New Work Award 2025 – NAPPY Dance

We’re thrilled to announce NAPPY as Good Women’s 2024 New Work Award Recipients.

NAPPY Dance Collective is an emerging all-black contemporary dance collective that is committed to emboldening the arts and the spaces they inhabit, exposing them as capable environments for nurturing the pursuits of Black creatives. NAPPY is an acronym for Not A Political Playground Y’all. The history of the word “nappy” is tangled in Eurocentric beauty standards that were used to justify painting Black bodies as “lesser than” their white counterparts. The term has historically been used to negatively describe Afro-textured hair as dry, kinky, coarse and dirty.

“We plan to confront and reclaim the term to describe that which is unique and beautiful and invite Black creatives to unapologetically embrace their multifaceted selves. Although Black existence is inherently political, we value stylization, individuality and humanity in pursuit of displaying local Black virtuosity, collectivity and diversity in its many facets and artistic disciplines.”

As the New Work Award recipients, Tiara and Cindy are commissioned to create a new dance work to be premiered at Expanse Festival 2025. Good Women Dance Collective will support NAPPY Dance artistically, financially, and administratively during this process.

More about NAPPY Dance: https://www.instagram.com/nappydance/

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Images Descriptions

Tiara Matusin & Cindy Ansah

In a green field backdropped by lush trees, Tiara Matusin (in pink tights) and Cindy Ansah (in red tights) embrace each other in crouched positions. While the two Black women wear identical fitted, white blouses and silver flats, their similarities are contrasted by Tiara’s rich, dark hair and Cindy’s luminous, blonde curls.

Photo by Hector Omooba | @hecoraw