Ogemdi Ude: MAJOR: Juneteenth Performance

Prospect Park Alliance and Danspace Project present MAJOR: Ogemdi Ude‘s dance project exploring the physicality, history, and interiority of majorette dance. These Black femme teams accompanied by marching bands created a movement style that requires master showmanship with allegiance to count, undulation, groove, and sensual yet strong performativity.

This celebratory Juneteenth performance is a co-presentation between Danspace Project’s Platform 2026: Secret Gardens and Prospect Park Alliance’s ReImagine Lefferts initiative. This outdoor iteration kicks off MAJOR‘s summer tour of outdoor performances that delve into how technique, effort, and mastery can be attempted, achieved, and abandoned in pursuit of cultural belonging. Ude’s cast of all Black femme dancers and collaborators embraces majorettes as a form and fundamental relic of Black girlhood. Together they pursue the intimate journey of returning to bodies that they thought were lost. A fierce investigation of physical memory, sexuality, sensuality, and community, MAJOR is a nuanced love letter to the folks who taught the team how to be proudly Black and proudly femme. The Chord Archive is showcased alongside performances, a physical and digital documentation of the creative process and personal historical accounts from former majorette dancers. MAJOR had its NYC premiere at New York Live Arts in January 2026.