Finding God in Oneself & For Colored Girls: A Revolutionary Performance of Language, Naming, & Spacing

This project analyzes the powerful implications of Ntozake Shange’s For Colored Girls Who Have Considered Suicide/When the Rainbow is Enuf in terms of the language of “choreopoetry,” the identity politics present in the experiences of Black women, and the elements of spirituality that move Shange’s work forward. I argue that For Colored Girlsoffers Black women a space to celebrate the fullness and diversity of themselves, regardless of where they fall within the spectrum of characters represented. Shange’s work is groundbreaking in its usage of dance and poetry as joint storytelling language, and with Black women as the titular characters and target audience for this piece. For Colored Girls reshapes how we can continue to enjoy creative processes in theater, writing, poetry, dance, literature, and so much more. This piece has and continues to breathe life and beauty into stories that often go ignored.