New Work Considers Black Mobility Under Jim Crow
- 20 hours ago
- 3 min read
Hope B. Byers is an award-winning choreographer and a long-time member of Full Circle Dance Company. Her deeply researched body of work explores Black American experiences, history, racism, and social justice. She is currently embarking on the process of creating a new work, which will premiere November 1 as part of Ritual and Revolution at the Baltimore Museum of Art.
Q: Would you tell us about your vision for the new work?
A: Mobility lies at the heart of true freedom. Yet for many African Americans, the desire to move freely has been met with resistance throughout our national timeline. As an artist who uses dance to tell stories, I understand the power of movement to reveal truth, hold memory, and transform audiences. My new project, centered on the African American experience with automobile travel during the Jim Crow era, asks why and how the Black body in motion has been restrained and policed. I envision this work sparking awareness about the hidden costs and psychological toll of restricted Black mobility, provoking dialogue that confronts our shared history and its echoes, and inspiring change that honors Black journeys and reimagines freedom of movement.
Q: Your works are often grounded in significant historical research. What has your research process been like so far?
A: As a truth teller of history, research is integral to my process. I have begun visiting sites that place me inside the layered reality of Black travel. Route 66, known as the “Mother Road,” is one key site. Understanding how something nostalgic could also be lined with 50% sundown towns, which excluded nonwhite people from remaining in town after sunset, is both haunting and essential to the story I am telling. I also plan to tour sites once listed in the Negro Motorist Green Book, the guide that helped Black families navigate a violently segregated landscape. I’m engaging with written archives, as well as with documentaries that convey the lived texture, fear, resilience, and ingenuity of Black mobility. Before I set a single step on the dancers in the studio, the cast watched a documentary together to provide a foundation of shared knowledge and context.
Q: This new work will feature a large, diverse cast. How will you work with the dancers, especially when the subject matter engages with a painful history?
A: My work is built through close collaboration with dancers. Each artist either brings a story that directly connects them to the material or discovers a pathway to connection. My process centers on uncovering and nurturing that relationship so their bodies do not just execute movement but testify. Because the work involves racialized power and risk, creating space to process difficult truths, ask questions, and listen across difference is essential. This deep trust-building allows the choreography to be emotionally honest and collectively held.
Q: Your new work will premiere November 1 at the Baltimore Museum of Art as part of Full Circle Dance Company's Ritual and Revolution. What do you hope the audience takes away from that experience?
A: I want audiences to leave this performance with a deeper understanding of how Black mobility has been controlled and contested, and to feel the emotional and psychological weight of those restraints in their own bodies. Through the story of African Americans on the road under Jim Crow, I hope to spark honest conversation about the hidden costs of restricted movement, illuminate the resilience and ingenuity of Black travelers, and invite us all to reimagine freedom of movement as a right that must be protected, honored, and shared.
Photos: Dorret Oosterhoff, Brion McCarthy , Mike Hurwitz, and Full Circle Dance
As this new work continues to develop, it reflects the power of dance to illuminate stories that might otherwise remain unseen. Through rigorous research, collaboration, and artistic exploration, Hope B. Byers is creating a work that invites audiences to engage more deeply with an often-overlooked chapter of American history and to consider how its legacy continues to shape our lives today.
Through Ritual and Revolution, Full Circle Dance Company provides artists with the space, resources, and creative community needed to transform complex ideas into compelling performances. Join us on November 1, 2026, at the Baltimore Museum of Art to experience this powerful new work and an evening of dance that challenges, inspires, and sparks meaningful conversation.
Bringing new works to the stage requires research, rehearsal time, artistic collaboration, and production support. Your contribution helps Full Circle Dance Company provide choreographers with the resources they need to create bold, thought-provoking performances that engage our community through dance.
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