The jubilant musical imagery Derrick Adams (1970, Baltimore, Maryland) employs in his collage of bouncing and brightly colored notes and treble clefs, seems to burst forth from the drab television set. Dance Off was created by the artist as part of a series of works that explore the ubiquitous aspect of television in the American home, and how it transmits, distills, and alters African American culture. Growing up on the bouncy jingles of “Sesame Street” and “The Electric Company,” the artist has said “TV becomes like another person in your house, or rather, your TV becomes your leader.” Adams is not necessarily condemning the consumption of media, but reflects on how it changes our perceptions of the world, noting “even if you don’t watch TV, you are informed by the other people around you who watch it.” Although the imagery in Dance Off implies the joy of a musical party, a mode in keeping with the celebratory aspect of much of Adams’ most recent work, the viewer is left to reflect on the confines of musical ecstasy constrained to an “inside the box” experience. Speaking of TV production and musical performers in present day videos, he notes “they are speaking in an extremely edited way.”