Dance Like A Mother: A Joyful Act of Resistance
“I have found that battling despair does not mean closing my eyes to the enormity of the tasks of effecting change, nor ignoring the strength and the barbarity of the forces aligned against us. It means teaching, surviving and fighting with the most important resource I have, myself, and taking joy in that battle. It means, for me, recognizing the enemy outside and the enemy within, and knowing that my work is part of a continuum of women’s work, of reclaiming this earth and our power, and knowing that this work did not begin with my birth nor will it end with my death. And it means knowing that within this continuum, my life and my love and my work has particular power and meaning relative to others.”
― Audre Lorde, The Cancer Journals
During a call with the incomparable “Cookie Sookie” of TMF1 Productions, one of Dance Like A Mother’s community sponsors, we mused about throwing collective house music events together. We discussed what Cookie dubbed as the “HERstory” of house music in Washington, D.C. area, what it takes to bring the community together, and why we continue to invest time and energy into throwing events at all. Cookie’s laser focused insight poured over me as we chatted. We landed on continuing to focus on what is “additive,” and doing the work that matters. For Cookie, that has always turned around supporting worthy causes and uplifting the often overlooked HERstory of house music, including her wildly talented partner -- the one and only DJ TMF. Cookie, one of the “Best Kept Secrets” of the D.C. house music scene in her own right, embodies the kind of joyful resistance that I love about house. Cookie will tell you like it is, and she will hold you to a higher standard. In many ways, that is what house music is about – speaking truth to power, honest expression, and the creation of spaces that allow for renewal, growth, and solidarity.
House music has a long revolutionary history, often whitewashed, finding its roots in the Black and queer disco scene in Chicago in the late 1970s. In D.C., house similarly emerged as a force for social change out of the likes of spaces like The ClubHouse, a D.C. after hours club that supported the Black and LGBTQ community from 1975-1990. The ClubHouse, which opened on Mother’s Day weekend in 1975, hosted both house music and political events alike, including organizing support for combatting the exploding HIV/AIDS epidemic at that time. It became a safe space for joy and resistance, breathing heart into D.C.’s emerging house music scene. Notably, The ClubHouse was known for several annual events, including an annual Mother’s Day event to honor its members’ mothers.[1]
Many years later, in 1999, inspired by this tradition, I first began throwing house music events to raise money for civil rights organizations like Metro Teen AIDS and City at Peace through a collective called “Inspire Productions.” Before my first event I approached Sam the Man Burns – known locally as the “Godfather” of D.C.’s house music scene. By that time, Sam had been DJing for over 20 years – I was just a kid – but instead of acting as a gatekeeper, Sam embraced me with open arms, agreed to play the event for free, and helped us promote. Sam, who passed suddenly in 2020, inspired a generation of DJs in the D.C. house music scene, not only because of his prolific knowledge of music, but because of his heart, wisdom, and generosity.
So, when I joined the Board of First Shift and they considered the question about what to do for their annual fundraiser – the answer was clear. House music. And the house music community answered. In that first year, DJ Housecat of Real Women House/Cyber Jamz/House on the Waterfront Weekender; DJ Soul of the Foundation for Creative Cultural Expression; Katrina Mir of D.C. House Grooves; VibeCreator of Unity DC; and Moonbeam Jones of Dubtribe Sound System all answered the call. In the years that followed, DJ TMF of TMF1 Productions; DJ A.Plane; Mykrodaat of EclecTek Studios; and SeanBlvd aka Shawn Travolta joined the movement. We were also lucky to bring forward some of the next generation of house DJs like dj.lilshenk and RellyBelly. This year, we are excited to welcome local legends DJPaulHoward and Sal Negro to the decks.
Now in our fifth year, I have been reflecting on what joy as an act of resistance really looks like in action. I think it looks like seeing Jennifer Gibbs-Phillips aka “Mother Love,” now 78 years old, escorted to the dancefloor at Dance Like a Mother IV by an entourage of admirers. Anyone who has seen Mother Love’s infectious smile knows. A Howard University grad and D.C. educator for over 50 years, Mother Love is the embodiment of joy as resistance – or what First Shift’s Executive Director Laura Brown calls, “empathy with an edge.” It also looks like seeing my own mother on the dance floor at Dance Like A Mother IV – watching me DJ live for the first time together with my niece, her granddaughter, dj.lilshenk, and chatting with the famous “Ma Boogie,” DJ TMF’s mother, known for dancing all night long and telling others on the dance floor in her thick New York accent: “That’s my daughter!”
As our community faces difficult times ahead, it is important that we stop, breathe, dance, and allow joy in. It is this joy that will renew us to continue the fight for equal rights and justice – it is the joy that reminds us what we are fighting for. I am grateful to stand together with First Shift Justice Project in its mission to support working parents and caregivers fight workplace discrimination and get access to justice. When a parent or caregiver keeps her job because of First Shift’s intervention, a family maintains stability, children thrive, and our community grows stronger. As a civil rights lawyer, I will not stop fighting for equality - as a DJ, I will not stop fighting for joy. See you on the dancefloor!
DANCE LIKE A MOTHER fundraiser will be held on May 9, 2025, from 6 p.m. to 12 a.m. at Wunder Garten, 1101 First St. NE, Washington, D.C. 20002. Donate here: https://givebutter.com/DLM2025
By Erika Jacobsen White
~Erika Jacobsen White is a civil rights and employment lawyer with Joseph, Greenwald & Laake, P.A. in Greenbelt, Maryland. She is a former Chair of the Board of First Shift Justice Project and co-creator of Dance Like a Mother.
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