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Baye & Asa (bai-yay & ae-suh) is a company creating movement art projects directed by Amadi ‘Baye’ Washington & Sam ‘Asa’ Pratt. We met when we were 6 years old. Born & raised in New York City, our bodies are shaped by a shared education. Through the personal dynamics of our relationship we address the larger political landscape of our upbringing, struggling to show a reality of violence while communicating a necessity for empathy. The physical aggression in our choreography is a symptom of our political rage, and a yearning to personally implicate ourselves. We use our choreography to create political metaphors, interrogate systemic inequities, and contemporize ancient allegories; we build theatrical contexts that celebrate, implicate, and condemn the characters onstage. Hip Hop & African dance languages are the foundation of our technique. The rhythms of these techniques inform the way we energetically confront contemporary dance & theatre.