As part of Amsterdam Dance Event (ADE), Black Soil presents a special FREE film screening + talk in collaboration with Foundation.nl and Represent Europe at OBA Bijlmerlein.

 

 

We invite you to an evening in which the roots of the club culture are central. With film, conversation, and music, we look back at the emergence of a movement that shapes the dance floor to this day. Come As You Are (2017), directed and produced by Amy Secada, is a documentary about the legendary New York club The Loft and the rise of club culture. It’s an intimate DIY production that focuses on the early generation of dancers at The Loft, including Archie Burnett – the first “father” of the ballroom house House of Ninja. Although much of the conversation goes back to the period before the rise of House, the documentary offers a valuable look back.

 

 

‘Come as You Are’ highlights the family-like atmosphere of The Loft, the décor, the communities that came together, and the dance styles that emerged there. Known as a charismatic storyteller, Burnett elaborates on the intention and language of the Loft dance styles. He puts this aptly with the statement: “If you get too far from the source and there are not enough people to tell the stories or fill in the gaps, people do what comes naturally: they make things up and run off with them.” With a joke, he adds: “You have vogue and you have vague — I don’t know what your vogue looks like, but your vague is fierce.” The documentary contains several of these kinds of warm and insightful moments, in which dancers show genuine involvement with the meaning of the party. This leaves the viewer with an optimistic feeling about the power of the dance floor.

 

 

We will conclude the screening with a Q&A with an artist who can talk about The Loft from his own experience. This program is part of ADE and set up in collaboration with Foundation.nl, and Representing Europe. THANK YOU, Amy Secada!!

 

 

OBA Bijlmerplein, Bijlmerplein 393, 1102DK Amsterdam

No reservation needed, we hope to see you there!

 

17:30 Walk-in

18:00 Introduction + show film

19:00 Q&A

19:45 Appetizers