Tossed
Jamaal Bowman
I want to create dances that I want to see in the world - full of queerness, dripping with fashion, drenched in comedy, tossed in satire, and through the lens of afrofuturism. I’m heavily influenced by the artform of drag. I get lost for hours in the land of fierce makeup, hip pads, and glitter. Becoming a drag queen has shifted the way I view myself as an artist; I’ve morphed into something much more multidimensional. A dancing, sewing, music-making, video-editing queen.
Artist statement
Bio
Jamaal Bowman is a Director’s Scholar at the University of the Arts under the direction of Donna Faye Burchfield. Jamaal is a black multidisciplinary artist, born and raised in Maryland. Today, he is currently residing in Philadelphia. He is a dance artist by day, and a drag artist by night. Jamaal’s work is surrounded by queer black joy, theater, improvisation, and comedy. He is skilled in costume design, making music scores, and video editing. He hopes to reshape the future for queer brown people like him, to give them more opportunities to shine. He has been in collaboration with and taken classes from artists like Nora Chipaumire, Helen Pickett, Fana Fraser, Thom White, and Sidra Bell. Through the University of the Arts, he was able to travel to Paris to participate in the CND’s Camping festival along with performing “Monumental” by Jocelyn Cottencin. His most recent performance was in March 2020 with Nacera Belaza at Danspace project. Jamaal is currently working in collaboration with Waheed Works on a new project.
