Power Trip
The Power of Strutting in a Black Body
It’s a vision of a free black future that keeps us on our feet
In ideal circumstances, the human body flows in a state of strut. A jauntiness, an ease. A response to the rhythms that animate the earth. To strut is to reflect the graceful rotation of the planet in one’s breath, in one’s step, in the pace and melody of one’s speech, in one’s swerve and laughter. I strut, therefore I am.
Strut is the body in motion, occupying, manipulating, and moving through space. Strutting requires freedom, the liberty to flex and stretch. Lately I have been habitually watching a short film by Andrew Margetson. His camera follows the brilliant dancer Lil Buck as he floats, pops, and glides through the Fondation Louis Vuitton in Paris. Dancers are often so supple that they can’t help themselves, walking with a distinctive grace that signals their talent. Lil Buck doesn’t walk like that. He enters the museum as any ordinary mortal would. He is lithe and trim, to be sure, but with an unassuming gait that hides his kinetic genius. Then the music begins, and he leans into the air, his ankles as improbably bent as a hapless guard defending LeBron James. He bends to the point of crumpling, only to reassemble, restoring his smooth musculature as if by magic.
