eCHO MAKING
Project description
Echo Making: Low End Theorem is a new multimedia technological performance work by André M. Zachery and Renegade Performance Group that blends dance, film, sound, and poetry to imagine what Black futures can look and feel like. The project asks: What echoes of the past still reverberate through us? How do rhythm, movement, and voice carry the voices of our ancestors into our words intended to manifest the future?
At the center of this work are collaborations with Black poets and writers whose words become instruments—spoken live, woven into soundscapes, and projected as text that fills the performance space. The project weaves together the voices of legendary Black writers—past and present, from Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni, to living voices such as Sonia Sanchez and invited Black poets that will read live in the space—creating a dialogue across generations where poetry becomes both echo and future signal.
The piece draws on the energy of Black music across generations—from the Native Tongues Collective to Neo-Soul, from Trap to Chicago Juke/House—remixing their beats and philosophies into choreographic rituals. Sections like “Making an Echo,” “Syncing the Riddims,” and “Trappin’ an Echo” invite audiences into a performance that feels part music video, part ancestral rite, and part futuristic mapping of Black life.
In this world, poetry isn’t just words—it’s a technology of survival, imagination, and time travel. Echo Making: Low End Theorem invites audiences to step inside that world, where the Black body becomes a diasporic instrument echoing across time, creating space for new stories, new identities, and new futures.
At the center of this work are collaborations with Black poets and writers whose words become instruments—spoken live, woven into soundscapes, and projected as text that fills the performance space. The project weaves together the voices of legendary Black writers—past and present, from Amiri Baraka and Nikki Giovanni, to living voices such as Sonia Sanchez and invited Black poets that will read live in the space—creating a dialogue across generations where poetry becomes both echo and future signal.
The piece draws on the energy of Black music across generations—from the Native Tongues Collective to Neo-Soul, from Trap to Chicago Juke/House—remixing their beats and philosophies into choreographic rituals. Sections like “Making an Echo,” “Syncing the Riddims,” and “Trappin’ an Echo” invite audiences into a performance that feels part music video, part ancestral rite, and part futuristic mapping of Black life.
In this world, poetry isn’t just words—it’s a technology of survival, imagination, and time travel. Echo Making: Low End Theorem invites audiences to step inside that world, where the Black body becomes a diasporic instrument echoing across time, creating space for new stories, new identities, and new futures.
INSTALLATION PHOTOS
Barnard movement lab - fall 2025
5 December 2025
Media Movement Salon
Barnard Movement Lab
6PM
Cast Credits
Performers
Quilan “Que” Arnold
Idea Viola-Reid
Mikaila Ware
Live Poets
Tai Allen
Timothy “Prolific”
Milaika Giddens
Recorded Living Poems + Writers
“Start on the 1”
Ayinde Jean-Baptiste
“A Black Woman Speaks”
Sonya Sanchez
Ancestral Poet Recordings
Amiri Baraka
June Jordan
Gwendolyn Brooks
Lucille Clifton
NIkki Giovanni
Sound Design + Programming
André M. Zachery
Projection Design + Programming
André M. Zachery
Production Assistant
Allison Costa
Live Sound Mixing
Allison Costa
Media Movement Salon
Barnard Movement Lab
6PM
Cast Credits
Performers
Quilan “Que” Arnold
Idea Viola-Reid
Mikaila Ware
Live Poets
Tai Allen
Timothy “Prolific”
Milaika Giddens
Recorded Living Poems + Writers
“Start on the 1”
Ayinde Jean-Baptiste
“A Black Woman Speaks”
Sonya Sanchez
Ancestral Poet Recordings
Amiri Baraka
June Jordan
Gwendolyn Brooks
Lucille Clifton
NIkki Giovanni
Sound Design + Programming
André M. Zachery
Projection Design + Programming
André M. Zachery
Production Assistant
Allison Costa
Live Sound Mixing
Allison Costa
Renegade Performance Group is a fiscally sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a 501©3 umbrella organization.
|
All rights reserved © 2025 Renegade Performance Group
|
