Once upon a 'Bootyist'

Before discovering and evolving into the Liberated Booty language and practice, Binah began with “bootyism” and once upon a time identified herself as a “Bootyist”—someone who loves, celebrates, and amplifies the booty magic in all ways.

In this 2010 piece produced by the DC Commission on the Arts and Humanities, Binah is one of 3 Washington, DC artists featured in ART202 Reel: Sojourn: The DNA of Perseverance, filmed by Chris Keener. Binah dances (skip to 1:33 for her part) at the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts on the roof terrace (her favorite place in all of DC to dance) and in the Grand Foyer. While she dances she tells the story of Sara ‘Saartjie’ Baartman, an 18th century South African woman who was put on display in Europe because of the shape of her body, and specifically her booty.

A founding member of The Saartjie Project performance ensemble, and active in the collective from 2008-2012, Binah connects her practice as a bootyist to the legacy of Saartjie Baartman, and how Saartjie’s story inspires the work of the Saartjie Project. She also considers the ways our own bodies as black women can be radical sites of reimagined narratives of power and possibility.

Binah’s part begins at 1:33.