Raw Fruit

Dancers Pictured: Kesha McKey, Catherine Caldwell, Millenique Brown, Chanice Holmes, Jasmin Simmons-Edmond
Photography by Melisa Cordana

Raw Fruit is a multidisciplinary work led by Kesha McKey, Artistic Director of KM Dance Project and Catherine Caldwell, Associate Director of KM Dance Project. It is a collection of stories that reveal the essence of ancestral values which have been woven into the cultural fabric of Black folks’ lives. This work examines legacy, identity, socialization, unity, and friction inside the Black family dynamic. KMDP delves deep to expose the impact of race, class, gender and sexuality on maternal relationships and track how the retention of cultural values, morals and taboos have shaped the current existence of Black people in the south. They reflect on the elements that have contributed to their unique traditions and multifaceted ways of life, unveiling family and community values that are seldom challenged or contradicted. Raw Fruit is steeped in New Orleans culture and layered with visceral movement created from the female lens of the African American experience in the south. From crawfish boils to second lines, living room altars to junior daughters, and bread pudding to pecan pralines, these experiences, rituals and ancestral contributions have created a web of lineage connecting present experiences with customs rooted in the past. “We recognize and value what we have acquired, what we release, what we hold and what we will share with those who come after us.” - Kesha McKey

Composer - free feral

Lighting designer - John Alexander

Film artist - Milo Daemgen and the Greenhouse Collective

Spoken word artist - Sunni Patterson

Dramaturg - Aminisha Ferdinand

Costume designer - Aya Designs

Sound designer - Amara Skinner