Celebrated dance-theater artist David Roussève spent his residency at MASS MoCA workshopping and performing his piece Daddy AF, an intimate meditation on life’s purpose, created and performed by a queer African American man acutely aware of the finite time he has left on the planet. Like strands of DNA, Daddy AF connects elements encoded in Roussève’s body, including 600 years of genealogy, a roller coaster journey with HIV, and the shattering loss of a husband — while revisiting movement from 35 years of dance-making to explore the meaning of ‘virtuosity’ for a 64-year old body.

Daddy AF premiered at the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA’s Kelly Strayhorn Theater in 2025.