This piece was created in 2024 for Seattle Centers Artist at the Center. Prove It On Us is a piece that honors the legacy and lives of Black Queer Blues women such as Ma Rainey, Gladys Bentley, and Bessie Smith. I am interested in how their lives impacted the freedoms we have as Black Queer folk today.  They were able to exist in ways society told them they couldn’t. They were Black women who accessed pleasure in the ways they loved, performed, and traveled. These women were making work 100+ years ago. While I did not get to personally meet them, and there is not a lot of information available about their lives, their energy feels so rich and relevant. I built choreographies in response to the images, songs, and literature about them I could find. I was able to physically respond to images to explore gestures and character. Their songs inspired movement phrases that were then manipulated into solos and duets. This piece not only functioned to keep their history alive, but to remind us that we can keep dreaming impossible futures into reality.