Joy-Marie Thompson is a dancer, performing artist and writer from Pittsburgh, PA. After receiving a BFA in Dance at The Conservatory of Dance at the State University of New York at Purchase College, Joy-Marie performed work by Sidra Bell, Shamel Pitts, Staycee Pearl, and Maxine Doyle and Damini Pompey. Joy-Marie's writing has been published by Imagining: A Gibney Journal and Thinking Dance. Based in New York, NY, Joy-Marie is a resident at Punchdrunk/Emursive's McKittrick Hotel and a dance professor teaching improvisation for Purchase College's Conservatory of Dance.
Artist Statement
As a Black queer woman who was born via the roots of spirit, legacy, trauma, and lost stories, I am interested in the following question: How can I practice a life that embodies the Spirit of Liberation? I use dance improvisation, meditation, somatic and psychology methodologies, African Diasporic history, awareness of trauma, and Black aesthetics to get me to that answer.
These practices bring me to constantly acknowledge and uplift the Black forerunners (some of who are my ancestors) who paved the way for me to create the work that I do today. They passed the torch of Liberation to me.
The least I could do is get the torch prepared, to light it in a blissful fire, and one day pass it on.