What is What

This product is a custom lithographic print copied from a line art drawing I created in one of my blackbooks in the mid-nineties. The drawing was meant to express one modality of my dance interactions with the public that I felt was non-musical, melancholy and difficult to categorize. The title of the drawing is "I Will Dance With Strangers". Each is individually printed by me, signed and numbered. The inks and heavyweight paper are archival.  The meaning of the writing alongside the drawing, "I will Dance with Strangers On The Streets to Internal Beats, Wet Melodies and The Like." refers to an exchange I had about dancing with several of my club friends who I shared circles and ciphers with. I was explaining to them that I could dance to anything. That a dripping faucet was enough for me, they responded that it was not dancing it was just performance art. I explained that my musical inspiration came from internal rhythms (my heart) and was not defined by music of any genre. This conversation with my fellow dancers pushed me into a place of feeling somewhat alien to every group I was a part of. I expresed this alienness inthe drawing by adding a anntennae like hair depiction to my character. Like feelers. I was also drawing a lot at the time self-portraits as insect. This is all relevant because the lions share of public writing about my dancing frames me as a "hip-hop" dancer on crutches. This is reasonable given my NYC b-boy battle name and stage moniker "CrutchMaster" that I retired in 2004 and my 4 group works that explored the potential (and lack thereof) for hip-hop and urban dance to work aesthetically and culturally in the proscenium theater environs.  The feeling of separation of my practice in the streets from the circles I danced in came from both directions. Street dancers I shared the clubs with looked at it as foreign and artistic and the theater audiences I had not yet figured out how to get to the street. That only came later with TRAFFIC. The range of my dance was far deeper than a genre and I was frustrated with the fact that this equally important, not-so-flashy side of my work being overlooked and misunderstood. The drawing I never intended to turn into a product but now that I see its relevance. I think I can share it in this special way to a select few who will truly get it. I have ten original prints signed and numbered. If they sell relatively quickly, I will print a 2nd run of ten and then retire the plate.

Limited Edition Lithographic Print

Plate Size 8" x 6"

Permanent Ink on 100 pound acid free paper.

Paper Size is Roughly 8x12

Signed and numbered in graphite by Bill Shannon 2012