If the vocal track is the heart of a song, the rhythm track––the beat––is its body. It’s the sonic element that taps into the most primal part of us and makes us want to move. Four on The Floor breaks the beat down, and examines the endless experimentation that has taken place at its core, the very bedrock of all music. Charts the progression of the beat from drum and bass to beatbox and beyond––from Little Richard and James Brown to disco and EDM.

Image credit: Bernard Edwards, Nile Rodgers, Chic, and Alfa Anderson in Soundbreaking. © Jill Furmanovsky

This screening will be followed by a special presentation from guest speaker Sadie Woods.

Sadie Woods is an award winning post-disciplinary artist, independent curator, and deejay. Her work focuses primarily on social movements, liberatory practices, cultural memory, and producing collaborations within communities of difference. She also deejays under the moniker Afrodjia, focusing on diasporic music and culture of the Americas and the Global South.

Sadie received her BA from Columbia College and MFA from The School of the Art Institute. She is a 2020 recipient of the City of Chicago’s Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events Esteemed Artist Award, the Curatorial & Residency Director at Atlantic Center for the Arts, Co-Founder of The Petty Biennial and of Selenite Arts Advisory, Faculty at the School of the Art Institute, and Resident Deejay at Lumpen Radio 105.5FM (CHI), Vocalo 91.5FM (CHI) and Wave Farm 90.7FM (Acra, NY).

Sadie has participated in national and international artist and curatorial residencies, including: ACRE; Arts + Public Life; Bemis Center for the Arts; Chicago Artists Coalition's HATCH Projects; Comfort Station #pertodela, US/BR; Ecole du Magasin-Centre d’Art Contemporain, FR; High Concept Labs; Hyde Park Art Center; Independent Curators International, NY/SN; Ragdale Foundation; Wave Farm, NY.