Nehemoyia Young is a Brooklyn based movement artist. Her work considers both the sacred and secular, while also challenging how the bifurcation of them shows up in our bodies. Her work has been featured at Movement Research, Danspace, WildProject and Spelman College. She’s worked alongside Okwui Okpokwasili, Andre Zachary, David Thomson, among others. She was a collaborator in the 2020 Movement Research Studies Project entitled “Are Y’all Really Feeling Me? : How Black Performance Moves Beyond just Matter(ing)”. Nehemoyia is a 2019 graduate of Columbia University/Union Theological Seminary where she received a Masters in Theology, Performance Art & Ritual. 

PROJECT DESCRIPTION:
In Liberated Company

In Liberated Company, formed in 2020, is a creative duo considering our religious and spiritual pasts with an eye towards a liberated future. We utilize dance and storytelling to build community for individual and collective healing for those recovering from religious trauma (RT). The prime objectives of In Liberated Company include connecting ex-evangelicals and other former fundamentalists to one another through a communal dance community and using somatic dance practice as a tool for understanding how religious and spiritual harm can interrupt one’s relationship to self and the body. The work is informed by the research of psychologists studying religious trauma, embodiment practices, the stories of survivors of RT and our own creative movement practices.

We are currently developing an online workshop model to launch this spring with the input and support of Reclamation Collective in Minneapolis, MN which consists of trauma-informed counselors, community leaders, and activists. Additional components of our project include: identifying and building relationships with artists critically engaging with religion, a weekly religious trauma discussion group, and connecting with activists and organizers working on religious influence in society.

Photo courtesy of the artist.