Exquisitely Normal

Abstract This chapter explores Let ‘im Move You: Intervention, a public performance series led by Makini (also known as jumatatu m. poe) and Jermone Donte Beacham that reclaims Black queer presence through j-sette dance in historically Black neighborhoods. Originating from a YouTube encounter and forged through artistic kinship, Makini and Beacham develop performances that braid the militaristic precision of HBCU majorette traditions with the subversive vitality of queer Black club culture. The chapter demonstrates how their interventions animate public parks and streets, challenging dominant norms by queering space, rhythm, and assembly through deliberate, embodied movement. Emphasizing slowness, safety, collaboration, and vulnerability, the performers enact community and radical presence in spaces often marked by exclusion and risk. Finally, the chapter positions these choreographic acts as ephemeral cartographies—mapping Black queer existence into landscapes that have long rendered them invisible.