About T. Lang Dance
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T. Lang Dance creates poetic expressions of dance, which illustrates deep, arousing investigations relevant to issues of identity, history and community. Through the vehicle of Ancestral Soul Movement with emphasis on interdisciplinarity, T. Lang Dance's work communicates perspectives with depth and a movement style that captures the attention of the viewer with its evocative physicality, technical range and emotional viability. TLD work is inspired by the desire to invite audiences into personal and subjective experiences of inspiration, family stories, shared history; a fascination with the connections in between; and the desire to investigate them together on the dance floor. In 2011, T. Lang Dance was commissioned to create work in collaboration with Grammy award winning artists Sweet Honey in the Rock. This work, 4 Little Girls, was presented at the Gala Concert (DAR Constitution Hall) during the historic unveiling of the King Monument in Washington, DC. TLD’s production of MOTHER / MUTHA premiered in 2012, presented at the Goat Farm Arts Center. Creative Loafing and Arts America called the piece a “powerfully thought provoking… masterfully blended work” of “unsettling genius.” MOTHER/MUTHA delves deeply into the dark complexities of American history. It thoroughly examines the origin of objectifying African American women, a topic rarely examined so vividly and honestly through the lens of dance.
In 2014, The High Museum of Art and the Goat Farm Arts Center both commissioned Lang to create original work. This ignited the vision for Post Up, the first installment of a four-part series. At the Goat Farm, Post Up pushed the boundaries of dance to create a multimodal experience of rich audio and visual adventure. The second installment, Post Up In The House was presented by the High Museum of Art and performed as a visual installation within the Mi Casa, Your Casa public art exhibition, created by contemporary designers Héctor Esrawe and Ignacio Cadena. Also in 2014, T. Lang Dance collaborated on Doxology Ring Shout, a project with American choreographer Dianne McIntyre for the 2014 National Black Arts Festival. Lang’s 2015 season began with a commission from Flux Projects for a collaboration with visual artist, Nick Cave. Nick Cave’s Up Right Atlanta was presented in collaboration with T. Lang Dance at Ponce City Market and was later awarded 2015’s Best Collaboration from Creative Loafing Atlanta. Later in 2015 the third installment of Post Up called LIT Variations #1-11 was performed in various locations throughout the city including the private studio of visual artist Radcliffe Bailey.
Lang’s 2016 season included another commission from the High Museum of Art’s Jean-Michel Basquiat exhibit and another award from Creative Loafing Atlanta for Best Choreographer. In 2017, T. Lang expanded her vocabulary and delved into her first commission as a multimedia digital artist for Zuckerman Museum’s Medium Exhibition. The fourth installment of Post Up series called POST, premiered a three-week production run at an abandoned church on the decommissioned Atlanta military base, Fort McPherson. She continued her expansion in 2018 with creating new movement scores for independent film director Roni Nicole’s And the People Could Fly. TLD’s 2019 interdisciplinary work A Graveyard Duet of the Past Now premiered at the High Museum. Commissioned by the High Museum T. Lang Dance created A Graveyard Duet in response to Kara Walker’s The Jubilant Martyrs of Obsolescence and Ruin. The nearly 60-foot-wide cut-paper silhouette installation, based on the Confederate Memorial Carving on the face of Stone Mountain. TLD extended realty and masterly crafted work Out From the Deep: A Meditation for Them Turners premiered in during the global pandemic and allowed the company to continue its work in digital media
T. Lang’s Bio
T. Lang creates, writes and teaches poetic expressions of dance, which illustrates deep, arousing investigations relevant to issues of identity, history and community. Through the vehicle of contemporary modern dance with emphasis on the interdisciplinarity, Lang’s work communicates perspectives with depth and a movement style that captures the attention of the viewer with its evocative physicality, technical range and emotional viability. Her work is inspired by the desire to invite audiences into personal and subjective experiences of inspiration, family stories, shared history; a fascination with the connections in between; and the desire to investigate them together on the dance floor. After years of choreography, academia, and performance, Lang continues to explore new mediums, such as AR and VR technology, and various modes of collaboration, to immerse audiences in what she hopes are powerful, transformative experiences. T. Lang connects dance, space, technology, and creative collaborators to move audiences into a greater understanding of our past, present and future.
With commissions from the High Museum of Art, Goat Farm Arts Center, Flux Projects and more Lang stays engaged with the next generation of movement artists through her summer dance intensive SWEATSHOP and Founding Director and owner of The Movement Lab ATL, an interdisciplinary incubator for creativity T. Lang is an Associate Professor and inaugural department chair of Dance Performance and Choreography at Spelman College. She is also the 2022 Emory University Arts and Social Justice Fellow, and the 2023 recipient of Princeton University’s Collaboration and Research Grant award.
Artist Statement
I am a woman who reflects on her childhood like one searching for answers to the future. Let me draw the picture:
I grew up in middle America where I lived in a homogeneous community in a two parent household where it was filled with immense love, security, laughter and lessons. My parents who were educators taught me the value and legacy of our family's history. I grew up always asking my parents detailed questions about their childhood, personal questions that went beyond knowing the history/legacy, but I was more interested in learning how they handled life emotionally. I wanted to know our shared character and our codes. I was always curious to learn what connects me emotionally or rather learning of our similar behavioral traits that I share with my family's past encounters. I would often sit in my parents' office and watch them gather research for their lectures. When they hosted gatherings with their colleagues discussing hot topics of the day, I would sit at the top of the stairs pretending to be a part of the conversations, imitating their body language and making up my own gestures that emphasize their points. I fondly remember nightly dance improvisations sessions while my father played the piano and my mother gracefully reclined… I would watch them deliver eloquent speeches that had the same tone when they would read stories to me and my sister at bedtime or at the kitchen table. They were brilliant storytellers who continued to use this creative delivery inside their conservative careers. Their love towards each other and to us was felt, affirmed and delivered daily. I needed this action since growing up in my community, though I was "popular" i experienced not belonging since i didn't look, speak, carry myself in a manner that made others feel "comfortable". I was made to feel like an other other.
My maternal grandparents were successful entrepreneurs in the deep south. Their love, commitment, support for each other was displayed every single day till my grandmother departed this plane... I would listen to many conversations around the dinner table about their new business strategies to issues of colorism that my grandmother would deal with even as a grown women….
, to stories of the effects of jim crow and how their resilience carried them through america's terror. My maternal grandparents taught me about spirituality and the benefits of being connected to a stronger presence- The Highest Presence.
My paternal grandparents lived deeper in the south on our family farm, where they worked sun up to sun down to ensure that all 8 of their children would live the life of their dreams. They were pillars in their small country community. They were generous to others though I could never figure out how they could manage maintaining their land, providing for their family and being of service to their neighbors with little financial means. They never publicly shared their heartbreak when their good heart was taken for granted…. Ideas stolen… At their table I would hear horror stories of america's injustice followed by "children leave the table…" as my aunts and uncles continued to reminisce. Somehow, through the painful and complicated conversations I would always hear laughter. It could be possible that laughter covered the pain and the reality that the unresolved suffering left for my generation was our responsibility to heal.
Perhaps , it is the very reason I am compelled/convicted to create works that uncover untold truths of American history allowing the other other to see more reflections inside an uncanny lens. Tackling, creating and reimagining the works I make, presents itself as therapeutic encounters for my mind, body and spirit. As if it is a healing and empowering experience from my childhood memories that I hold dear,.... for a new america… a new world… to assist with capturing the new experiences we build for T. Lang Dance. It is only natural that I create works that investigate identity, history, community and spirituality. These stories\experiences are a part of America's intricately complex fabric and provide perspectives that I cherish and celebrate, leading me to create works with soul and depth.