Sisterhood Is Power: A Day In The Woods With Black Girl Magik - Refinery29

Standing in a circle in the parking lot of the Congaree National Park in South Carolina, Shydeia Caldwell, the founder of the Black Girl Magik collective, is leading a ritual workshop. She instructs us to step one-by-one into the middle of the circle, come up with a short combination of dance and sound — a clap and a yelp, a stomp and a hoot — and do it continuously while the rest of the group joins in, each person with their own invented choreography. Everyone looks around nervously, with fears and memories of middle school dances surging back like a wave. But we all want to be team players; no one will be sitting this one out. And soon, we all join — clapping, singing, saying short words and phrases. We look ridiculous, we know, but we are also impressed by how good we sound together; how good this primal song we have accidentally written is. We keep going until we erupt in laughter and applause. The energy has been lifted. We are a team.

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