Bernadette Turnage
with MufukaWorks Dance Co.

Bernadette Turnage with MufukaWorks Dance Company

BOOM Performance:
KNITTY GRITTY Dance

KNITTY GRITTY is an original dance work weaving together tales that bind women. Their innovative use of yarn explores knitting while dancing with needles, arms, legs, bodies and from one to another. In this way, they relate themes about the interconnectedness of women throughout time. As the performers use their own bodies to weave new fabrics, both literal and metaphorical, the collective reclaims an art form associated with quiet domesticity and presents it as a powerful unifying force worthy of celebration.

BIO

Artists:

• Knitty Gritty is choreography led by Bernadette Turnage, set on Elsie Mufuka’s MufukaWorks Dance Company.
• In 2010, Elsie Mufuka began MufukaWorks Dance Co., as inspired to provide dance education and performances for the community.
• Bernadette Turnage is a graduate of Western Kentucky University’s Dance Program.

Through their partnering, Elsie and Bernadette realized their mission statements aligned, “Using dance as a vehicle to tell human life stories.” Knitty Gritty’s purpose is just that. Telling the human experience through dance — with the added convention of yarn.

Bernadette started Knitty Gritty in college with her fellow classmate, Hannah McCarthy. They produced the first staging together, and McCarthy’s solo work, “Sit,” has become a fixed component of the Knitty Gritty work.

The current direction of Knitty Gritty is to voice a feminist message. They address circumstances — upsetting and uplifting — that women have experienced because they are all “female.”

Knitty Gritty grows each time it is performed — absorbing a new experience and perspective to eventually share a wide range of diverse life experiences.

Mufuka Works Dance Company Website »
Bernadette Turnage on Instagram »
Elsie Mufuka on Instagram »