When We Were Queens…
A Performance by Murielle Elizéon and Shana Tucker
November 13, 2025, at 7PM
Black Mountain College Museum + Arts Center {120 College Street}
TICKETS – $15 General Admission / $10 for BMCM+AC members + Students w/ID
Acclaimed Durham-based cellist Shana Tucker and Saxapahaw-based French choreographer Murielle Elizéon (co-creator of Culture Mill) present When We were Queens…, a powerful multidisciplinary performance presented as a diptych—two solos in conversation.
About the Performance:
When We were Queens… is shaped as a ritual to call the ancestors. It is the whispering of a spell. It is an attempt to reclaim a lost mythology through somatic embodied imagination. It seeks to face the void of erasure for individual and collective healing. It is shaped as a diptych: two solos in conversation to acknowledge both the singularity of Murielle and Shana’s cultural experience (one is French, the other is American) and the common thread running through their experience as women of color from the African Diaspora. The performance convokes the audience for a moment of shared witnessing while acknowledging the complexity of a gaze which has often exoticized our Black and Brown bodies.
Commissioned by NC State Live, the original development of the work began in 2022 and after subsequent series of museum and gallery residencies, When We were Queens… held its world premiere in February 2024, co-presented by NC State Live and the North Carolina Museum of Art.
Performance photographs by Sarah Marguier.
Murielle Elizéon (she/her) is a french dancer, performer, choreographer and teacher. She grew up in Southern France, and studied Italian Literature and Dance Aesthetics while completing her dance training. She began her professional dance career in Paris in 1995.
As a dancer/performer/choreographer, she has toured with various dance companies in France (Thomas Lebrun), Switzerland (Joachim Schlömer), Denmark (Soren Sundby, Palle Granhoj), and Germany ( PVC-Tanz, Euhn-Me Ahn). She has also collaborated with theater directors such as Robert Wilson, Tom Schneider and Anna Mac Cracken.
Murielle’s choreographic work (solo and duets) has been presented in France, Germany, Denmark, Finland, Belgium, and Slovakia. Since 2008, she has collaborated with Tommy Noonan on several creations projects such as Tout court, Labyrinth, The Engagement and What doesn’t Work.
As a movement artist, she is interested in the ever-evolving condition of the body and the complexity of human experience, as well as in the creation of diverse temporary communities. She has been creating/leading/participating in many community projects involving various abilities and ages groups such as Switchkasten, After All and Augenblick (Theater Freiburg, Germany). She completed a DanceAbility Teacher certification with Alito Alessi in Vienna, Austria in 2010.
She believes in the importance of movement practice and creative process in education, and is leading Culture Mill’s unique program for an embodied, impactful, inspiring, and collaborative Arts Education in public schools. She is a skilled, experienced and enthusiastic teacher, having taught for 20 years in France, Germany, Denmark, Slovakia and the US, for a diverse public (Professionals dancers and actors, Seniors, children with SpecialsNeeds). She holds a BA in Dance education from RIDC, Paris, France.
Murielle has also danced, taught and performed Argentine Tango for more than 10 years, using the form as a tool to access clarity of intention, body awareness, communication and connection to others.
Shana Tucker is a cellist, singer-songwriter, and composer whose double-decade career is defined by her genre-defying artistry and commitment to fostering connection through music. Known as the creator of “ChamberSoul,” a unique blend of jazz, classical, folk, acoustic pop, and soul, Shana has captivated audiences worldwide with her heartfelt performances and storytelling.
Touted by JazzTimes as “a jazz talent…whose imprint and vitality has already been quite visible in North Carolina,” Shana has graced stages across the U.S. and internationally, including The Kennedy Center (Washington, DC), REDCAT (Los Angeles) and Wits Theatre (Johannesburg). Her debut album, SHiNE, received critical acclaim for its intimate and evocative original compositions. Her recent release, Hiding in the Light, further solidifies her reputation as an artist who masterfully blends musical genres to reimagine deeply resonant works.
An NPR interview about Shana’s debut CD, SHiNE and her original ChamberSoul style prompted an invitation from the world-renowned Cirque du Soleil to join the company as cellist/vocalist for their show, KÀ in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand. Shana performed with Cirque for 5 years before resuming her full-time touring and recording schedule.
Shana’s vocals and cello have been featured on several live and critically-acclaimed studio recording projects by both independent and signed artists and producers. She has performed for or recorded with internationally-acclaimed artists, including Norah Jones, Lisa Fischer, Sweet Honey in the Rock, Javon Jackson, the Blind Boys of Alabama, Bennie Maupin, Me’Shell Ndegocello, Indigo Girls, Sigur Ros Orchestra, Toshi Reagon, Tift Merritt, Rissi Palmer, Nnenna Freelon, Will Downing and more. In 2022, President Barack Obama included “Better” by The Foreign Exchange on his highly anticipated Summer Playlist; Shana’s vocals are featured alongside FE+ co-founder Phonte Coleman and NeoSoul crooner Eric Roberson.
Shana’s TV appearances include co-hosting PBS-NC’s “Block Party Live @ Home” (Rootle TV), soundtrack composition/performance credits for The Legacy of Black Wall Street, a 2-part series on OWN Network, episodes from American Masters on PBS, and Webby-nominated animated series, The History of White People in America on World Channel.
In addition to her recording and performing career, Shana is a passionate teaching artist and arts educator, with a focus on serving underserved communities and Title I schools. She has over 20 years’ experience with community engagement, workshops, lesson planning and artist residency facilitation for students of all ages and creative abilities. Shana designs and facilitates workshops for students of all ages, empowering them to discover their creativity and express themselves through music and storytelling.
About Culture Mill:
Culture Mill is a nonprofit organization based Saxapahaw, North Carolina, whose mission is to foster a creative ecosystem through the cross-pollination of artist residencies, educational outreach and groundbreaking immersive artworks from local, national and international artists.
We believe that culture is an investment in civil society, and such an investment benefits from the existence of open, dynamic and fluid enclaves fostered by artists and other creative people. We believe that gathering together and sharing knowledge and resources within these enclaves will improve both our artworks and our communities. We believe in the commingling of different ideas, energies and initiatives as a means of sparking innovation and radical possibilities in art and society. We believe in culture as an ongoing creative process, and we seek to support and feed that process through our various programs and initiatives.