Roderick George’s Fleshless Beast deconstructs the black-white binary with pluralism. Combining a spectrum of dance styles (from classical ballet to break dancing) with electronic and hip-hop music, George creates an inclusive, relatable approach to deconstructing the black-white binary.

Thematic Background

Roderick George’s new piece is a collaborative venture that explores pluralism while deconstructing the black-white binary. The black-white binary pervades throughout technology, color theory, and race and is used as the traditional nomenclature of having only two options. Black/white. Yes/No. Good/Evil. Binaries support a structure that lacks the metaphoric grayscale of critical analysis and open possibility and limits the exploration of alternatives. The black-white binary connects blackness with darkness/ evil and white with light/ purity. Culturally, these connotations have been institutionally installed via children’s cartoons, cultural and artistic reproductions, and language. Contemporary problems arise racially when such a view of blackness and whiteness is perpetuated, for the reason that it excludes other People of Color, but most importantly for George because the binary is internalized within the creation of one’s self-identity and one’s place in society. Black people have often been the scapegoat for evil, criminality, the dark unknown, and the Other, while white people have often been cast as the savior, the just, and the norm. For example, when describing a person, one often says ‘The woman wearing the blue skirt’ for

a white woman and ‘The black woman wearing the blue skirt’ for a black woman. This color descriptor acknowledges the racial ‘Other’ within the social structure. Internalizing evil, criminality, and Otherness creates a problematic foundation for recognizing the beauty, trust, and value of the self.