DISCOTROPIC 3rd I SIDE Tanz im August






Photography by Tanz im August
Photographs by Dajana Lothert


jCLAPBACK is about the power of black asses to shed our colonial oppressions, transcend the expectation of dying young, shift the earth’s gravitational field and jettison evil trolls,”
Working across dance performance, sculpture and educational forums “as ways to consider political issues of race and gender”, the event will feature the institution “as a white, blank surface, which he aims to mark by means of his choreographic action, moving across – and against – his audience.





DISCOTROPIC 3rd i Side i
at PS122's COIL 2016 Festival
hosted at Westbeth Artists Community
January 6 & 8-10, 2016

DISCOTROPIC situates itself between the pragmatic and the fantastical while exploring the relationship between science fiction, disco, astrophysics and the black American experience.





One Thousand Twerks at Lehman Maupin
Nari Ward (Ground In Progress)
October 4, 2015 3PM

The rate of police killings of black folks in America this year will bring us to a shocking number of 1,109 deaths by the close of the year. 'One thousand twerks' is one part homage and another part future telling. One twerk for every death that will occur at the hands of police this year alone. 'One thousand twerks' is about the power of black asses to shed our post colonial oppression's, transcend expectation to die young and shift the earths gravitational field to jettison evil trolls.





DISCOTROPIC Ep 1: Train Dance at The New Museum
2015 Triennial: Surround Audience
February 27, 2015 7:30pm

In his new performance DISCOTROPIC (2015), Navild Acosta explores the relationship between science fiction, disco, astrophysics, and the black American experience. Reflecting the artist’s interest in the role of black women in sci-fi history, DISCOTROPIC is inspired by actor Diahann Carroll, who starred in the TV movie Star Wars Holiday Special (1978). Cast by NBC at the behest of donors and audience members, who insisted that a black person appear on the show, Carroll appears only as a holographic fantasy—an illusion that distills the ways in which the black female body has been consumed in mass media: as alien, bodacious, and marginalized. Acosta’s DISCOTROPIC reconsiders past futures, like those in Star Wars, while claiming a fantastical site of possibility through a cast whose imaginative engagement with science fiction rewrites its dominant narratives. Assembled by Acosta on the basis of shared interests in queer politics and Afrofuturism, the performers include Monstah Black, Alexandro Segade, André D. Singleton (aka Brohogany Opulence), and Acosta himself.





DISCOTROPIC: Ep. 2 Sonic




Creating our own fantastical world/s via dance, text, and sculpture that seeks to create a space for people of a marginalized experience. A space where we can be together, honest, relaxed, inspired, and self-empowered. These are ingredients for a revolutionary space.



DISCOTROPIC: Ep. 3 Rhythmic Decay

In creating DISCOTROPIC we meditate on sparse unity, quiet virtuosity, and internalized spectacle departing from our collective queer lens.