ZAZ : transforming history into immersive African diasporic percussive dance theater

The contributions of Black artists, choreographers, and physical practices of African Diasporic Percussive Dance are essential to providing a well-rounded 21st-century educational experience to prepare scholars to become changemakers in the field. Incorporating Tap Dance, Stepping, and Body Percussion into the fibers of the dance continuum is vital to decolonizing academia and concert dance to reflect the communities they serve, preparing students to be competitive in the field and reconceptualizing these art forms beyond novelty acts. African Diasporic Percussive Dance practices are a synthesis of music and movement activated by utilizing the body as the primary instrument established in Black American history, culture, and identity. These art forms are historically transmitted through generational exchanges in the community of origins and the African American Greek culture. The notes of the body are created by contouring internal organs with different intensities of hand strikes or hand positions infused with an articulation of foot placement learned through the kinesthetic memory of tap dance. Through participant observations, practice as research, the transmission of oral histories, and site-specific research, I intertwine my lived experience to write, direct and choreograph an evening-length percussive dance musical titled Zaz: The Big Easy. Zaz: The Big Easy transforms written and oral histories into immersive African Diasporic Percussive Dance Theater as a celebration of Black culture and an example of creating bridges between African Diasporic Dance and Eurocentric theater methods, establishing a performative archive and reconceptualized audience engagement. The driving question during this creation was how participant observation combined with historical events offer a process for creating immersive performances that serve as a participatory archive to preserve oral histories and shift the gap of African Diaspora Percussive Dance representation in academia. This process continues evolving, shifting, solidifying, and expanding as my artistic practice, identity, and mission advance. Zaz: The Big Easy serves as an archive of Black history and culture while providing an example of the possibilities for a more comprehensive curriculum for students when bridges between artistic forms are created in the College of Fine Arts as we prepare students to be competitive in the professional field.Theatre and Danc