Watch Chloe Arnold's Moving Support of the #SayTheirNames Movement

September 20, 2018

“Injustice anywhere is a threat to justice everywhere.” Tap dancer and choreographer extraordinaire Chloe Arnold was inspired by these words from Martin Luther King, Jr. to create a piece in solidarity with the #SayTheirNames movement (a campaign to highlight stories of police brutality as told by the victims’ families).

Released earlier this week, the heartbreakingly beautiful clip stars Vikas Arun, Jabu Graybeal, and Gerson Lanza, all dancers with Arnold’s Apartment 33 company. Watch closely: Reigning NYCDA National Teen Male Outstanding Dancer David Keingatti also makes a memorable cameo towards the end.

The trio of tap dancers bring insistently rhythmic, passionate life to John Legend and Common’s 2014 song “Glory,” which the video’s creative team interspersed with excerpts from speeches by former President Barack Obama. The mood is somber, for sure: But Arnold’s goal, she says, is to inspire hope and to provide an image of a better tomorrow.

(On a lighter note: Arnold shares that the piece also serves as a congratulations to Legend, who at this past Sunday’s 70th Primetime Emmy Awards became the first African American male EGOT—aka winner of Emmy, Grammy, Oscar, and Tony awards!)