Harry Belafonte once said, “Artists are the gatekeepers of truth. We are civilization’s anchor. We are the compass for humanity’s conscience.”

This past year we’ve seen a multitude of artists from every field, be those gatekeepers of truth. In films like the upcoming, powerful “Birth Of A Nation,” or in music with Beyonce’s  unapologetically black Lemonade album, to game-changing Broadway shows like Hamilton, Shuffle Along and Eclipsed, it’s no secret black artistry went to a whole new level.

So what do we do then when our nation is at its most intense, chaotic state? Like many, art is the first thought. Whether it be poetry, music, dance, spoken work, theater, photography -our art allows us to express ourselves wholeheartedly without restrictions.

At least that’s what Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater company member and choreographer Sean Aaron Carmon and fellow Alvin Ailey dancers did. Last week they took social media by storm, with their powerful one-minute choreographed dance to Beyonce’s “Freedom.”

A dance the NYTimes deems as a protest dance, Carmon and Co. pour their hearts and souls into every synchronized movement they make, even in the improvised solos where dancers were given free reign to express whatever they were feeling.

Carmon told dancers “I don’t have to tell you a single thing about what you should do. We all know what’s going on in our country. We all have our visceral responses to it. I’m going to put the music on. Give me everything you have.”

They gave everything and then some.Check out the video below.

FREEDOM, FREEDOM, I CAN’T MOVE. FREEDOM, CUT ME LOOSE! FREEDOM, FREEDOM, WHERE ARE YOU?! CAUSE [WE] NEED FREEDOM, TOO! ・・・ Choreography by #ALVINAILEY dancer Sean Aaron Carmon @hookedonsean; featuring Ailey dancers @collintheshots2 @courtesy_ofhtwn @jagreen711 @yannicklebrun @constancestamatiou @thedanielharder @sfigg_udigg @jacquelinh @danfreaka @chlvrmntro @jerms83 @cherrysunblush Elisa Clark, Belen Pererya, Kanji Segawa and Fana Tesfagiorgis ・・・ Music by @beyonce feat. @kendricklamar

A video posted by Alvin Ailey (@alvinailey) on Jul 11, 2016 at 9:37pm PDT

American Ballet Theatre principle dancer Misty Copeland will join the cast of Disney’s live action film The Nutcracker and the Four Realms. She’ll portray the leading ballerina role in the only dance sequence in the movie.

I’m thrilled to be a part of this amazing project with Disney and the wonderful Lasse Hallstrom. #TheNutcracker #MoreToCome

A photo posted by Misty Copeland (@mistyonpointe) on Jul 13, 2016 at 8:59am PDT

Lasse Hallström directs the project, based on E.T.A. Hoffman’s The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, also the basis for the Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky ballet we all know and love.

Last summer, Copeland leaped onto the map when ABT promoted her to principle dancer, becoming the first Black woman in the 76-year history to hold the title.

Last Fall she made her Broadway debut in the Tony-nominated revival On the Town for select performances. This week, she prepares to dance Romeo & Juliet at the Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts in Vienna, Virginia.

It appears Copeland has a lot to look forward to within the next year. She launched her first dancewear line, Égal Dance. New Line has found screenwriter Gregory Howard (“Remember the Titans”) to adapt her memoir, “Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina,” into a film. As reported by Deadline last year, she’s teamed up with writer Tracy Oliver to develop a Fox series set in the world of dance.

A documentary about her life, “A Ballerina’s Tale” premiered at the Tribeca Film Festival in 2015.