I was going to drop the music video for "Balance" next week. However, after the court ruling I feel as if this needs to be shared today. I remember a year ago O-Lay and I heard the news about Philando and so many shades of anger, frustration and flat out hate bubbled to the surface. Although, we didn't know the information we know now back then we knew that it was going to be another cop who got off the hook due to their profession. So we took our feelings of despair and created this "Balance" shot by Benji Cooper and featuring Peace & Arnold.
As we move past the verdict I hope that we as a community can come together and heal. But also continue to fight for the injustices that plague our community.
Notes from the performers:
Peace Madimutsa: was born and raised in Zimbabwe. Dance, has grown from my talent and hobby, into a passionate way of living. In balance i use movement influenced by krump and tutting. I am driven by the instrumental and lyrical rhythms. As well as the depth and intensity of the lyrics. The use of arms and hands tries to get at how much need for explaining/ justifying myself maybe ourselves there always is. Even though our arms are up, in what i would call submission, there is always someone back to back with me, watching , fighting, dancing, and we keep rotating, we keep in this back to back fighting cycle. And that’s up to the watcher to decide what it means for them. The facial intensity and raised fist yet popping 'gunned down' floor scene were the heaviest for me to endure. They tell my feelings, story and are pretty self explanatory. I am forever grateful for this outlet opportunity
Nteranya Arnold Sanginga: is a Congolese student at Macalester College. After listening to the lyrics for "Balance" Nteranya reflected on how he physically, emotionally and psychologically navigates through the issue of race in the US. In creating this piece, it was important to him to genuinely respond to the issue while being careful not to caricature trauma. He is grateful for having been invited to collaborate with other artists from the diaspora.
Behind the Scenes Notes: The entire shoot took us about 9 hours. We started extremely early in the morning when O-Lay came into town. We shot a few "casket" scenes in my basement before heading to my cousins professional studio where we shot the shadow scenes. The shots at the studio took the longest because we needed to adjust the light every so often to include the red, blue and white light. We went to Lowertown, St.Paul to finish up the last casket scene. You probably can't tell from the shots but it was 40 degrees, raining and extremely cold.