Video

what if we kept it between us?

Mahlet Cuff

2026, 05:22 minutes, colour, English (English subtitles available)

TAPECODE 2185.01

what if we kept it between us? is a single-channel film that draws from archival footage of ballroom, voguing, juke, footwerk, dancehall and dance practices across the African and Black Queer diaspora. While drawing from house music godfather Frankie Knuckles, who oftentimes was asked what is house music, the question is proposed to the audience, questioning why there is a desire to explain the genre at all. Using music from electronic duo Drexciya, what if we kept it between us? is working towards recentering genres of Black music that have been appropriated, pushing against extraction and offering gatekeeping as a way to protect and preserve Black music and dance ethnographies.

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