R Street Collective: A Literary Media and Arts Performance

This performance from the "R Street Collective", the Literary Media and Communications performing ensemble of the Duke Ellington School for the Arts, showcases the students' original work, molded into a performance piece featuring dance, music, and language. The piece is a response to the work done by the Iranian-American artists featured in the "I RAN Home (In America)" exhibition at The Fridge DC. "I RAN Home (In America)" ran from November 5 - November 29 and acknowledged Iranian-American art as an important and emerging genre. The exhibit portrayed the artists' struggle with their many conflicting identities; from those associated with religion, to those of politically-charged violence, to the Iranian culture and traditions under which they were raised. This performance piece by the students of Duke Ellington directly responds to these issues of the construction of identity, immigration, assimilation, and ultimately on what it means to be an American.