Shavon Norris
Featured Performances
The CRONING (solo.duet 48:25)
Laurel Hill West, Conservatory
225 Belmont Ave Bala Cynwyd, PA 19004
photo credit: Johanna Austin
THE CRONING (solo.duet 48:25) is a solo movement and theater piece from creator and performer Shavon Norris with voice and sound textures from Elle.Morris. The piece considers the particularities, pleasures, and frustrations surrounding the experience of aging while Black. It considers Shavon’s bodily change of chemistry while moving through medical and cultural systems that do not prioritize the wellness and wholeness of Black women bodies. THE CRONING (solo.duet 48:25) invites performer and witnesses to consider what we have learned about aging, dying, and death. And it invites us to tap into existing and new references and rituals so we can expand our imaginations of what it can feel like/sound like/look like/be like, to age as a Black woman body.
Shavon Norris is an Artist. Educator. Facilitator. She grew up in a Black Sci-Fi Christian home in the Bronx that sparked her curiosity about the magic, medicine, and meaning living within us. Shavon uses movement along with text, sound, and imagery to reveal the stories living in our bodies. Her work explores our relationship to our identities, our experiences, and to each other. An examination and celebration of what we feel, think, and believe. As an artist her work has been presented at venues in NYC and Philadelphia. As a performer, she has performed for Silvana Cardell, Leah Stein, Merian Soto, makini poe, and toured with Pig Iron Theatre Company. As a facilitator, she works with artistic, educational, and corporate institutions, offering learning on Creativity, Movement, Inclusivity, and Healing Centered/Trauma Informed Practices. Shavon’s artistic and educational philosophies are rooted in the desire to offer herself, learners, performers, and audiences, opportunities to deepen the understanding of self and the collective. She loves the living and working she gets to do in the world.
LaTasha “Elle.” Morris is a D.M.V. born and raised, Philly-based vocalist and member of ILL DOOTS. Classically trained from age 14 (DESA), diplomaed and degreed by 21 (UArts, BM VOICE ’06), Morris continues to study/explore the love of her own voice in relationship to and co-creation with the world she lives in. In addition, Elle. guides others’ vocal journeys through vocal coaching and workshops.