Wednesday Night Live: ÌBÀ OBÍNRIN Film Screening, Performance + Talkback

Join the Moving Spirits dance company for a special screening of the film ÌBÀ OBÍNRIN. The themes of the film will be reviewed for their deep connection to tradition, spirituality, and celebration of the diaspora. The film, similar to Moving Spirits, showcases that dance is a spiritual practice which connects us to our ancestors. Following this screening, there will be a live dance performance and talkback with the filmmakers.

Co-creators of the film, Tamara Williams and Marlon Morrison, will discuss the inception, process, and intention behind the film, as well as give the audience a chance to ask questions and participate in a community discussion. Click/tap here to read more about the film.

Tamara Williams is a multi-award winning educator and performing artist. Williams is an Assistant Professor at University of North Carolina Charlotte, College of Art + Architecture, with a MFA from Hollins University. Her choreography has been presented internationally in Serbia, Switzerland, Trinidad, Jamaica, Mexico, and Brazil. Williams created Moving Spirits, Inc. contemporary performing arts organization focused on the African Diaspora. She has received several Culture Blocks grants from the Mecklenburg County Arts & Science Council. The funding supports Moving Spirits' ongoing free African diaspora dance workshops throughout the Charlotte community. In 2021, Tamara became an Arts and Science Council Emerging Creative Fellowship recipient to continue her research in Ring Shout traditions in the low country of the United States. Williams was commissioned by The National Center for Choreography to create a new dance film for her company, Moving Spirits, Inc. The film, ÌBÀ OBÍNRIN, is an award winning film which has been screened nationally and internationally since June 2021.

Marlon Morrison graduated from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and worked as an professional actor in New York City for more than 15 years. Morrison has enjoyed success doing regional theater across the country, including the Guthrie Theater, Denver Center, and Cleveland Playhouse. He has appeared on several network television shows and co-produced and acted in an independent film titled Nothing Happened which won grand prize at the 2016 March on Washington Film Festival. In 2016, Morrison returned to Charlotte and founded My Voice, My Choice Inc., an organization that utilizes theatre and filmmaking to address character development and leadership skills in today’s youth.

Morrison has recently worked on projects with members of the UNC Charlotte faculty including:

• Ring Shout in 2020 and ÌBÀ OBÍNRIN, 2021-2022 with Tamara Williams
• Container/Contained: Phil Freelon-Design Strategies for telling African American Stories, 2021-2022 with Meg Whalen

Moving Spirits, Inc. is a contemporary arts organization dedicated to performing, researching, documenting, cultivating, and producing arts of the African diaspora. Africanistic aesthetics heavily influences their repertory. This group's work blends modern, ballet, African diaspora dance forms, and contemporary West African dances. They believe that the creative arts should be used as a vehicle to bring awareness to injustices and obstacles impacting our communities. Moving Spirits' artists dedicate themselves to evolving social change through dance performances and community engagement.