The Black Box News had the opportunity to digitally interview Candace Tabbs and learn even more about her Outta Box Genius.
She has shared some insightful poetic words that we are excited to share with you below!
She has shared some insightful poetic words that we are excited to share with you below!
Photo Credit: Loreto Jamlig and Lauriane Ogay
What are your first childhood memories centered around movement as a healing practice?
" I remember music videos on the tv. Dancing in front of the screen, when I was four or five. I remember watching my older sister dance and lip sync to the songs. She has always been so cool to me. That time together was happy, and easy. Moving was, and is, togetherness, family, community. When I was a little older after I finished my homework, I would turn on my stereo, pop [on] Aaliyah or N*sync and have my own full-out dance concert. I was giving choreo and performance. It was me creating my own world where my moves could be louder than I could ever imagine my voice. I was putting in the work, sweaty and free. It was coming back into myself, the self I was slowly getting to know."
" I remember music videos on the tv. Dancing in front of the screen, when I was four or five. I remember watching my older sister dance and lip sync to the songs. She has always been so cool to me. That time together was happy, and easy. Moving was, and is, togetherness, family, community. When I was a little older after I finished my homework, I would turn on my stereo, pop [on] Aaliyah or N*sync and have my own full-out dance concert. I was giving choreo and performance. It was me creating my own world where my moves could be louder than I could ever imagine my voice. I was putting in the work, sweaty and free. It was coming back into myself, the self I was slowly getting to know."
With your BA in Neuroscience, what made you begin pursuing such a rich artistic path?
" I have realized I am a very thoughtful, intentional person. That level of detail lends itself to the sciences when you need to be aware of your choices and how they can affect the outcome. I use that same intentionality with my art. I find it is all about care. How can I show the most level of care in this moment for the beings I am in community with? How can who I am right now create the most possibilities? But I guess, if you’re asking why am I not a neuroscientist *chuckles*, art is neuroscience: Understanding nuance and intricacies of the people around you and creating from imagination; speaking the language and deciphering codes of mind and body."
" I have realized I am a very thoughtful, intentional person. That level of detail lends itself to the sciences when you need to be aware of your choices and how they can affect the outcome. I use that same intentionality with my art. I find it is all about care. How can I show the most level of care in this moment for the beings I am in community with? How can who I am right now create the most possibilities? But I guess, if you’re asking why am I not a neuroscientist *chuckles*, art is neuroscience: Understanding nuance and intricacies of the people around you and creating from imagination; speaking the language and deciphering codes of mind and body."
Photo Credit: Loreto Jamlig and Lauriane Ogay
Is there a time when you realized specifically that your path into becoming a Reiki practitioner, performer, and healer became your own and one with your being?
" It was a layering of time. I was always rooted in the work of the performer, the preparation, the processes. I started working with Oren Barnoy a few years ago and he brought the language of practitioner into our rehearsal process. It made sense to me, we were not just making moves to share, but defining for ourselves, within ourselves, how we express this movement language. Now I hold onto that sentiment as a Reiki practitioner, expressing this energy healing language in an honest and authentic way, with respect to the lineage of Reiki and my own lineages.I am coming to own that I am a healer. It’s a big word to me that I must cultivate every day, like watering a seed. After creating my first evening length piece last year, coming toward, I realized the level to which I wanted the audience-participants to be cared for, just as I sought to be cared for. And that concern extended beyond the performance space. I want to be a conduit for energy and care, to hold and be held with love."
" It was a layering of time. I was always rooted in the work of the performer, the preparation, the processes. I started working with Oren Barnoy a few years ago and he brought the language of practitioner into our rehearsal process. It made sense to me, we were not just making moves to share, but defining for ourselves, within ourselves, how we express this movement language. Now I hold onto that sentiment as a Reiki practitioner, expressing this energy healing language in an honest and authentic way, with respect to the lineage of Reiki and my own lineages.I am coming to own that I am a healer. It’s a big word to me that I must cultivate every day, like watering a seed. After creating my first evening length piece last year, coming toward, I realized the level to which I wanted the audience-participants to be cared for, just as I sought to be cared for. And that concern extended beyond the performance space. I want to be a conduit for energy and care, to hold and be held with love."
With the intersectionality of your healing practices and your performance practice in mind, would you say that accessing your drive to actively create work is easier? Or does it (at times) present certain barriers?
" It’s so interesting. It’s first this idea that we are always creating, employing technologies, solving problems, dreaming and making. But most of our creations are not seen, accessed, interacted with. And that’s ok. They still exist, are still real, are still true. I remind myself of that when I allow myself to fall behind the notions that I have to create and present with some sort of regularity. When I need to share work, if it is the right time, I trust the opportunity will be there. It is more important for me, at this moment anyway, to feel good and cultivate joy. Healing does that before, after and round performance."
" It’s so interesting. It’s first this idea that we are always creating, employing technologies, solving problems, dreaming and making. But most of our creations are not seen, accessed, interacted with. And that’s ok. They still exist, are still real, are still true. I remind myself of that when I allow myself to fall behind the notions that I have to create and present with some sort of regularity. When I need to share work, if it is the right time, I trust the opportunity will be there. It is more important for me, at this moment anyway, to feel good and cultivate joy. Healing does that before, after and round performance."
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With your beliefs that the mind, body, and spirit unifying as one, are an important dynamic expression belonging to 'the dances of the African Diaspora'– how would you describe the importance of this full-body convergence, in your work, to someone unfamiliar with this 3 in one embodiment practice?
" It’s like tasting your favorite food. Perfectly ripe, perfectly seasoned, you are just the right amount of hungry for it (not too hungry when needing food overpowers the food itself), you are not rushed to enjoy it, you can take your time. You put it into your mouth, and taste the flavors. It slides cooly down your throat or warms your belly. You remember the first time you tried this food. And you look forward to the next bite. That’s akin to the convergence of mind, body and spirit. The sensations and senses around a particular experience extend beyond that moment, bring you into yourself and connect you outside of yourself. " |
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In your work 'coming torward (excerpt)' you welcome the audience into the space with a very intricate curation of syncopated sounds of the body, voice, and prerecorded soundscapes. The unification of these three components welcomes the audiences to go on a journey with you that is soon joined by a procolmation of words in a poetic rythmic structure. Can you talk about the role that language and sound have withn your generative practices?
" I started my movement journey under the premise that dance could speak for me when I didn’t have the words. (I was a pretty reserved child.) But in generative processes over the last few years, the words crept into dance-making. First in journaling and reflection and then bringing my voice into the space as I work, combining poetry and dance. It felt good to hear my voice, empowered by the space I created for myself with movement. In coming toward I expanded on what voice and sound meant as a measure of time. I could play along this nonlinear journey with live vocalizations and words to signify the present and prerecorded voicework to slip back to the past. It’s another dance within the dance. " |
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With respect to your private spiritual customes are there any healing and recharing practices that help maintain your creatve and personal well being that you are able to share?
" I often say it in jest but I mean it, naps are life. Rest is necessary. Rest is healing. Resting is ok. Maybe that looks like a nap, meditation, prayer, coloring, sitting in silence while my cat sleeps on my lap. But it is necessary and it opens your connection to the energy that is bigger than us, connecting us all. I also practice crystal work. Working with stones supports me in cultivating clarity or ease or focus or divine energy."
" I often say it in jest but I mean it, naps are life. Rest is necessary. Rest is healing. Resting is ok. Maybe that looks like a nap, meditation, prayer, coloring, sitting in silence while my cat sleeps on my lap. But it is necessary and it opens your connection to the energy that is bigger than us, connecting us all. I also practice crystal work. Working with stones supports me in cultivating clarity or ease or focus or divine energy."
Photo Credit: Loreto Jamlig and Lauriane Ogay
If you could talk to your younger self and give them some words
of guidance and encouragement to prepare them for their journey what would you say?
" You are enough. You are precious and you are loved. All of that starts within you. And when you are uncertain of how deep that love for you goes, stick your feet into the soil or the sand, call Granny or hug Mom."
of guidance and encouragement to prepare them for their journey what would you say?
" You are enough. You are precious and you are loved. All of that starts within you. And when you are uncertain of how deep that love for you goes, stick your feet into the soil or the sand, call Granny or hug Mom."
TBB News is so grateful to have the opportunity to share space with Candace Tabbs!!
Please continue to support our O.B.A. Artists by donating directly to their artistic endevors.
Candace's work can be supported via Paypal ([email protected]) and Venmo (@candace-tabbs).
Please continue to support our O.B.A. Artists by donating directly to their artistic endevors.
Candace's work can be supported via Paypal ([email protected]) and Venmo (@candace-tabbs).