Work samples

  • Baker Artists Straw
    Straw into Gold Pt 1: Shadows Knocking on a Door “For those who must walk between worlds and build them as they go” Straw into Gold Part 1: Shadows Knocking on a Door is part two of a three-part choreographic series to explore, celebrate, and understand the necessity of transformation and transmutation that defines the American African experience. A great deal of my experience as a queer black male from a working class single parent home , has been witnessing my mother’s superpower of making something out of nothing. As I’ve grown into adulthood I have come to recognize that this type of alchemy is performed by many American Africans. The cyclical nature of systemic inequities and marginalization of the black experience has made this skill of adaptability essential. Shadows Knocking on a Door is a meditation on witnessing and being witnessed.
  • Baker Artists Contempoary View Ponits
    A meditation on witnessing and being witnessed
  • Straw into Gold (video test)

About Tariq

Baltimore County
Tariq Darrell O'Meally is an artist, producer, curator and community organizer searching for the power within introspection and vulnerability in the African American body.He has pursued the re-imagining of kinesthetic narratives as a means to resist and disrupt canonized stories that have perpetuated the dehumanization of marginalized groups, specifically black people. He seeks to synthesize those stories that will resonate in a way that is socially relevant, empathetic, and impactful.… more
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Artist Statement/Project:Straw into Gold Pt. 2

My name is Tariq Darrell O’Meally. I am a DMV based performer, curator, educator, and choreographic artist searching for introspection and vulnerability in the American African body. A large part of my work has been the pursuit of re-imagining kinesthetic narratives as a means to resist and disrupt canonized stories that have perpetuated the dehumanization of marginalized groups, specifically Black people. I seek to synthesize these stories so they will resonate in a way that is socially relevant, empathetic, and impactful.

My current work is about my transition from a contemporary dance framework to a post-contemporary context. That is to say that if contemporary work interacts with the fierce urgency of now; then post-contemporary exploration integrates what has happened, what is happening, and what will happen, intersecting these concepts with the vulnerability and necessity of being human.

I have identified creativity, skill, and empathy as three guiding principles in this transition. And I am working with three research questions to guide my proposed project:
  1. How can I be of service to the multiple communities that I participate in?
  2. How can I create in a way that aspires to equity?
  3.  How can I make my artistic practices and life practices indistinguishable from one another?

Straw into Gold Pt 1: Songs of the Moon is part one of a three-part choreographic series to explore, celebrate, and understand the necessity of transformation and transmutation that defines the American African experience. A great deal of my experience as a queer black male from a working-class single-parent home has been witnessing my mother’s superpower of making something out of nothing. As I’ve grown into adulthood, I have come to recognize that this type of alchemy is performed by many American Africans, specifically the women. The circumstances of systemic inequities and marginalization of the black experience have made this skill of adaptability essential.

Malcolm X has been famously quoted for acknowledging that, “The most disrespected person in America is the black woman. The most unprotected person in America is the black woman. The most neglected person in America is the Black woman.” 

This quote has made me look inward on the ways that I am privileged as a cis-gendered male. As an artist, I am keenly aware that I know very little and understand even less. My research during this process is about listening and learning about the experiences of the women that I love. 

I would be working on a  series of solos that act as embodied love/thank you letters to the black women who have defined me as a man. This process/ investigation is about wanting to know and honor the hidden stories of my mother, aunt, great aunt, and mother of my slain childhood friend. I seek to more intimately know: What were their dreams as girls and as women? Who was their first love?  What did they sacrifice for their families?  And so much more. 

Conceptually, this work is about amplifying the stories of black women, specifically the ones in my life. Often in my experience as a dance artist, I have witnessed the grace and brilliance of black women's bodies being used as a canvas. It has been rare for me to see them in the role of a painter. In an attempt to subvert the traditional power dynamics of the concert dance industry, in which male choreographers are historically cast as author and editor, I will be hiring four black female DMV-based dance artists to author and edit this project; I will be their canvas

 Each woman will set a 7-10 minute solo on me to be shared in a culminating performance. The physical movement material will be developed based on a series of recorded interviews with the four women from my family, the four choreographers, and the choreographers’ mothers. 

As previously stated, the recorded material will be used to develop the physical language for Songs of the Moon. In addition, I will work with a videographer to compile this material into four short 3-5 minute videos that will be integrated into the performance. For the live or live-streamed performance, I would perform all four solos surrounded by the women who participated in the process. As a symbolic continuation of the process, the audience for this project would consist of mothers and their children.  The seating arrangement will have mothers on one side of the performance space and the children on the other side, looking at each other during the performance. Within the performance, I would like to facilitate a space of compassionate and honest conversation.  A segment of the piece will have moments for audience members to step into the performance space and share questions that they always wanted to ask their mothers. 

Personally, my desired outcome is to more deeply know and express gratitude to the women who have loved and protected me. In addition, I want to open space for black female-identifying choreographers.  Artistically it is my desire for this process and performance to be a catalyst for all witnesses (if they haven’t already done so) to learn the stories of the important women in their lives. Author Antoine de Saint-Exupéry wrote, “Love does not consist of gazing at each other, but in looking outward together in the same direction.” If done well, this process will allow participants to observe what their mothers have seen. In doing so, I hope that a cascade of healing occurs.
  • Straw into Gold Pt.1: Shadows Knocking on a Door
    “For those who must walk between worlds and build them as they go” Straw into Gold Part 1: Shadows Knocking on a Door is part two of a three-part choreographic series to explore, celebrate, and understand the necessity of transformation and transmutation that defines the American African experience. A great deal of my experience as a queer black male from a working class single parent home , has been witnessing my mother’s superpower of making something out of nothing. As I’ve grown into adulthood I have come to recognize that this type of alchemy is performed by many American Africans. The cyclical nature of systemic inequities and marginalization of the black experience has made this skill of adaptability essential. Shadows Knocking on a Door is a meditation on witnessing and being witnessed.