I’m Not Ready to Let Go

2026

Saturday, August 1 | 7:00 pm
DPR Gallery
104 W Pujo St
Lake Charles, LA 70601

A site-specific improvisational dance performance crafted in response to the “black flags” featured in the Breathing Under Water exhibition. Carefully selected for their messages of resistance to change, 12 phrases from Gulf Coast residents — buffered through morse code and signal logic — mark the five minute intervals pacing this evening-length performance. The truth of the dance lies in these external feelings also being an internal narrative that tells of personal fears, resistance, and determination. I no more want to lose my state, my homeland, my coast than I want to lose my house, my mother, my husband, my home. We are all caught up in a storm sometimes. How do we face it?

I am not ready to let go
YV1 N X M →
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I feel an obligation to say something
YV1 K X C →
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We have to be specific
YV1 K T Z0005 C →
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We can make big change
YV1 C K T Z1200 →
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We shouldn’t wait for an emergency
YV1 X K C →
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I love this place
YV1 C P Q →
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This is the work God put in front of me
YV1 K X C T Z0001 →
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We both want better for our future
YV1 K C T Z2030 →
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Everybody feels like they are right
YV1 C C C →
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It’s about their way of life
YV1 Q X C →
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Change is hard
YV1 D M T Z0830 →
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The grief and loss just under the surface
YV1 M X W →
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Supported by grants from Visit Lake Charles and the Louisiana Division of the Arts, administered by the Arts & Humanities Council of Southwest Louisiana.