Motion State Arts presents

laila j. franklin
babybabybaby

November 8, 2025 . 7pm
wilbury theatre group . providence, RI

A dance about dances about love.

Laila J. Franklin’s BABYBABYBABY (2024) explores the aesthetics that communicate romance, infatuation, desire, and desperation, through shifting physical states and shapes. With reference points ranging from early aughts romantic comedies and So You Think You Can Dance duets, to archival footage of live performances by Roberta Flack and Nina Simone, to obstacle course TV game shows and clowning, the work stumbles through shades of silliness, irrationality, and grief, calling into question the role of sincerity, earnestness, and truthfulness in performance, and the power of physical states—of  exuberance, or slowness, or tenderness, or aggression—to create emotional experiences for viewers and performers. Through its physical acts and overarching themes, BABYBABYBABY seeks to explore how we contend with the precarity of trust, impulsivity, and continuity via malleable agreements and disagreements. It is a work that is interested in companionship and partnership, exploring the ways we give and receive support and care to one another.

Motion State Arts is thrilled to present the only Rhode Island performance of this piece.

DANCE WORKSHOP WITH laila j. franklin

SUNDAY, NOVEMBER 9, Time TBA
Location TBA
$20; space limited, advance registration encouraged

Details coming soon.

ARTIST BIO

Laila J. Franklin is a multidisciplinary dance artist based in Massachusett and Pawtucket land / Boston, Massachusetts, by way of Nocotchotank and Piscataway land / Washington, DC.

She is interested in meta-commentary, deconstruction, and bits, approaching themes surrounding the human experience with nuance, curiosity, physical rigor, and humor. Her work extends from lineages of traditional and experimental Black, queer dance makers, with a particular interest in the collision of postmodernist creation frameworks and story ballet.

Laila’s work has been presented by Public Space One (IA), Loculus Collective Sideways Door II Festival (MA), School of Contemporary Dance and Thought (MA), and Movement Research at The Judson Church (NY), and commissioned by Brown University (RI), the Boston Conservatory at Berklee (MA), and Salem State University (MA). She has been the recipient of a Boston Center for the Arts' Run of the Mills Residency (2022), Dancemakers Laboratory Residency (2022/2023), and Boston Dancemakers Residency (2023/2024). She was featured in Dance Magazine as one of their 2024 "25 to Watch" and in Art New England Magazine as a 2023 Emerging Artist. 

While completing her master's degree, Laila received an Iowa Arts Fellowship (2019-2021), and post-grad, she served as a Dance/USA Archiving and Preservation Fellow (2023) to Jennifer Harge/HargeDanceStories in Detroit, MI, and continues to contribute to her archival research. She also currently serves as a dramaturg for detritus dance (MA) and an archival research assistant to Stew Stewart at Harvard University.

As a performer, Laila’s credits include projects with Miguel Gutierrez, Dr. Christopher-Rasheem McMillan, Melinda Jean Myers, Stephanie Miracle, Ruckus Dance (MA), and detritus dance (MA),. While an undergraduate student, Laila had the opportunity to perform as a featured dancer in works by Keith Thompson, Aszure Barton, and Mark Morris.

Laila has been working as a teaching artist since 2018. She has taught community class series in the Greater Boston Area, most prominently with Midday Movement Series and VLA Dance. She has served as a graduate teaching assistant at the University of Iowa and was a Visiting Lecturer in Music and Dance at Salem State University (MA). Expanding on her work in education, she also serves as a consultant and collaborator for social justice education projects and programming for Midday Movement Series.

Laila holds a Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of Iowa, a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Contemporary Dance Performance from The Boston Conservatory, and she is a proud almuna of the dance department of Duke Ellington School of the Arts (DC), under the direction of Charles Augins. She has completed additional training through the Trinity Laban Conservatoire (LDN), the Lion's Jaw Dance and Performance Festival (MA), Movement Research (NY), The Field Center (VT), and the Bates Dance Festival (ME).

When Laila is not making dances, she is making coffee. When she is not making coffee, she is hanging out with her cat, Roberta Blondell.

Image: Cameron Kincheloe