Tightrope

Dancing has long been forbidden for its subversive effects on the residents and its tendency to lead to illegal magical practices. 


This video opens with a shot of a building, a sign identifies it as the Palace of the Dogs. A nurse rolls her cart through the hall, pills and water cups visible. Janelle Monáe dancing in a small room. Black hooded phantoms with mirrors for faces lurk in the hallway, directly referencing Maya Deren's experimental film Meshes of the Afternoon. Monáe then dances with her band. Big boi raps an interlude while frenzied dancing continues. Monáe dances on a table. The mirror faced men enter the room. Monáe disappears through the walls. Mirror faced men follow her. It ends with Monáe back in her room which makes you question whether she had left her room or has in fact been hallucinating the whole experience.

Yeah, now put some voodoo on it. 

This video also has several references to magic and voodoo. First their is the opening quote. Then their is the reference to Maya Deren, who is also known for her study of voodoo. Deren published articles on the study of religious possession through dancing and also recorded many rituals.

Interaction 

I chose this video to examine because Janelle Monáe is already making her art with interactive multi-media in mind.  I would like to see the idea of game and choice reflected in the idea of ritual and dance. Monae's album references Metropolis - from Wikipedia:

Musical artist Janelle Monáe is in the process of releasing a concept series in four suites: 2007's Metropolis: Suite I (The Chase), 2010's The ArchAndroid (Suites II and III), and the fourth as-yet-unreleased suite. The music is written from the perspective of an android from the year 2719, banished to the present day who becomes a messiah to current-day androids, inspiring them to break their bonds of slavery. The second album especially received wide critical acclaim. Monáe plans a graphic novel and a series of eighteen videos to coincide with the album series.

I tip on alligators and little rattle snakers
But I'm another flavor
Something like a terminator
Ain't no equivocating
I fight for what I believe.