The Window Sex Project addresses an important community issue through live workshops and choreographed performances. It tackles the every day practice in which women are “window shopped,” that is forced to bear unsolicited verbal harassment from men while walking on the street.

Sydnie L. Mosley, the bold and authentic woman behind this project, is self-producing this awesome project by involving her fans and her community.

The inspiration behind this project was two-fold. First, as an emerging choreographer in New York City, I have spent the last couple of years developing my artistic voice and looking for my niche in the dance community. I realize that my work is not just about me, or art for art's sake, but I really want to provide opportunities for people to feel human through dance. I want to engage their senses, physically and/or emotionally, with the performance. I believe it is important for the audience to be involved in the dance making process. In this way, they have a stake in the work. They feel connected, have an understanding and see that dance can serve a purpose beyond entertainment. 

Then, at some point last summer I was inspired to create a piece that would be sexy and celebratory of a woman's body. At the same time, I was getting completely perturbed with all the harassment I would get walking around day or night, dressed bummy or fancy. I was tweeting about it almost every day, then collecting other women's tweets and blogging about it. I'm not sure when exactly the connection occurred, but I realized that I could use this new dance work I was dreaming up to address this issue of street harassment that was getting me so upset. I wanted to celebrate my body and my whole self through this dance work, and to draw attention to the fact that no one has the right to make me feel like an object just because I set my feet to the pavement.

New York can be both an inspiring and a tough city. How has your experience been as a crowdfunding pioneer in the world of empowering dance with a mission in New York - how are your supporters responding?

Every one who I tell about the project is excited about it. Street harassment is an issue that 80-100% of women will encounter at some point in their lives. That's insane, right?! So given the commonality of the experience, people are ready and willing to jump on the bandwagon, and encourage their acquaintances to do the same. 

I think that people are also intrigued by this idea and method of community choreography. I am getting women, dancers and non-dancers alike, to tell their stories and move about them. I am then crafting that material into a performance with professional dancers. It's not a new idea at all -- Bill T. Jones had a similar process when he created Still/Here (1994). He held "survivor workshops" in ten U.S. cities working with the terminally ill to garner source material for his work. -- yet, folks are thrilled at the thought and opportunity that they can be a part of the dance making process.

The basis of this creative work is that it is about the community, which pairs perfectly with crowdfunding. My best advice is to reach out to all your communities and appeal to their commitment to not only you and your work, but a commitment to achieving something greater with the support of one another.

Thank you Sydnie for your brave and innovative approach. As a Harlem-based company, the RH team is especially proud to have this project be a part of the community. We're looking forward to seeing the performance. Get your tickets and get involved.

-Vlad