claim to turfs, emphasizing the way hood dance sustains an intramural dialogue among prac- emphasizing the way hood dance sustains an intramural dialogue lay claim to turfs, of history and place performing a consciousness and sites the local, cites Turfing titioners. forms a lineage Turfing roots. soil, also meaning ground, referring to territory but “turf” term nota- 1970s, Area through the 1960s and of the Bay with styles developing in different localities and San Francisco strutting. Richmond roboting, bly Oakland ,

Shot and Captured flowers and streetside altar, the mourning ritual: a hastily constructed East Oakland knows imprinted with T-shirts RIP heavily circulating air-brushed at signposts, teddy bears propped extending these rituals, is a transmediation of RIP RichD loved ones. images of recently passed the mourning ritual from street to cyberspace. tools of mourning into sensory-kinesthetic modes of commemoration. modes of commemoration. tools of mourning into sensory-kinesthetic 2013). their different neighborhoods (Neal-De-Stanton inspires classic moves like “the auntie,” where “you got your hands out and you skippin’, acting and you skippin’, “you got your hands out where “the auntie,” inspires classic moves like “from the Busta Rhymes video [where] you “the Busta,” and like somebody’s auntie that’s mad,” 2008). (in Neal-De-Stanton in the morning” sit down and you squat like you waking up 5. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01October 2021

104 Naomi Bragin cofounders Yoram SavionandKashGainesofferedfree videoproductionclasses. Severalyears lectives gottogetherin2008atEastOakland’s Youth Uprising communitycenter, where YAK of Oaklanddancecollective Turf Feinzandyouthproductioncrew YAK Films. The twocol- place withmeaningandconnection. by definition concert stageistheassumednorm(KloetzelandPavlik2009). Turfing isasite-specificpractice to leavetheprosceniumstageandenter “nonconventional” spaces, markedassuchbecausethe politics ofturfingstandapartfromsite-specificdancesthathighlightachoreographer’schoice momentarily inscribedbutacontaineroflocalhistoriesandcollectivememories. The spatial to buildkinship, continuity, andstability. Spaceisnotablankslateontowhichperformance mating aparticularspatialpolitics. Turfing representsthelocalthrough afeltsenseofmotion, mediates localhistoryasthebodyincorporatesaestheticmaterialofmovementstyle, inti- 8. Figure 2. YAK Films Director Yoram Savion captures Chonkie’s solo on the set of courtesy of courtesy YAK Films) home on MacArthur Blvd across from Youth Uprising, made into a shrine for Kenneth “211” Ross. (Photo cal recordandespeciallyfrommainstreamnewsmediaaccounts. RIP RichD isoneoffourmemorialfilmsfeaturingturfing, created throughacollaboration San Francisco organization Southern arts Exposure’s 2010 juried exhibition. Turf Feinz, and YAK Films, in which the deaths of 211 and RichD are noted (ABC News 2010). RichD’s viral spread, ABC News correspondent Brian Rooney recorded a nationally broadcast segment on turfing, Oakland die prematurely and their deaths often go unnoticed by the public” (Ono and Monji 2010). After perhaps more socially informative “You didn’t hear about and this that death is on what the makes news this memorial video more and important Examiner.com dance correspondents Ian Ono and Jana Monji note this fact in their online segment on Deaths ofblackyouthinOaklandhavegenerallybeenexcludedfromtheofficialhistori- — embedded initstechniquesformovingarewaysofknowingplace andimbuing — the reality is that young neighborhood in Eastblack men in this particular 8 Incontradistinction, turfing RIP 211, an abandoned RIP 211 RIP 211: won RIP Shot and Captured 105 street — crisis of the Three months later, on 21 on 21 Three months later, 9 reflecting the everyday-ness of — films). The jump cut initially served films). videos locate the practice of turfing within the political context of deaths of young videos locate the practice of turfing within was uploaded 17 December 2009, in tribute to RIP 211 was uploaded 17 December 2009, uploaded 27 October 2009.

RIP — tributes dancer D-Real’s brother, Richard Davis, who died at the site of the Richard Davis, brother, tributes dancer D-Real’s RIP RichD

Mehserle was sentenced to two years minus time served and released on parole 13 June 2011. A $50 million civil civil million $50 A 2011. June 13 parole on servedtime minus years two released to and sentenced was Mehserle jeopardy. double Departmentoverride would Justice US the by process in currently Mehserle against suit rights for sued or responsible held be not could entity the that million, so $1.5 for family Grant’s with settled BART his death. was filmed in 2009, a year that dawned with the highly politicized murder of murder of a year that dawned with the highly politicized was filmed in 2009, RIP RichD The films deploy turfing to explore the persistence of death and counter-memory in local in local of death and counter-memory the persistence deploy turfing to explore The films was shot spontaneously after June’s funeral and uploaded was shot spontaneously after June’s funeral RIP June The first of the RIP films, The in The interaction between police and turfers sets the scene of a performance perpetually 9.

filming on the previous day. The collaborating artists’ choice to film and dance at this particular choice to film and dance at this particular The collaborating artists’ day. filming on the previous signaling the specifically racial- the film in the urgency of its creation, time and place grounds in East Oakland. ized condition of death police offi- transit when BART Grant was prostrate and unarmed Grant. Oscar 22-year-old shot him in the back on the platform surrounded by five other officers, cer Johannes Mehserle, Numerous Year. train station in the early hours of the New of East Oakland’s Fruitvale BART cameras to capture and immediately disseminate footage of the riders used cell phone BART a jury found Less than a month after Mehserle’s murder trial began, murder across the web. fueling local uprisings. him guilty of involuntary manslaughter, spaces, working in tension with the transient character of their chosen sites of tribute of their chosen the transient character in tension with working spaces, movement as a citational practices use bodily Turfing homes. abandoned train stations, corners, dance forms and accessing kinship with prior establishing create chains of reference, practice to not reproducible essentially ephemeral, Ideas that performance is collective counter-memory. do not fully address how turfing’s a process of substitution (Roach 1996), or even (Phelan 1996), with especially high stakes for impermanence and create kinship, repertoire works to contest and erasure of their histories (Taylor distortion, to the exploitation, groups historically subject 2003). after the videos’ viral spread, YAK Films has established itself in the global scene in the global street has established itself Films YAK viral spread, after the videos’ dance cultures. local street internationally documenting and travels March 2009, Lovelle Mixon confronted Oakland police, fatally shooting four cops over the fatally shooting four cops over the Lovelle Mixon confronted Oakland police, March 2009, Avenue and MacArthur ending in his murder at 73rd course of a 200-officer hunt down, insurrectionary act in the wake of Residents affirmed Mixon’s 2011). Boulevard (Winston 2009). Grant’s death (Valrey followed RIP RichD was a friend of the dancers. whose death was gun-related, June, 2 May 2009. that fall Avenues Bancroft murdered by police in an alleged shootout at 64th and Ross, “211” Kenneth RIP Oscar final video, The fourth and was a local hero. like Mixon, Ross, on 5 December 2009. months after the Mehserle verdict. RIP Oscar five was uploaded 31 December 2010, , Grant YAK member Kash Gaines chose to shoot and which was the only pre-planned filming, Grant 2011). edit on his own at the dancers’ request (Savion dancers’ imme- turf style supported the of witnessing, As a mode black men in East Oakland. The dancers’ movements enacted and transmitted a diate embodied response to local events. in local spaces paralinguistic record of meanings that persist which leave evidence of a death specific to blackness, The videos death in their communities. terms of its representational capacities and its both in reproduces on multiple levels, RIP RichD initial scene of policing. beginning with the modes of reception, making the turfers’ bodies more cap- for black liveness, Risk of dispersal raises the stakes crisis. The ­ removed. imprisoned, disciplined, tivating with the imminence of being cited, the jump black body’s ongoing erasure is metadiscursively rendered by the repetitive use of cut (an increasingly signature feature of subsequent RIP Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01October 2021 106 Naomi Bragin Turf Feinz member Chonkie. (Screen grab of courtesy YAK Films) June at his shrine on 77th Ave and International Blvd, where he grew up with Figure 3. From the video 11. black bodiescomposetheir(wild, uncultured, free)blackmovement. hood dance, demandinginstitutionalcustodyof(lawless)blackbodiesandthatthese threat ofarrestalignswithachoreocentriclogichostiletotheanti-institutionalposition confrontation betweenpoliceandturfers. The institutionthatsanctionsblackpresenceunder on themonitoringandcontrolofblackmovement, alreadycapturedonscreenintheinitial pear. Drawingattentiontothecameraaseditingtool, thejumpcutprovidesametacommentary alizes thebody’srestrictedfreedomofmovementatsametimethatitmakesbodiesdisap- 10. ally, blacklifeispersistentlyoverlooked(Moten2008:1745). deeper indicationsthatevenasblackculturalproducts(hood dance andmusic)circulateglob- by YAK’s choicetouselocallyproduced music. Implicitintheserepresentationalaestheticsare ing’s dialogueisanaural-kinestheticconsciousnessoftimeand place, affirmedandunderscored the finalcut, leavingtheisolatedmusictrackaudibleto viewers. Whatremainsinternaltoturf- life at90thandMacinsensible(unknowable). Voices, passingcars, fallingrain, aredeletedfrom ability toperceivetheturfers’sensoryenvironment, literally andmeta-discursivelyrendering aural sealaroundtheturfers’liveperformance. YAK’s editingtechniquesmanipulateviewers’ narrative orlinearunfoldingoftime. tinuity, bothimposingafragmentedvisualexperienceontotheviewerandunderminingstable ity accentedinthetransientspaceofstreetcorners. emphatic. The dancers’ghostedbodiesfraytheboundarybetweendeathandlife, theirspectral- vidual body’sstructuralintegrityisthreatenedbyeditederasure, itsephemeralitymademore This aesthetic is most pronounced in centricity to critique attempted erasures of black improvisational practices. understanding of improvisation in what Fred Moten calls the black radical tradition (Moten 2003), using orization of choreography that embodies the political (Lepecki 2013). My reading differently works from my RIP RichD’s post-producedsoundtrackdoublesthejumpcut’sopticerasure, creatingan André Lepecki reads As thedancers’bodieshaltinglydisappearandreappearacrosstimespace, theindi- RIP June, a neighborhood resident signs a message to RIP RichD through the relational concepts of RIP 211. 11 The jumpcutliterallyrupturesvisualcon- choreopolitics and onscreen. The techniquevisu- of capturingthebodyonfilm/ ment, exposingthetechnology their fluidexecutionofmove- jolts thedancers’bodiesoutof representational aesthetics. erasure implicitinRIPRichD ’s rocally todoublethesenseof ing techniquesfunctionrecip- 2011). Video andaudioedit- intended tovisualize(Savion “raw danceexperience” they effect look,” whichfitwiththe tinued todevelopthe “raw, no- COOP (Savion2013). YAK con- ists Yung FX, ErkthaJerk, and cal scoreproducedbylocalart- music) tothebeatsofamusi- formed inthestreetwithout ing theturfers’movements(per the practicalpurposeofmatch- The jumpcutfragmentsand 10 choreopolicing, forming a the - choreo- - Shot and Captured 107 - - - viewing — RichD died in a DUI car crash on the — As the metacritical arresting of move- As the metacritical 12 No Noize intentionally surrogates RichD’s body. His “live” “live” His body. No Noize intentionally surrogates RichD’s — the black male body in/as death. ghosted life, captured freedom, overseen erasure. captured freedom, ghosted life, — — fungible across black male bodies. The dancers’ performances of mourning enact The fungible across black male bodies. evidence of a blackened condition of criminality and violence. — bobble) or mark the “spin at 0:33” (Butter-Butter). The grammar of technicalization (Butter-Butter). “spin at 0:33” bobble) or mark the

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Viewers mimic the visual fragmentation of the jump cut in their own use of the YouTube YouTube jump cut in their own use of the mimic the visual fragmentation of the Viewers Suturing violence-to-criminality-to-blackness, viewer responses implicitly link RichD’s viewer responses implicitly link RichD’s Suturing violence-to-criminality-to-blackness, Positioned in the crossroads, No Noize’s body poses the question: Whose deaths are singu- No Noize’s body poses the question: Positioned in the crossroads, All comments quoted are from the YouTube page (Yak Films 2009c). Throughout, comments are transcribed transcribed are comments Throughout, 2009c). Films (Yak page YouTube the from are quoted comments All as written. YAK’s aural and visual manipulations of the “live” figure the incapacity of the filmed image incapacity of the filmed figure the “live” of the aural and visual manipulations YAK’s Of 1800 comments, 2 mention “police” or “cop,” 45 mention “beauty/beautiful,” 60 mention “beauty/beautiful,” 45 mention “cop,” or “police” 2 mention Of 1800 comments, RichD’s death remains undis- and no/body, Because the anonymous black is both any/body has the effect of anonymizing the dancers’ bodies. Consequently, the body is “RED 2:52–2:54” “RED 2:52–2:54” the body is Consequently, the dancers’ bodies. has the effect of anonymizing (illuzeweb). “2:46 Bodied” (Angel Fernandez) and interface, as they dissect the performance and scrutinize the performers’ bodies the performance and scrutinize the as they dissect interface, more than an inter concern for the efficacy of the body’s performance practices that show a this fragmented mode of spec- Citing specific time counts of the video, est in its personhood. “keep replaying 2:45” choose to so that viewers may mimes the jump cut, tatorship cognitively (mbobska­ death with lawlessness. Notchback1986 comments, “Thumbs up to these guys!! Keeping “Thumbs up to these guys!! Keeping comments, Notchback1986 death with lawlessness. The com- them selves busy with something other than crime!! U guys r awesome keep it up.” “does not live on the symbolic level” mentary circulates antiblack logic wherein the black portrays the excessiveness of black death, portrays the excessiveness of black death, RIP RichD (Sexton 2012). vives after a type of death” The T-shirt) shows no images of RichD. made more notable in that the film (unlike an RIP Death in these cases is transmediation ritual suggests the dead could be any of the performers. expected lar and whose are plural? In the context of structural death, RichD cannot only be grieved pri- RichD cannot only structural death, lar and whose are plural? In the context of the bodies His death is interchangeable across vately but must also represent collective trauma. “a type of living on that sur through performance introducing of family who dance in tribute, to make evident not only these dances of mourning, but also “the discursive frameworks, politi- frameworks, “the discursive but also dances of mourning, not only these to make evident by rendered more visible ‘targets’ are social that ensure that some interests, cal and commercial Denied 2007:xiv). (Marriott urban cities” geopolitical space of than others in the surveillance display of black hobble in a flickering the dancers’ bodies motion and coherence, fluidity of opacity ontological 12. ment provoked by YAK’s jump cut meets the dissection of movement by YouTube users’ view- YouTube of movement by jump cut meets the dissection YAK’s ment provoked by as an object of epistemological, black’s individual life ceases to function “[t]he ing practices, circulate in an antiblack par Commentaries (Gordon 1997:75). concern” or moral aesthetic, interface disables ethical YouTube’s such that adigm that denies personhood to black bodies, political engagements. death slips away Consciousness of black “amaze/ing.” and 125 mention “inspire/ing/ational,” for instance, to believe, “[o]ne is led so that “a racially relative form of anonymity emerges,” as (Gordon that anonymous black” ‘have blacks’ by virtue of having that black, that one can black want “this is not fair...I extraordinary powers to black bodies: ascribe Viewers 1997:75). Desire to incorporate the black body stands in place of (TimUkulele). people’s elasticity genes” existence, “people’s” No longer the result of individual practice but of a the mourned person. that is ultimately status endowed with a super-human the black body stretches beyond bounds, (ddsharper). Right next to God” “Black people are amazing. transcendent: tinguished corner of MacArthur and 90th the streetside altar and makes the living body be the performance simultaneously kinesthetizes object of mourning this surrogation, most potently realized in the film’s initiatory scene as a car swerves to avoid most potently realized in the film’s initiatory scene as a car swerves this surrogation, Replaying the actual event of death hitting No Noize. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01October 2021

108 Naomi Bragin order isrequired byproductive, participatory socialization. and onlooker. The sublimationofragethat would otherwisethreatenthedestructionofasocial social ratherthanpoliticalproblem, enablingahealthyexchangeofemotionbetween dancer must becelebratedasameans of redirectingnegativity. Hooddanceresolvesblack rageasa violent copingstrategy. tive way[...]keepdoinwhatyoudo.” Turfing isapprovedandencouragedwhenusedasanon- feeling expressedthroughmovement. Igivepropstoall youthexpressingthemselvesinaposi- psychosomatically “raw” state. Zitz99comments: “This iswhatdanceallabout, passion/raw tion. The demandforlivenessappearsforcefully whentheperformingbodyisimaginedina “authentic” blackmovementisembeddedwithtropesof crisis, rawprimitivity, andlivelyemo- ened condition, istheburdenoflivenessthatburiesantiblack violence. “dance on.” The demandtoperform, tore-enactthedeathtribute underthetermsofablack- the initialsceneofpolicingwhileupholdingitslogic, meaning theonlyresponsepossibleisto The emotionallyinvestedtoneofthecommentariesiscontagious, divertingattentionfrom brate: “This mademecry[...]stopthehate, stop thekilling, danceon.....danceon” (Melody K). pearance) underwritesthelivenessthataudiencesoverwhelminglyempathizewithandcele- is perpetuated. comment capturesblacknessinthereal, disinterestinthepoliticizeddeathsofblackpeople death, hastheleastviews(140,341asof13December2013). EvenasNotchback1986’s political ofthefilms, addressingacaseofdirectpoliceaggressionandinstitutionallysanctioned young blackmanwhodidnotdiebygunviolence?Incontrast, RIPOscarGrant, themostovertly broadcast between2009and2011, theonedrawingmostinterestbyfarisdedicatedtoa generalization ofblackdeath, refusingRIPRichD thespecificityofitsmourning. blackness 1997:75). The performativeforceofNotchback1986’sstatementisexplicit, mandatingthat but ­ Films, Oakland, CA, 2009. (Screen grab of courtesy YAK Films) No Noize’s dance leaves evidence of RichD’s FEINZ RIP RichD Dancing in the Rain.” death. “TURF YAK Figure 4. Within aprogressive discourseof “urban youth” incrisis, thetransformativepowerofart According tochoreocentriclogicaffiliatedwithromanticnotions ofblackperformance, This structuringconditionofblackness(blacknessthatinhabitsdeath, captivity, anddisap- Is itironicoralso necessarily existsasabody “locked intheserious, materialvaluesofthereal” (Gordon Whose deaths are singular and whose are plural? Body positioned in the path of a passing car, be crime. The assumptionthatblackmenareimmersedincrimegivesrisetothe by anunderlyingantiblacklogicthatoutofthefourRIP videos YAK Films Shot and Captured 109 - “You can [see] “You — performances criminal and in fact, displaying a cer displaying and in fact, — Kant’s humanist ethic that holds hood Kant’s humanist ethic that holds hood 14 affirming hood dance within the setup of monitored setup of monitored hood dance within the affirming —

Figure 5: Turf Feinz dancers (from right) Darrell “D-Real” Armstead, Byron Byron Armstead, “D-Real” Darrell right) (from dancers Feinz Turf 5: Figure “TURF Morgan. Noize” “No Garion and Williams, “T7”“Mann” Leon Sanders, 2009. CA, Oakland, Films, YAK Rain.” the in Dancing RichD RIP FEINZ Films) YAK courtesy of grab (Screen - - “y’all better just be dancing” “y’all better subject to seizure and misattribution. Choreocentricity polices the recognition of Choreocentricity polices the recognition of subject to seizure and misattribution.

— The black body is shot — 13

Celebratory discourse imagines the dancers moving through/with their pain imagines the dancers moving through/with Celebratory discourse JR Valrey writes, “[W]hen we are indiscriminately killed in the streets by police, as in the cases of Oscar Grant, Grant, “[W]henwrites, Oscar of cases the in as police, by streets the killed in indiscriminately are we Valrey JR Gaye, Anita Banjo, Casper Grimes, Adolph Garcia, Annette Diallo, Amadou Story, Donte Mearis, Terrance serve to going is officer police no that Garyand know Bell we [...] King Sean Kathryn Harrison, Aaron Johnston, (2009). time” real any Artsthe for Center memoryin Casquelourd Cameroonian local a of Malonga the renamed ArtsAlice Center, theatre a houses and Oakland performingAfrican-based historic a is arts downtown in institution dancer, master studios. dance and - pre heals pain, modality that in dance as a therapeutic black rage is represented As long as The power of turfing lies in Consequently, the anti-institutionality of hood dance style critically challenges norms of norms of the anti-institutionality of hood dance style critically challenges Consequently, tain lack of sentience to their own suffering. Rage is readable when bottled and silenced within Rage is readable to their own suffering. tain lack of sentience turns of the graceful twists and celebrating the body harmlessly over and against “blackness,” its the politi- black rage incited by exis- cal conditions of blackened tence. black movement. The black must continue to be “live” under conditions of disappearance and of disappearance under conditions “live” must continue to be The black black movement. but survivors against of everyday police terror targets people are not premeditated Black death. policing blackness and concealing order that coheres structurally around In a social the odds. proof of black life most convinc- hood dance provides antiblack racism, the violence of everyday mourning black death. ingly in moments of that they danced away their feelings. Respect.” (Hipst3r5ever) Respect.” their feelings. that they danced away vents crime, enables empathy, and humanizes blackness, celebration discourse demands repeat discourse demands celebration blackness, and humanizes enables empathy, vents crime, part- recall the cops’ “keep your heads up,” doin,” “keep it up,” “keep Calls to performances. ing shot culation of an ideology of live- ness that roots for black bodies but fails to polit- “keep it up” to icize viewers in the global traf- ficking of black performance. when most ideal- its capacity, and impassioned, ized as raw, to reaffirm abso- unmediated, The presumed lute difference. nontechnical and unrestrained nature of hood movement shows up as disorganized and unsanc- necessitating the super tioned, and captured by YouTube’s cir YouTube’s and captured by and pattern conceptualize, appropriate, vision of institutional systems that can legitimately Raw movement that belongs to no/body is unli- creating accredited artwork. the raw material, censed of policing black The scene taken not as an act of dance but as an act of crime. hood movement, making the RIP hood dance, life aligns with the anti-institutionality of acts in a double sense. “How about give them jobs somewhere...perhaps Commenter Immanuel Kant suggests: dance. Arts? I bet we agree that they should Alice maybe dance instructors at Or, as traffic controllers. not be forced to dance in the rain on a street corner.” 13. 14. Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01October 2021

110 Naomi Bragin no longerpresent. are enactmentsofabsenceand performances ofadislocatedbodythatshowthespacewhat is elaboration ofthatcondition, ratherthanitstransformation” (2003:185). These phantomlimbs becomes thatwhichrescuestheslavefromhisorherformercondition, butthesiteofre- is alwaysinadequatetoslavery’soriginaryloss, suchthat the “language offreedomnolonger While theseattemptsatrecoveryarenecessaryandnotinsubstantial, Hartmanstresses, redress and responseexist, turfing’severydayactscanbeunderstood asincompleteformsofredress. of possibility. Intheafterlifeofslavery, where noadequateinstitutionalsystemsoftestimony She describesthesepracticesas “gestures,” phantomlimbsthatfigurefreedomanditslimits in theirperformance, expressedautopicfreedomoutside ofbourgeoishumanism(1997:13). guaranteed bycompletedispossession. Extending thislogic, dancingneutralizesthethreatoftheir homelessness, atypeof “richness” bodies arecompletelyexposedtotheelements that dancingprovidesimmunityfromaperiloussituationismostcompellingwhentheturfers’ stressing abouttheirwork, financianproblemsandotherstuffs:)” (SangarSalih). Thefeeling they areproboblyhomlessstilllaughing, dancingandhavingfunwhileotherpeoplesare guys makewaitingattheredlightfun!” (Starshooter689). vids. Nevergetsold” (Matthew Williams); “this videoismyhappyplace” (MsThomasin); “These representational strategyorpoliticalpraxis: “Ahh, it’snicetobebackwithoneofmycheer-up The demandforahappyperformancesubsequentlyrequiresrejectionofblackrageaseither space, andagainstthedis/orderthattheylive, fugitively, inthesespaces, facingexpecteddeath. thrown intorelief, bothagainsttheturfers’exposuretoelementalriskofblacknecropolitical ing thatabourgeoishumanistconceptoffreedomisfeltandfiguredmostpowerfullywhenit The commenterssarcasticallyacknowledgerealitiesofblacklifeonMacArthurand90th, imply- in dialoguepointouttheinherentironyofthiscelebratorydiscourse: happy blackbodies, dancingandcarefreeattheverysceneoffreedom’speril. Two commenters the particularpredicamentofblackrepresentationthatRIPRichD makesvisible celebration, freedom. arrest) andtomakeviolencemeaningful the blackbodyisneededtoraisestakesofliveperformance(danceunderconstantthreat bodies thatperformitunderconditionsofcriminalityandcrisis. Evenasitcirculatesonscreen, 2013)? What makeshooddancegainmeaningandvalueinRIPRichD specificallyaretheblack proscenium stages, howcanblackdeathsmatterinaworldthatnegatesexistence(Ricks shelter hooddance(andblackbodies)underproper/proprietaryinstitutionalcontrol. studio, thechoreographer’sestablishedprovince)andservesachoreocentriclogicthatmust dance institutionallysuspectalsodeterminesthelegitimateplaceswhereexists(in Saidiya Hartmanshowshowtheculturalpracticesofnewworld slaves, reliantonsubjection Turfing embodiesapainthatviewersexperienceaspleasure: “itsbeautifultoseethateven Klaasvaak1214: morelikeagunshow... forrealztho in forwaymorethanadanceshowifyou’reonthecornerofmcarthurand90th Joshua McClendon:lmfaosamehere. Imeanit’scoolandeverything... butyou’re 90th towatchthis Klaasvaak1214: toobadI’dneverdaretositaroundlongenoughatmacarthurand Being out “in therainonastreetcorner” buildsasenseofthelivebodyincrisis, revealing If hooddanceonlymattersinthehermeticontologicalworldofprivatestudiosand — to makeitreadableasempowerment, rejuvenation, — rain, concrete, streetlife, speedingcars, police. — the needfor Shot and Captured 111 - - Jenks had Jenks had 15 while surfing YouTube, moving him to document the story of RichD’s him to document the moving YouTube, while surfing RIP RichD

is an MTV reality documentary series that premiered September 2010. The show’s host, NYU film film NYU host, show’s The 2010. September documentary reality MTV an is premiered that series Jenks of World life “experiencing year a for off-and-on with lives he guests featured three chooses Jenks, Andrew dropout school 2014). (MTV eyes” their through The show proceeds to craft D-Real’s tale: a young black father battling his demons (gangs, battling his demons (gangs, craft D-Real’s tale: a young black father The show proceeds to D-Real’s such that ontological coherence, it is this paradigm that gives Jenks’s world Yet happiness It went from peace and was a total shift. it 180, All of a sudden like just boom, know man it’s just not cool when You [And later in the episode] to the same old routine. these dance battles [...] I just wanna talk to D-Real’s promoting peace and we’re filming (MTV 2013c) that. them and understand why they reacted like pro- providing viewers the interpretive is staged, a picnic table conversation Subsequently, 15. , season two. season , Jenks of for World the trailer MTV broadcasts 2013, On 28 January Coda: Birthdays encountered encountered D-Real’s Yet, the transformative power of dance. death) through depression, guilt, anger, prison, In the cliff- its ontological limit. and make change in his community meets earnest desire to see Turf articulating to “loses control,” faces off with a security guard and D-Real hanger episode, in black neighborhoods: awareness of how policing functions Feinz members his insurgent They don’t really wanna help here.’ git up outta git, ‘git, [say], “Y’all seen how the security interprets his inter He succinctly (MTV 2013c). They just ready to police this thang” nobody. state of violence to which his community is action with the guard as evidence of the customary between police violence and the social institution of polic- “the relationship wherein subjected, Horror (Martinot and Sexton 2003:171). rather than incidental or contingent” ing is structural, but in everyday relations of power that ensure lodges not in spectacularized black suffering does not exist for the black. “security” Jenks: reaction can only be understood as irrational. the nar D-Real’s power to identify the paradigm derails both In Jenks’s ontological world, away from a humanist discourse of Turning rative’s (and the full season’s) smooth progress. itself through the to rage against a social order that secures “peace and happiness,” self-will, Jenks emotes a certain disappoint- experiences disruption. of Jenks World negation of black life, as if in response to a wayward son in need of (white) fathering. ment, Feinz mem- Turf Jenks sits opposite D-Real and tocol for processing this turn of events. Jenks tries to scene that crystallizes the antagonism. “conflict resolution” ber Chonkie in a their enemy is not the security guard but bring the Feinz to see things from his perspective: and dangerous when (2013c) that is unproductive “a certain mindset” their (existential) anger, More iniquitous is the ease (mis)directed at a system rather than sublimated through dance. a well-meaning sense of defined by “care,” with which Jenks brings his unruly charges under his over (seeing) black manhood; a care that relies always patriarchal) protectiveness (always white, (Martinot and Sexton 2003:171) of a white “true excessiveness” on its inability to speak the “The conversation with D-Real wasn’t supremacist order disguised as white ethical concern: (2013c). easy but it was necessary” brother, turfer D-Real. The trailer’s introductory audio-visual mash-up of Oakland, “one of “one Oakland, mash-up of introductory audio-visual The trailer’s turfer D-Real. brother, dying black flashing sirens, cars, patrol rates, flags high murder most violent cities,” America’s about America knows “Do you feel like Jenks asks, Astounded, mothers. mourning black boys, (MTV ” don’t but I feel like theycare do, “I feel like they emphatically, D-Real responds this?” underlying and threading poses an oblique yet urgent question, D-Real’s statement 2013a). will black suffering be read- episodes: In what manner and to what extent together the ensuing viewers? of Jenks able by World Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01 October 2021 Downloaded from http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/pdf/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349 by guest on 01October 2021

112 Naomi Bragin DeFrantz, Thomas. 2004. “The BlackBeatMade Visible: BodyPowerinHipHopDance.” InOfthe Damone, Vick. 2008. “(BRS) BOOGALOOROBOT STRUT (BAY AREA DANCE).” YouTube, 7:46. Bey, Jeriel. 2013. Personalcommunicationwithauthor, 15December. ABC News. 2010. “The LatestCraze: Turf Dancing.” 29November. http://abcnews.go.com/Nightline References articulate antiblackness turfers’ neighborhoods. Yet thevideo’sglobalreceptionrevealsamoreentrenchedinabilityto the conventionalsense), justasturfinglinkstheRIPdancestoanecessarydialoguewithin is foreclosed. same timethatitsabilitytocommunicatepoliticizedblackragedirectedatstructuralinjustice to theanti-institutionalstatusofblackness, gainsvalueasamodeofself-empowermentatthe tures ofoppressionthatpositionblacknessinnegationanddeath. Hooddance, alwayslinked celebratory emphasisonturfdanceassocialproblem-solvingobscuresattentiontostruc- be celebratedasamodeoftemporaryreleasefromperpetuallyself-inducedcondition. The symbolic orderthatprovidesnorealresolutionfortheblack. ing withD-Realhasbeenlife-changing” (2013d), D-Realisfatedtoliveinthereal if notthreatening, aspoliticalexistence, itremainseloquentlytragic. While Jenkscansay, “liv- born black. Becauseblacknessisonlyinterestingasculturalcapitalandbecomeslessinteresting, world orderconsolidatedbyantiblacklogic, butratherresultingfromthetransgressionofbeing world guideshimtoshouldertheburdenofhiscrimes In thecrucibleofJenks’sworld, D-Realisbornastheblacknon-subjectparexcellence. Jenks’s drives hiscarandD-Realsitsinthepassenger’sseat: meaning there’sonlyonewaythisscenariocanplayout. this violence. The blackmustloseresistancebyalogicthatcannotcomprehendrage, of thetable, buttheconversationispalpablystrained, awkward. There isnolanguagetospeak ing blackliberationareality, thatis, toaim atgettingfree. the shootingandcapturingofblackbodies. To keepmovingblackisto moveinserviceofmak- Project teachesmostfundamentallyisthatatthistime, freedomintheworldmanifeststhrough ment oftheblack death isareminderthatengagingblackperformancedoesnot necessitateengagingthepredica- mourning areoccasionsofcelebration, lifeprogress, andbirth. This conjoiningoflifeand opportunities hewouldhavetogainsomedegreeoffinancial compensationforadanceof etc. hitmeup.” Hiscommentunderscoresblacklifelivedindeath, consideringthattheonly RIP RichD createsahistoricalrecordwheretherewasnone(andperhapscanneverbeonein Because theblackbodyisunabletotranscendinherentlycriminalexistence, turfingmust only likethatwhenyoudoinsomethinwrong. (MTV2013d) D-Real: Sometimesit’sjusthardforustoseepastthatbadgebut...Ithinkreally them credit. Jenks: You actuallygavethemcredit. A fewmonthsagoyouwouldhavenever given D-Real: Yeah it’schangin. Jenks: Ifeellikeyourperceptionofthepolicehaschanged. A partingdialogueintheseason’sfinalepisodeconsolidatesblackandwhitepositions. Jenks An ontologicalorderpremisedonantiblacklogicpositionswhiteandblackoppositesides Wesleyan University Press. Presence of theBody: Essays onDanceandPerformance ,Theory ed. André Lepecki, 64–81. Middletown, CT: Posted bydizzrockn, 5May. www.youtube.com/watch?v=DuYqpWVAiz4 (9December2013). /video/latest-craze-turf-dancing-12272198 (11January2014). No Noizecomments: “to bookforshowsbirthdaypartiesschooldancesgraduation­ — the incessantrefusalofpersonhoodandlifetoblackbodies. What theRIP — the beliefthatanythingisbetterinthisworldthantobeblack. — incomprehensible asfunctionsofa — outside a parties Shot and Captured 113

57, 4 57, 2:169–81. 123, 5:1743–47. 5:1743–47. 123, . Minneapolis: Minneapolis: . Neale Hurston of Zora The Dance Stagings the Folk: Choreographing www.examiner.com/article/yak-films-and-turf-feinz-remember August. 2 , Examiner.com

33, 2:40–53. 33,

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114 Naomi Bragin http://www.mitpressjournals.org/doi/suppl/10.1162/DRAM_a_00349. To view supplementalmediarelatedtothisarticle, pleasevisit YAK Films. 2010. “TURF FEINZ ‘RIP OscarGrant’FruitvaleBART Oakland| YAK FILMS.” YouTube, YAK Films. 2009c. “TURF FEINZ RIP RichDDancingintheRainOaklandStreet| YAK FILMS.” YAK Films. 2009b. “TURF FEINZ ‘R.I.P. June’OaklandeNinjaChonkieNoNoize| YAK FILMS.” YAK Films. 2009a. “TURF FEINZ in ‘R.I.P 211’ TURFING inOakland| YAK FILMS.” YouTube, 5:09. Winston, Ali. 2011. “Deadly Secrets:HowCaliforniaLawShieldsOaklandPolice Violence.” Colorlines, Wilderson, FrankB., III. 2010. Red, White &Black: CinemaandtheStructureofU.S. Antagonisms. Durham, Wilderson, FrankB., III. 2009. “Grammar andGhosts: The PerformativeLimitsof African Freedom.” Valrey, JR. 2009. “Police 2, OaklandResidents4.” SanFrancisco Bay View , 24March. http://sfbayview Torres, Sasha. 2003. Black, White, andInColor: Television andBlack CivilRights. Princeton, NJ:Princeton Torres, Sasha. 1998. LivingColor:Raceand Television intheUnitedStates. Durham, NC:DukeUniversity Taylor, Diana. 2003. The Archive andtheRepertoire: Performing Cultural inthe Memory Americas. Durham, Sexton, Jared. 2012. “Ante-Anti-Blackness: Afterthoughts.” Lateral 1,Spring. http://lateral.culturalstudies Savion, Yoram. 2013. Emailmessagetoauthor, 9December. Savion, Yoram. 2011. Emailmessagetoauthor, 2December. Roach, Joseph. 1996. CitiesoftheDead:Circum-AtlanticPerformance. New York: ColumbiaUniversityPress. Ricks, Omar. 2013. Personalcommunicationwithauthor, 26March. 7:32. 31December. www.youtube.com/watch?v=atyTZ8prhCg. YouTube, 3:57. 27October. www.youtube.com/watch?v=JQRRnAhmB58. YouTube, 3:56. 2May. www.youtube.com/watch?v=uqH9s5mwTEY. 17 December. www.youtube.com/watch?v=g-t01opsPos. _oakland_police_violence.html (13December2013). 17 August.http://colorlines.com/archives/2011/08/deadly_secrets_how_california_law_has_shielded NC: DukeUniversityPress. Theatre Survey 50, 1:119–25. .com/2009/police-2-oakland-residents-4/#idc-cover (9December2013). University Press. Press. NC: DukeUniversityPress. association.org/issue1/content/sexton.html (9December2013).