Tanya Birl-Torres. Photo: Dainique Jones. Courtesy Tanya Birl-Torres.
The Zora Project
CREATIVE CONTINUUM
in partnership with The Shed
A cosmic, theatrical offering to the legacy of Zora Neale Hurston
June 8, 6-8pm
10 Lafayette Ave., 4th Floor, Brooklyn, NY
The Zora Project, conceived by Tanya Birl-Torres, honors groundbreaking writer, cultural anthropologist, folklorist, and theater-maker Zora Neale Hurston, a key figure of the Harlem Renaissance. Best known for her novel Their Eyes Were Watching God (1937), Hurston celebrated the richness of Black culture, particularly that of the rural South, while challenging traditional gender roles and racial barriers designed to limit Black lives.
In celebration of Hurston’s life and work, The Zora Project finds sustainable connections between creativity and community that continues her legacy of “gathering the folk.”
After a successful first year in residency at The Shed with collaborator Reza Salazar, during which Hurston’s early theoretical and practical work in ethnographic and creative methodologies were explored, Birl-Torres returns for her second year of residency at The Shed. She will continue her work in investigating how democratized, human-centered creative processes further and deepen possibilities for artistic genius, stirring artworks, and true community-building.
Birl-Torres’s work will largely focus on exciting community programs that explore Hurston’s legacy.
The Zora Project is part of the Social Practice Artist-in-Residence program at The Shed and is supported in part by Hi-ARTS Creative Continuum.
About Movement Mondays
Join us for a monthly dance practice rooted in Zora Neale Hurston’s sacred tools of ritual movement, folktales, and work songs.
Each month, close to the full moon, we will gather to explore the methodology at the heart of The Zora Project. We will activate the earth’s latent energy, make the mundane sacred, and practice what Zora taught us: to be both human and cosmic at the same time.
Led by SPAIR artist-in-residence Tanya Birl-Torres, we will lean into theater, somatic practices, and ritual dance to weave a story of all of us together.
Each session includes:
Guided warm-up connecting breath, rhythm, and embodied wisdom
Story sharing and communal reflection on Hurston’s work
A participatory investigation into Hurston’s legacy, technologies, and practices
No professional dance experience is necessary—just bring your curiosity and willingness to be in the practice together. This is ancestral communion through movement, honoring African diasporic ways of knowing where dance leads, music follows, and story emerges from the body.
Upcoming Movement Mondays
June 8, 6-8pm
At Hi-ARTS
10 Lafayette Ave., 4th Floor
Brooklyn, NY 11217
RSVP here
July 6, 6-8pm
On the High Line
RSVP here
The exact location will be shared via email with those who RSVP.
August 3, 6–8pm
At The Shed (in The Tisch Skylights on Level 8)
RSVP here
Directions | This event takes place at L10 Arts and Cultural Center, on the 4th floor. accessible via elevator. Please allow extra time to arrive, check in, and get settled before the [WIP] begins.
By Subway:
Take the 2, 3, 4, 5, B, D, N, Q, R trains to Atlantic Avenue–Barclays Center station
Take the G train to the Fulton Street station
Take the C to Lafayette Avenue station
By Bus:
Take the B25, B38, or B51 to the Fulton St/Lafayette Av stop
Health & Safety | We are cultivating both wellness and mindfulness. We encourage those who feel more comfortable masking to do so. If you are exhibiting any type of symptoms or illness, we ask that you please stay home.