Malik Nashad Sharpe Guest Blog: I Like It. What is It?
Photo credit: Paul Giles
I Like It. What is It?, supported by Jerwood Developing Artist Fund, is a two year residency programme that gives artists the space to explore ‘boomerang’ ideas; the ones that they believe in but haven’t had the chance to find their form yet. Ideas that are wild and beautiful.
Instead of the typical headshot and bio, we wanted to give the artists freedom to announce their idea and residency in a way that is special to them. Below is a blogpost written by Malik Nashad Sharpe, one of our I Like It. What is It? residents.
My name is Malik Nashad Sharpe and I’m a choreographer and movement director based in London, working with dance, dark fantasy, and horror. Creating primarily underneath the alias Marikiscrycrycry, I makes provocative performance works that are engaged with the formal construction of affect, atmosphere, and dramaturgy from the marginal perspective.
I graduated with a BA in Experimental Dance with highest honours from Williams College, and hold a certificate in Contemporary Dance from Trinity Laban Conservatoire for Music and Dance, where I won the Simone Michele Prize for Outstanding Choreography. I often work with dance as a social art form and rely upon a variety of techniques and practices to articulate my choreographic systems and values.
My work often address violence, alienation, horror, melancholia, belonging, and the horizon and have been widely presented across the U.K., Europe, and Canada. I have received commissions for new work from The Yard Theatre (U.K.), Theatre La Chapelle (CA), Festival Trans-Amerique (CA), New Queers on the Block (U.K.), Marlborough Productions (U.K.), Dansehallerne (DK), MDT (SK) and Roskilde Festival (DK), amongst many others. My work has been shown in venues including at Battersea Arts Centre (U.K.), Montreal arts et interculturels (CA), Edison/Betty Nansen Teatret (DK), University Settlement (USA), Schauspielhaus (AT), Kampnagel (DE), Tate Britain (U.K.), and in festivals such as ImpulsTanz (AT), Birmingham International Dance Festival (U.K.), Glasgow International Dance Festival (U.K.), American Realness (USA) and Skopje Pride (MK).
In the 16th edition of Festival Transamerique, I premiered High Bed Lower Castle (2022), a work co-created with Montreal-based choreographer Ellen Furey, with critics deeming it ‘bold, rich, dreamlike' (Artichaut) and 'remarkable, mesmerising' (Westmount). In Roskilde Festival 2023, I premiered my large-scale production of DARK, HAPPY, to the CORE to widespread acclaim, with critics calling the work, 'jaw-dropping' (Scenenblog), 'entertaining, good style, sexiness' (Politken), 'quivering, smouldering, postapocalyptic' (Seismograf), 'exciting, challenging, intense' (TBA.no), as well as the comment that it 'grabbed me by the collar and reminded me of the radicality and wildness of Roskilde' (Information.dk)
As a movement director, I have worked widely across the British theatre sector, including on the productions of Henry V (Shakespeare's Globe/Headlong), Bootycandy (Gate), Closer (Lyric Hammersmith), The Glow (Royal Court), Fairview (Young Vic), and Effigies of Wickedness (Gate/English National Opera). In the autumn 2023, I will be joining the creative teams for A View From the Bridge (Headlong/Bolton Octagon), Mates in Chelsea (Royal Court), and ADA (National Youth Theatre).
I am currently an Associate Artist at The Place, and a studio resident of Somerset House Studios. I’ve held artistic residencies at Sadlers Wells, Barbican, Performance Situation Room, Dance4, Duckie, and Tate Modern. I am also a guest teacher in dance and performance at the Stockholm University of the Arts in Sweden.
During my residency, I will explore Hang Time; a resonant term within the Black community that alludes to the amount of hair left at the end of a cornrow—a delicate balance suspended at the base of the head and the cusp of the neck.
Cornrows, more than a protective hairstyle, hold a profound historical significance for Black communities. During the haunting days of the Atlantic slave trade, these intricate braids became more than adornments; they morphed into maps guiding enslaved peoples towards freedom.
My cousin embraced cornrows throughout his entire existence. A figure of admiration and guidance, he was like an elder brother to me.
In 2021, a devastating tragedy befell my family, and at 35 he left this realm. This loss has been haunting and in my quest to process grief and understand the complexities of mental health within Black communities, I now find huge solace in wearing cornrows myself. And this ritual connects me with him, as I attempt to reconcile the impact of suicide on Blackness.
Hang Time, both literally and metaphorically, encapsulates moments suspended in air, in time, and the darkness that can engulf us. My artistic vision strives to honor the souls of all Black boys who have contemplated their own existence, yearning for liberation. In crafting materials that remind us of our indispensable worth, I endeavor to create a transformative group performance—one that confronts mental health issues head-on, intertwined with the essence of our hair, and my continued work with dark fantasy, horror, and the peripheral perspective.