Source: Starz / Courtesy of Brand
We fell in love with Nicco Annan for his unforgettable portrayal of Uncle Clifford on Starz’s P-Valley. P-Valley may be a fictitious place, but the storylines behind the characters are inspired by real people. From the underground world of exotic dancing and how it coincides with music, Down In The Valley spotlights the innovation and resilience of stripper culture.
The docuseries highlights the people using their appearance and knowledge to entertain others. Annan takes viewers on a journey outside the Pynk to highlight the beauty and creativity of those in the industry by visiting venues in different cities that help keep the sex economy making it rain. He drives from city to city not allowing shame to take the wheel.
The Power of Transformation
Source: Starz / Courtesy of Brand
Early in the series, Annan marvels at a dancer named Cherry, who is constantly changing her look to tap into her inner power. He expressed admiration for the chameleonic powers of Black women and joked about the power emitting from his Gumby style fade in a past life.
“There’s always a level of creativity, freedom, an expression,” Annan told HelloBeautiful.
Cherry explained that long hair “brings out the Beyoncé in me.” She explained how visual stimulation was not only powerful for her as a professional dancer but as a person as well. “I think sometimes we can forget that what we are doing is a level of not only coping, but expression and true artistry.”
That unapologetic artistry is not always appreciated after the last call of the night.
Loving Thy Neighbor
Source: Starz / Courtesy of Brand
Society looks down upon the women Annan and Guy are calling attention to with Down in the Valley. The series features their roles as mothers, entrepreneurs, service providers, and parishioners. Still, some just dismiss them as negative stereotypes.
Stigma affects those in every avenue of the sex work industry. Dancers are not exempt from scrutiny.
“I think that people can be triggered because they may not have received that love themselves,” said Annan.” Sometimes you can say you want something, but if you’ve never seen it or experienced it, you don’t even know that it’s in front of you.”
Guy recommended a way for the average person to show more love to those in the profession.
“They can show more love by understanding that those individuals are human beings, with their own stories, their own desires, their own dreams with their own journeys,” said Guy. “It’s not our place to judge. It’s not our place to create balls of shame and be lobbing them at them. That’s not that’s not what we, you know, that’s not what we’re supposed to be doing, and it’s not what they deserve.“
“Oftentimes, people are doing that because they haven’t made peace with their own shame. They haven’t looked internally and done their own personal work. So, while you’re busy judging people, do your own work.“
Setting Aside Shame
Source: Starz / Courtesy of Brand
The series goes in and out of the exotic clubs. It tells the stories of adult shop proprietors, pole dancers, and fish fryers—everyone who keeps the coins coming.
A married woman opens a sex shop intended to titillate and educate. She is operating within the confines of respectability, but it is not enough for bible thumpers who rebuke her as if they have a heaven or hell to banish her to. Guy described these actions as a kind of involuntary defense mechanism.
“We have inherited a lot of shame. There’s a lot of historical sexual violence that’s happened in the Black community from the time that we were enslaved onward, and those traumas don’t go away. They live in our bodies. They get transferred,“ she said.
Baddies Believe
Source: Starz / Courtesy of Brand
“This is just my personal belief system,“ Guy clarified. “They get kind of transferred down the line…sometimes it can come just out of sheer wanting to protect your child like, I don’t want this to happen to you, so we’re gonna do this.“
The people in the show describe their religious beliefs as just as devout as those who condemn them. The series shows that sex is just another industry with risks and rewards for sellers and consumers. Down in the Valley doesn’t romanticize it, and it doesn’t vilify it.
“I guess what we’re trying to translate in this is that you have the right to have sexual pleasure, sexual Freedom, and also your right to be a woman of God or a man of God and worship your God. Those two things can live side by side.“
Down in the Valley is now streaming on Starz. See the trailer below.
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