The Vortex Tapas Series 2021 begins with a new work-in-progress production of Valoneecia Tolbert’s Tales of a Blerd Ballerina. Presented both as live broadcasts each evening and with limited in-person seating opportunities at the VORTEX, this play centers the Blerd (black nerd) experience, embracing diverse communities and generating vital conversations around black identity, pulling concepts and style from the Afro-Diaspora and Jazz Aesthetic within stories of growing up as a Blerd child of the Eighties. Directed by Florinda Bryant.