Part of the duo’s seven-year collaborative research into J-Sette performance, Intervention activates multiple historically Black neighborhoods in Los Angeles, as it uses rhythm and precision as vehicles into subversion and satisfaction. On sidewalks and in alleyways, jumatatu m. poe and Jermone “Donte” Beacham draw on J-Sette’s call-and-response structure to reveal the powerfully singular expression that can emerge within this highly regimented dance.

J-Sette originated among drill teams and majorette lines of historically Black southern universities and continues to grab the attention of half-time stadium crowds—while having found a second life, and new political meanings, in the Black gay club scene. Each locality is announced only hours before their intervention, freeing the performers to test the boundaries of propriety and belonging, and confront the historic imaginations and limitations of these spaces.

The Let ‘im Move You body of work has been made possible through a residency at the 18th Street Arts Center in Santa Monica with support from a Pew Center for Arts & Heritage Fellowship in the Arts, and additional support provided by the Maggie Allessee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University. The artists are grateful to the West Philadelphia and South Dallas neighborhoods and their residents within, where they have performed the bulk of their Intervention research.