KENNESAW, Ga. | Nov 3, 2023

"Borders" features a scene with flashlights that exemplify a universal search for meaning, says dancer Caleb Joyner, foregrounded here at a rehearsal last week.

Applying for a U.S. visa to work with Kennesaw State University students, Senegalese choreographer Kaolack received yet another reminder about the relevance of his work. 

Kaolack, whose artistic name is derived from the town of his birth north of The Gambia, was delayed in getting here, forcing the first of his interactive sessions with the KSU Dance Company to take place via Zoom. 

It was just the latest example in his own life of how borders — coincidentally the title of the new piece he designed for KSU students to perform —  can place artificial barriers in the way of interpersonal exchange, with uneven applications depending on one’s race or nationality. 

“For me it was very important to extend people’s narrow vision of what they know about the world — the white way of seeing the Black African body,” says Kaolack.

Borders is a new work created for Sage, a contemporary showcase from the Department of Dance at KSU’s College of the Arts, set to take place on the evenings of Nov. 10-11.

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