NEWSLETTER: lifting the arches

Ola, Aloha, and hello!
Ok. I need to catch my breath. September is no joke! The weather shows us how the month is moving: extremities balanced by a small, almost pivotal transition well past midday. Yikes! So lift your soles in order to get your soul grounded with a good inhalation and a superb exhalation. Truly, those who seek to thrive rather than simply survive this month will really need to become mindful of that exhalation. As is customary in market driven mayhem, the art scene is flourishing because, as we artist types really know, i mean KNOW in our bones, when there is nothing to loose other than the moment to do IT, we go and do. There is lots of doing, aside from the Festival of Sacred Music, some of it just to be out there, others in obvious response to the Call from the Universe to be brilliant and brave no matter what. In this upcoming week, make sure you are tuned to the right frequency and be brilliant and brave in all that you do.


Afrologic. Afrological. Afrologica. How big is you 'fro?
Multiple, fractal, improvisational, polemical, but always moving with spirit and in the service of lifting it/us all up.
That's the Logic of the Afro--sign up, get your community on.

Now that we are falling back into it, I will likely get the class back up and running, with a twist. Stay tuned!

Right now BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO is time itself: September is half over! But that means that the stage dance season is about to hit full stride, but will likely feel a wee empty if you made it out to half of the dance stages produced this summer. Three cheers for local dance and savvy producers!!


THE ELECTRIC LODGE
1416 Electric Ave, Venice CA
September 12 - 13, 8:30 PM; Sept. 14th @ 2:30 PM; $13/$10
Mix Match Dance Festival, hosted by Hart Pulse Dance Company alights at the Lodge.
Alexandria Yalj strikes again! I hope to check out a bit, but the image is too small for me to tell you who is on the line up in addition to Alexandria, who sent me the notice. Hart Pulse Dance has the links for the tickets, which are best purchased on-line.


UNKNOWN THEATRE
1110 N. Seward ST, Hollywood, CA 90038
Thurs - Sat 8 PM; Sunday 6 PM: $18 on-line, $24 at the door or by phone 323-466-7781
Fables du Theatre Sex. Death. Clown
"Yeah, yeah , Anna you want us to go see this show," Yes I do. The reviews alone should make you want to shake a leg and get over there right now. It is running until the 24th and LAPD has tried to shut it down--twice in one night. Yowsa. Go to study up.


REDCAT LOUNGE
631 W. 2nd ST, Los Angeles, CA; directions
Tuesday September 16th, 6 - 9 PM; readings begin at 7 PM
itch#8: PORNOCRACY launch Party
So last week I gave the wrong address for this space. It is in the Redcat, so hopefully you figured that out and will show up to Hassan's house and try to break in. Itch is really a fantastic thing: a dance writers' collective (go Taisha Paggett, Sara Wolf and Meg Wolfe!), this collection of pages has now gotten a website going, has an easy way for you to subscribe (even institutions for those of you who work in the college circuit) and makes you think about the act of thinking about dance as something larger than muscles firing in patterns. I'm chatty! Come to this launch party and you'll get to hear my voice and see me. A number of us will be reading a snippet from one of our submissions to itch and there may be a little bit of a performance stashed in there as well. This is great networking moment, hint hint. $3 drinks.



PARK(ING) DAY LA
Friday, September 19th, all day, check live map for specific times and locations
all over the City; Free
I WANT TO DO THIS!!! But it might be too late to pull this off; check out the video, you'll see why I am hesitating. So I am going to have tea in as many of these places as I possibly can. Parking Day is this fantastic event where citizens take over parking spots and make mini-parks for two hours. This is a GLOBAL event, created to draw attention to the amount of space allocated cars, and the lack of open spaces in the urban environment. If you have ever heavily sighed when a house or building finally went up on a vacant lot that you had come to cherish, this event is for you. On Park(ing) DayLA's website, if you have been inspired, you can find instructions for setting up your own park--there is still time! Everything you need paperwork related is there as well as the 10 steps towards a successful park. Happy Parking!


MILES MEMORIAL PLAYHOUSE
1130 Lincoln BLVD, Santa Monica 90403; 310-998-8765
September 19th through Oct 3; Fridays & Saturdays 8:30PM; Sundays 3 PM, 420 - $30
Wong Flew Over the Cuckoo's Nest
Kristina Wong takes the stage all by herself in her nationally acclaimed one-woman show, finally having its premiere here at home. Wong is crazy stuff. The kind of humor that makes milk spurt out of your nose, even if you're not drinking any. Check her out. Opening night should be a blast but I have no idea where you can get tickets. The playhouse website is still under construction. If you helped with a half-knitted sweater, you should go to make sure it is not being hurt.


REDCAT
631 W. 2nd ST, Los Angeles, CA; directions
September 19 - 20, different bills each night; 8:30 PM; $20/$16/$10
Creative Music Festival
This event inaugurates the Herb Alpert School of Music at CalArts. If you are not attending events at the Festival of Sacred Music, then you must go see Wadada Leo Smith hold court with his trumpet. Also on the bill: Music and the Voice: Thomas Buckner and the Silver Orchestra; Anthony Davis and Episteme; Amina Claudine Myers Trio and the CalArts Choir. Music and Video: Lian Ensemble and The Golden Quintet.


ARMORY CENTER FOR THE ARTS
145 N. Raymond Ave, Pasadena CA 91103
Saturday September 20, 7 - 9 PM Opening reception
TAPESTRIES, a video installation by Marsia Alexander-Clarke
A fixture on the art scene in the Inland Empire, Marsia brings her hypnotic video work to Pasadena. This is a rare treat, so go see it. I love how she continues to go at it, no matter what. And work is inspiring in surprising ways given its formalism. Check her out through November 16th.


AVENUE 50 STUDIO, Inc.
131 No. Avenue 50, Highland Park, CA 90042 (323) 258-1435
Avenue 50 Gallery's Fundraiser
Sunday, September 26, Noon to Midnight, $10
Imagine a 12 hour poetry jam and you've got this evening in Highland Park. Avenue 50 is a mainstay in the city, and this is an interesting way to get the funds to their projects. The fee covers all day--you can come and go--and there will be food for sale. The line up is stellar. It includes my fav, Ms. Pat Payne so I'll have to figure out how to sneak away to get to see her throw it down.

Looking for something mentioned last week? Check out the archives.


ONGOING CLASSES & SPECIAL WORKSHOPS
+There's an upcoming workshop based in Augusto Boal's Theatre of the Oppressed work led by Hector Aristizibal on Sept. 27 - 28. The price is $200, and any money the organizers make above their costs will be donated to Sojurn, a safe house for victims of domestic abuse. Call Fred Kahane at 310-396-1325 for further info, and also make checks out to him. $50 saves your spot. Mail to 1122 Marco PL, Venice CA 90291. If you have been looking for a way to push your art making passion into the possibilities of wider social engagement, this will be a significant experience for you.

+SOMA Fest LA is back again! Sept. 16 - 21 at the 18th ST. Art Complex in Santa Monica. The schedule has been announced so you should make your way over to their website to peruse the offerings and buy your packages now.

+Mama Camara has asked me to tell you to hold the following dates for the Debbie Allen Dance Academy African Dance Conference: October 1- 5, 2008. There will be an on-line registration process as well as an updates page. So save the date!

+Kinky Stretch!!! I forgot to put this into the newsletter, but I really really really want you guys to check out this class. Greg is a HOOT and will get you workin'! Class will begin on October 9th, Thursdays 7:30 - 9 PM for only $10. Check it at the Open Space.

The Class Map is getting rather interesting! Viver Brasil is BACK! And they are bringing the heat of Bahia with them for the upcoming Festival of Sacred Music. Check out the DISPATCH on the festival for specifics about their participation, but until then, head over to their regular classes because some FANTASTIC visitors are coming into town for the Dance Arts Academy Tuesday night offerings. Don't miss it!!!!



quickie reviews...
If you checked out Sans Detour at the Ford, you likely left smiling after Catch Me Bird's exquisite and smart piece Silk. If only everyone had that much fun doing a confessional! From the opening scene unfurling the seeming never-ending lengths of red silk from the tops of the amphitheatre, through the wrapping of the audience space with same, Silk was a delight, even as it ran head on into the difficulties of cross-cultural communication and gendered communication. Verging on the silly and circus-inflected, Silk still made a clear statement about the centrality of the personal in the political through often radical athleticism and lyrical articulation. Conversely, I was a bit astonished by the unquestioned, almost ignored, role of racialized, gendered bodies in Baker & Tarpanga Project's piece, Disorder Inside Order. While there was some hot dancing (loved the newspaper dance), amazing music, clear topic (journalistic freedom, almost pedantically hammered home), ultimately, the relationship between Wilfred Souly's character and Ester Baker's character was so brutal and unclear that it really, for me, destroyed the piece. A large black man folding up the body of a lithe white woman like she was a folding chair while she struggles to get away really drags the US mind very far from journalistic freedom. I think the piece would do well to be revisited after a thorough rethinking of the role of race and gender in the company, given the topics that seem to interest this husband and wife team. Their ambitions deserve nothing less.

This past Monday I made it to Anatomy Riot #26 as a lucky audience member who also got to perform! Actually, I was on the bill. I was really glad to be there and have to give it up to Meg Wolfe for humpin' like a camel and Hassan Christopher for his generosity. The night was nicely curated with a great mix of talking dances and performance art tendencies and video dance. UCR was extremely well represented--in downtown LA! It was also great to get to try out something with a willing and rather informed audience; I was grateful for the opportunity. Thank you to those of you who came out and supported us and thank you to the other performers who brought their work selflessly. Though the format is short form, the pieces were for the most part, densely layered and rather profound and still, believe it or not, entertaining. So take yourself to the next one, they happen almost every month. I'll write a bit more about it in...Afrologica! I tend to take a bit more time to think about these events, rather than just dump ideas (unless of course I"m hoping to get a bigger audience for the next night) so I'll have more to say about both evenings, even about myself (Sara Wolfe asked me, "So how is that book going, Anna?" Damn. So busted) on Afrologica. Please feel free to comment! And don't hold those last few sentences against me...


LOVELY!
Writing this newsletter on the anniversary of the collapse of the Twin Towers has made me rather chagrined, but also simply amazed. I could wallow in the fact that we have manipulated those 3000 deaths as a rational for any ridiculous thing that passes for foreign policy these days. Or I could float to the stars in the vibration of a underground that is so large, that it is likely the new Silent Majority, and this group of folks wants to hug you with their cyber hearts and minds; they want to see your face even if they don't know your name. They want to be the change and enjoy the peace...they/we are the love. Now, we become the shift, the much needed exhalation, the eruption for an emptying out, that always makes room for more life. Lift it up y'all.

in love,
-Anna