Artist-in-Residence djassi daCosta johnson presents: FUNGAL EARTH
Thursday, March 7th | 6:00 PM - 7:30 PM
A film screening and conversations on my journey in the study of mycelium as it relates to movement, how humans have lived with the earth and each other, and my growing conviction that the answers towards our human survival lie within the intelligence of this organism.
Over the past decade, I have looked to mycelium and fungi to help answer questions of how we maintain our “human-ness” as we interface with the growing technology in our everyday environments.
As a doula, I became fascinated with the many healing aspects of adaptogenic mushrooms ( immune-boosting, anti-viral, anti-inflammatory, anti-cancerous, etc.), not to mention the brain-boosting, memory-enhancing physiological benefits mixed with the natural stress-reliving, cortisol-lowering effects… and beyond.
As a dancer, I have been called to move less on the stage and more with the earth in my work — exploring what can emerge when moving with and within the rhythms of nature - exploring the ways in which mushrooms can teach us about how to move more regeneratively and sustainably with our environments. As a human, I am fascinated by the secrets that are just now being uncovered in the ways that mycelium interacts with other life forms and not only turns decay and death into life, but can regenerate life in the toxic environments that humans have created.
As a brown person, I find a correlation between the ways that Black people and ‘Blackness’ has, in a sense, mimicked the intelligence of mycelium — within the last one hundred and sixty years since ‘emancipation’ — in the ways that Black culture has survived, regenerated and created life (art) in toxic and oppressive environments.
My time in the lab has allowed me the space to play with concept, movement, and technology as I uncover ways of educating through performance and media. Maintaining an inner and outer awareness of the benefits of mushrooms and fungi to redefine and reclaim our human connectedness to balance with our outward-growing technological tentacles. This salon is the beginning of the sharing of my personal perspective within a global conversation that I am passionate about helping expand and infiltrate every aspect of our collective psyche and healing.
Doors open at 5:30 PM and MeMoSa begins at 6:00 PM
Capacity in the lab is capped at 40 audience members. Attendees who have RSVP'd before the event will have priority, and admission will be determined on a first come first serve basis on arrival. If you RSVP before the event but you arrive late, we reserve the right to give your spot to someone on the waitlist.
Attendees who have not RSVP'd will be put on a standby waitlist if they arrive in-person before the event.
djassi daCosta johnson is a native New Yorker, classically trained modern dancer, choreographer, photographer, filmmaker, designer, writer, Doula and mother. Djassi received her B.A. in Anthropology and English from Barnard College and was a fellowship student at Alvin Ailey for seven years. She obtained her M.F.A. in Dance & New Media/ Technology from NYU Tisch in 2018 as a Dean’s fellow. She has apprenticed, performed and toured with, Dance Brazil, Earl Mosley, Bill T. Jones, Hernando Cortez, Urban Bush Women, Forces of Nature, and was a soloist with MOMIX.
After over a decade of touring in concert dance, Djassi lived abroad as a dancer and choreographer in Brazil and then Italy for almost a decade. Djassi writes in English, Italian and Portuguese about dance, culture, women’s issues with highlight on artists of color. She has written for KINFOLK, {DIYdancer}, Harvard Design Magazine, VIBE, TRACE and Playbill among others. Most recently she has penned scripts for dance films and promotional videos with Nel Shelby Productions for Dance Theater of Harlem and Alvin Ailey.
As a performance artist, she collaborates with jazz musicians and visual artists and for festivals such as PERFORMA, Vision Fest (NYC) and has been commissioned by the Brooklyn Museum four times, including a performance in collaboration with Alice Walker for the release of her book Taking The Arrow Out Of The Heart in 2019.
Her storytelling — through movement, words, images and on film — sprouts from her anthropological foundation and dance roots in NYC. Her film work and photography have been displayed at festivals internationally and most recently she presented her, dance on film collaborations and photography at Photoville in NYC, Shedhalle in Zurich, and The National Museum of Women in Washington, DC. Her latest film, “GAIA & LUNA: a mermaid dream journey” was screened at the environmental film festival, Cinema Verde in February of 2023, winning the “Most Uplifting” Award. Her photography and film work is on exhibition at MoCaDa Museum, in the group show M’Dear : Celebrating the Black Maternal. Most recently Djassi’s choreography has been features at Book Launch series for the publishing company Kweli. In June 2023, she was commissioned to choreograph a piece for the opening dedication ceremony at the International African American Museum (IAAM) in Charleston, SC and has performed and choreographed for NYFW 2023 & 2024 for the sustainable fashion line Studio189.
Djassi has mentored for the national writing program, Girls Write Now for three years and, most recently, was an Assistant Professor of Dance at The University of Virgin Islands from 2020-2022 where she started the first Dance Performance BFA while teaching Ballet, Humanities and Theater. She is based in Brooklyn and is currently a 2023-24 Artist in Residence at the Barnard Movement Lab.