SEASON 35 | JULY 2023
COURAGEOUS CADENCE
july 30, 2023
Courageous Cadence ‘23 was developed by high school-aged youth at the African American Youth Harvest Foundation’s Urban University Summer Camp. Facilitated and directed by Jasmine Games and Lily Odekirk, these youth discussed and wrote about race and gender (in)justice in their lives to devise a performance for an audience.
Courageous Cadence is a spoken word poetry action residency for youth. Courageous Cadence ‘23 engaged the 13 and up group at Urban University Summer Camp. For six weeks, we gathered with the youth to play games, write creatively, and discuss race and gender (in)justice. For many of these young people, they were able to speak freely about how racism has shown up in their lives and most importantly, were able to situate themselves in naming their identities as individuals and in community to others.
With a little love nudge, we even got some of them to write about it.
Courageous Cadence centers the utilization of spoken word poetry as a tool for social justice. Courageous Cadence is a six-week program in addition to a concluding performance for an audience. All written work will have the opportunity to be published in the Austin Bat Cave's annual anthology.
Please join us as we make a stand and find the rhyme in resistance!
ABOUT COURAGEOUS CADENCE
Courageous Cadence is a Performing Justice Project. The Performing Justice Project (PJP) uses a performance-building process to devise original theatre that engages young people in imagining and enacting gender and racial justice in their own lives and communities. Through creative writing, performance-based skills, and personal storytelling, youth examine and name connections between their individual experiences and systemic (in)justice. Founded by Dr. Megan Alrutz and Lynn Hoare, graduate students at The University of Texas at Austin were able to facilitate residencies with young people.
Learn more at https://performingjusticeproject.org/
Jasmine Games is the Director of Education and Social Justice Activation at The VORTEX. Jasmine began Courageous Cadence as a graduate student studying Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities in 2020. The first two iterations of Courageous Cadence were hosted online. Learn more about Jasmine at jasmineigames.com
Lily Odekirk is a Theatre Artist, Facilitator, and current grad student in Drama and Theatre for Youth and Communities. Learn more about Lily at lilyodekirk.com
Courageous Cadence is made possible by The VORTEX, Austin Bat Cave, The African American Youth Harvest Foundation, and The University of Texas at Austin. Special thanks to Huston-Tillotson University for classroom space.
The VORTEX is supported in part by the City of Austin Economic Development Department, the Texas Commission on the Arts, Six Square Austin’s Black Cultural District, and ATX Theatre.