I Know Exactly What You Mean

Choreography and direction by Ogemdi Ude in collaboration with Selah V. Hampton and Symara Johnson - Danspace Project 2022

Projection and Interactive Media Design by Jon DeGaetano and Matthew Deinhart - Lighting Design by Carol Mullins - Sound Design by Antonio Brown

Photo Credits: Ian Douglas/courtesy Danspace Project.

Production Description:

I know exactly what you mean playfully explores the roles of storytelling and lying in recovering cultural memory, establishing kinship amongst Black folks, and processing personal grief. Devised by Ude in collaboration with performers Selah V. Hampton and Symara Johnson, this evening-length dance calls on nostalgic Black music and personal narratives to draw the audience into the work. I know exactly what you mean evolves from research into novelist Toni Morrison’s themes of “rememory” and “remembering,” and playwright Suzan-Lori Parks’ call to Black Americans to “make” history, when much of it has gone lost or unrecorded. “We are addressing the fissures in personal and collective memory that a traumatic event creates. When we don’t remember, we fabricate to make sense out of what we do,” Ude writes. “I want to make a space for my collaborators and audiences to experience the healing and protective power of storytelling and the ways lying can often help us make sense of an essential truth.”