Dates: Tuesdays, 4-6pm pst, July 27th, and August 17th

This class series, informed by the Daddy Matters (www.joegoode.org/event/daddy-matters) work created by Richard and Jhia Jackson, is a supported exploration of three different choreographic elements of dance: story, music, and movement. Classes can be taken as a single drop-in or as a progressive series: each class will build on the previous and each element can also be explored independently. Much like the Daddy Matters work, this series is open to all who want to move or be moved, and can be taken independently or with family, friends, or colleagues.

Participants will engage in an in-depth exploration of the elements of story, music, and movement to expand and deepen their presence with themselves, their class partner, and others. Throughout the series, the creative prompts will allow for everyone to share and move at their own comfort level, encouraging an ongoing exploration of our ability to make intentional, respected choices. As the class series progresses, the prompts will draw more and more from movement as the primary art form, facilitating opportunities to work together in crafting and sharing the inspirations that come from our explorations. This will result in the opportunity for in-class sharing, as well as contributing to the living archive on the Daddy Matters webpage (www.jhiajackson.com/daddy-matters). For more specifics on the content of each standalone class, please visit the Daddy Matters webpage or the individual class registration pages.

This series is developed and led by Richard Jackson, Jhia Jackson, Damara Vita Ganley, and Patricia West.

Registration is open! Click here to RSVP.

For a living archive of this project & info on past sessions, please visit www.jhiajackson.com/daddy-matters

Dear reader,

You are invited to join Jhia, Damara, Patricia, and myself in the second session of our Daddy Matters virtual class series, Music, on Tuesday, July 27th, from 4pm – 6pm pst.

In this class, we will be exploring the music of your life and your relationships. Music is a means to communicate emotions. In determining the playlist for Daddy Matters, I thought about the music I listen to, how that music made me feel, and the impact it had on others. The music has to sound good and I wanted some good old fashioned feet tapping, finger tapping music – music where the song is halfway over before you realize you were already moving along with it. Music is the glue that brings together the story and movement, it brings together all of the elements necessary to create a work of art.  

Music comes in many different shapes, formats, and styles. Recently, I watched a dance performance without music and I found myself creating music in my mind. Even when we think there is no music, music is still present. We invite you to join us – on your own or with someone special – to explore what it means to view your life as art and what happens when we explore the music in our lives. 

~RICHARD

Richard Jackson, Jr. (he/him) is a New Jersey native and an avid music lover who is guilty of influencing and nurturing his daughter, Jhia Jackson’s, love of music and dance.  Using his extensive library of over 1,500 of record albums (vinyl) and attending live performances, it afforded him an opportunity to connect today’s music with its roots in yesterday’s artists. He is a graduate of Howard University, with a Bachelor’s degree in mechanical engineering, and Pepperdine University, with a Master’s degree in Business Administration.  Richard, who has been living with Parkinson’s for over 20 years, has no formal dance training or credits beyond what has been absorbed by attending over 20 years of Jhia’s dance and cheer performances. 

Jhia Louise Jackson (she/they) is an artist, academic, and activist who regularly engages in interdisciplinary projects. She has worked with artists such as Alexandra Pirici, Joya Powell/Movement of the People Dance Company, Raissa Simpson/Push Dance Company, RAWdance, Cally Spooner, Kim Epifano/Epiphany Dance Theater, and dNaga Dance. As the founder of j.habitus and a current doctoral student in Sociology at UCSF, she creates visceral explorations and presentations of topics drawn from her academic and activist work. She earned her BA in Dance, Sociology, and Ethics from Loyola Marymount University in LA and her MS in Bioethics from Columbia University. She is the founder of Emerging Black Bay Artists, an online community supporting the professional development of early and mid-career Black artists in the Bay Area. Visit www.jhiajackson.com to learn more about her work.

Damara Vita Ganley (she/they) is committed to art making practices that inspire connection, collaboration and correspondence with the heart. They have been a part of the JGPG community as student, artist and education co-coordinator since 2008.
Working with Jhia and Richard in Daddy Matter’s has brought her into a deeper creative journey with her own family and has deepened her commitment and understanding of relationship as the orienting compass for everything at all times. The inspired care that she sees Jhia and Richard offer one another and others is like a recipe – something to follow and reference as a way to nourish and celebrate our complex lives and relationships.

Patricia West (she/her) is an educator and performing artist. She aims to create and support spaces that foster self-expression and collaboration. Patricia is grateful to have continued to work artistically with and serve people across varied diverse communities all over the Bay Area and beyond. Patricia is currently one of the Education Coordinators for JGPG and has been a company member since 2006. Jhia and Richard’s work has inspired Patricia with ways to creatively tend to her relationships with those she loves, both living and deceased. Patricia shares Daddy Matters’ value in the ways music, movement, story and presence are integral in order to deepen our understanding of ourselves and are threads that uniquely weave us with one another.

photo by Amal Bisharat from RAWdance’s Concept Series 23 (2018)