The Great Debasement: A Music Theater Ritual of Decolonial African and Jewish Diasporic Spiritual Practices to Re-Imagine Our Shared Liberated Futures
Publication information:
Abstract
Performance: The Great Debasement is a music theater creation myth for voices, clarinet, and electronics following a Black chaplain and white rabbi questioning the intergenerational costs of becoming American settlers. These queer, non-binary ancestors travel from former slave port Elmina, Ghana to PG County, Maryland and Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania to the former Jewish epicenter of Oddessa, Ukraine, exploring how colonial relationships with land have impacted their diasporas and spiritual traditions. This artistic performance features audience participation in some call-and-response portions, culminating in a Q&A-panel with the artists to discuss audience feedback and collective healing through integrating spiritual and artistic practices.
Presenter Biography
Performer-composer, arts-in-health researcher-practitioner, and chaplain-in-training Armond Dorsey, M.A., M.Div I creates immersive performances and workshops to incite communal freedom dreams while reducing stress using evidence-based health-promoting sound design, worship music, and rituals amplifying everyday Black life. Eli Berman, M.A. is a professional musician; she produced and directed Pittsburgh’s inaugural GOLEM festival in July 2024, opening with a theatrical Jewish text study in collaboration with local scholars and artists.The two earned the University of Maryland’s Driskell Award for Creative Excellence to exhibit and perform their trio’s original Afro-Judaic sound sculptures with electronic gospel and Jewish cantorial music between January 2025-April 2025.