NEWSLETTER: freeze go freeze go> a revelation of some length

Peace & Blessings!

Apologies for my disappearance: my body decided it needed to rest, but my ego was having none of that. You can guess how that mind/body split thing worked out for me. So while I was knocked out in bed wishing for muscle relaxant, I was thinking of the looming tax revolt spurred by the "bailouts" of the 5 largest banks in the US. This could get pretty ugly, because from what I have heard from my friends of various political stripes, bailing out the banks seems about as smart as giving a crackhead $10 on a Friday night. "They made this mess. They misrepresented gambling as "investments," they deserve to fail, right?" Well, yeah, in a world where private financial markets are not sewn into government trade agreements, that would be the case. Example of what we are really talking about: when I first went to Brazil, I opened a Citibank account back in 1990, because it was the only US bank in Brazil at that time that had a post in Salvador. I could have my money deposited into my account here, and withdraw it there (Citi was also helping to orchestrate a flight of capital from Brazil that was startling through currency speculation). I could also receive emergency mail through American Express via the consulate. Okay. Peep that. Federal communication could be delivered to me through a private financial institution and US legal tender could be rendered in Brazilian cruzeiros without my having to present actual currency. If the large banks here collapse, the world banking system collapses. There has not been enough time to actually reconcile the ledgers between banks, between governments and--here's the kicker--between banks and investors. The logical move, the move that stabilizes instead of freezes for a bit is to nationalize those banks, but who said we were dealing in logical here? What to do? Get your bartering on. Set a rate of exchange among friends. Cancel all your credit cards and live beyond your FICO score; live through personal commitment and love.

Afrolicious. Afrologia. Afrodelic. Afropoesia. Afrologica. How big is your 'fro?
Fractal, improvisational, polemical, but always moving with spirit and in service to lifting us all up!
That's the Logic of the Afro--sign up, read up, be up--you can move mountains, now make it beautiful


BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO right now is this big long realization that I got to do it to it since as a person kinda left by the wayside of the last few bubbles, I am in better economic shape than most. If this is you too, time to hustle and be of service. We got ta rethink "skill set." A laugh or two or genuine awe are fantastically valuable things right about now. You got a chance to see what I mean this, the last weekend of Black Artist Employment Month.



CALIFORNIA AFRICAN AMERICAN MUSEUM
600 State Drive, Exposition Park, Los Angeles, CA 90037
Friday, February 27th, 7 PM - 10PM; $5- $10 suggested cash donation
"Quiet as It's Kept: CHANGE," A Performance Ritual By Ulysses Jenkins
This portends a night of epic experiences. Though a performance the following is tucked inside: "Quiet As Kept: Change" will serve as a reception for Ms. Hassinger and is a ritual performance which brings together the artist who were presented last year at the Getty panel "African American Avant Garde" in performance with other Los Angeles & Northern California artist in a celebration of the African Diaspora and Black Woman." Live music, Black Arts-era artists and performers, + Viver Brasil should add up to a fascinating evening. Plus there should be folks there from the CAA (massive art school conference in town) and Tavis Smiley's "State of Black America" gathering at the Staples Center. Dress to the nines...artist stylee!


UCLA LIVE
Batsheva presents MAX
Saturday February 28, 8 PM & Sunday March 1, 7 PM; $54, $42, $28
Incredible dancing from a company from an incredibly problematic place. I place this in the newsletter in conflict, but with a clear head: I am not going nor do I recommend that anyone else go. Art should always be the first line of open communication, but between parties that are pretending not to know each other, not as export material during a massive conflagration. This tour should not have happened, as beautiful as these dancers are; they are needed at home to help heal the gaping wound that is Gaza: 14 Israeli dead, 14,000 and counting Palestinians dead. A nation turned into a gang, another turned into its own worst nightmare...Sometimes, the show should not go on. I have a hard time thinking of this tour as a triumph of the human spirit. What do you think?


REDCAT
631 W. 2nd St
Jérôme Bel: Pichet Klunchun and myself
Friday February 27 & Saturday 28 8:30 PM; Sunday March 1, 7 PM; $12/$20/$25
Instead, go check out this choreographic essay on tradition, cultural exchange, cultural imperialism and formal decay. This piece has received good reviews and will likely be rather challenging: here's the stuff we don't like to think about while thinking about dance. My friend Ananya Chatterjea saw that I was going (will be on the next ear full of dance podcast chatting about it) and wrote on my wall (Face Book) that I had to call her as soon as I saw it since she has not been able to stop thinking about it. She also called me in a panic about going to see Batsheva in Minnesota. Omigawd, dance scholars!

also at the REDCAT
Redcat Children's International Film Festival!
February 21 - March 8th, each weekend.
Each program is $5 and jammed packed at around 75 minutes. Most programs are shorts, perfect those wee little attention spans. And your kids will like it too! My picks: Nickelodean Family Fun Day(yikes); then next weekend "Rise and Shine" and "Animated Genusis: The Films of John & Faith Hubley" (jazz scores!). Check out all the programs and buy tix in advance.



HIGHWAYS
1651 18th St., Santa Monica, CA
DreamAwake presents "Simple Matters"
Friday + Saturday, February 27 + 28 @8.30pm; $20
Featuring Vladimir Levitansky, Noah Veil, Martina Oskarsson, Kate Gibson, and Eleni Zaharopoulous, this show should be wickedly funny and entirely thought-provoking. Vladimir Levitansky is "an artistic resource" for Cirque de Soleil and has generated his own special blend of clowning: "Bul-Artoh, a synthesis of Clown, Comedia Dell-Arte, Buffoon, and Butoh." What a tough weekend! You could see Jerome Bel on Friday then this one a Saturday for a complete re-think of art in the social sphere. Or you go to just have a good time.


UCLA, GLORIA KAUFMAN HALL
(Room 200), 120 Westwood Plaza, map
New Dance and Theatrical Works-in-Progress

Saturday, February 28 @ 8pm; FREE; Parking $9 in Lot 4

As if there were not already too much to choose from, Angela Jordan and Michael Sakamoto open their process to the public this weekend in preparation for their joint show in the department of World Art and Culture. This is a great opportunity to engage artists as they move towards a "final product." Angela Jordan’s “Trio” and “Don” blend modern, West African, and postmodern dance to explore love, gender relations, while Michael Sakamoto presents “Vestiges of Creation,” a series of dance theater vignettes filled with: mysterious characters, dark netherworld, ritual embodiment, cultural conventions, and of course audience expectations.


Looking for details from last week? check the archive. If you join Afrologica, you can look at a live calendar whenever you feel like it!


WORKSHOPS & ONGOING CLASSES
A few weeks back I announced all the international dance camp notices I received...so I thought! My daughter deleted that part of the newsletter apparently, so I will have to build it from scratch. Basically, I was urging you all to go to one of these by setting aside money in a local credit union in preparation for your trip. Yes, you can help your community while you get your self together to travel. For most of these, you will need to sock away $400 +/mo to be ready to get on the plane. Just keep thinking "beyond the FICO score."

Congolese Drum and Dance Workshop in Maui, Hawai'i starts today!!!! AND IT"S 30 YEARS OLD!!! Somebody send me! I need a break. Really. Okay, then. You go, you need a break too. Hot dancing, smoking drumming and fantastic food all over looking the ocean on a lush camp ground. I have been to this workshop a few times with my son. We had a blast. The drumming is clean and sweet; the dance instruction sensational. Disclosure: I was in Fua Dia Congo back in the 90s. Friday, Feb 27 - Monday, Mar 9 2009. You can attend for a few days or jump in for the full run. $90/day; $800 for entire thing. Air & car travel is on your own, there sometimes there is a shuttle from the airport on Maui into Camp Kenae. Dancing is inside. A few bunk dormitories, but camping highly recommended. Pack lightly; wash frequently. Lots of info on their website and you can pay via paypal there, too!


OUAGADOUGOU Dance and Drum! Baker & Tarpaga Dance Project & DAFRA Drum Ensemble in association with Napam Beogo/Center for Artisans and Visual Arts invites you to study West African Dance and Drumming in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso this Summer, August 1-15th, 2009 Fee: $2500, covers all workshops, lodging, three delicious homemade meals per day, local travel with group, and excursions outside of the city. Airfare to and from Burkina Faso is not covered. Dance: Traditional Manding, Gourmanche, Gourounsi, Warba; Contemporary African Dance and Improvisation. For further questions and more information email: bakertarpagadance@gmail.com; Phone: 323-641-7476
$250 Non Refundable Deposit Due By: May 1, 2009
Full Payment Due By: June 1, 2009
Please mail deposit to:
Olivier Tarpaga
2631 West 17th St
Los Angeles, CA 90019

Salvador, Bahia Brasil with Viver Brasil!! One of the longest running arts edutours to Latin America concerned specifically with the arts of the African Diaspora, "Roots and Contemporary Development of Afro-Brazilian Dance & Music Workshop" will connect you with the top dancers, choreographers and researchers in the City of Seven Gates. As disclosure, I am on the board, but as a researcher of this field in particular, I can tell you that this program has great integrity. August 1-17, 2009: Package Price: $3495, based on double occupancy price includes travel from LA, NY or Miami to Brazil, airport transfers, all course-related activities and events, translators, double occupancy accommodations (upon availability) and breakfast. If you are traveling from a city other than LA, Miami or NY, you will be responsible for flight costs from your departing city. $400 Deposit (check or money order) due upon registration (no early bird info). Deposit is non-refundable. Full Payment Due: June 15, 2008. You can have all your questions answered and even pay your registration fee via paypal on the company's travel program page!


Contra-Tiempo ahas a CUBA trip, but I can't find details. More info to come on that.

Camp Faretta will happen in July I believe. That is a West African Dance camp in Cali, data to follow.

Congo Drum & Dance returns to the mainland in August, check their site.

Tambacounda is likely to happen this year to help lift up djembefolla Abdoulaye Diakite. Stay tuned for that.




LOVELY!
I am very excited by this glut of work to see and experience this weekend! We can continue to expect each weekend to get more challenging because there is a lot for artists to make work about. And since we are experiencing a "Recession" (wink wink nod nod), artists will need to put up more and more work at less and less cost to the consumer in order to continue making work. You know that bumper sticker: "I owe, I owe, so off to work I go"? I can't stand but, hot damn, here we are a toiling in the mines getting to pretend like we wanted to give billions of our national rainy day fund to a bunch of thieves. This is not the way out of a recession, but it is the way out of indentured servitude. THAT'S what these folks in the gov'ment are really seeing when they decide to bailout the banks first and not to award the small local banks and credit unions. Those banks did not fall for the hype, continued to serve their communities, and now shoulder far more than their fair share of the FDIC expense to cover the bad bets of Morgan Stanley, Goldman Sachs, Lehman Brothers, Citibank, Wamu, Wachovia, Bank of America...the list grows everyday. Mainstream press has stopped reporting. They have not stopped trying to divert our attention to good old standbys like racist engravings and sexists proclamations over motherhood. You feel it though, that sensation that you are looking directly at something without seeing it, even though there appears to be quite a bit of information coming your way. The tax revolt is coming as a global tidal wave. It won't be Republican. It won't be labor revolt. It may or may not usher in a socialist reality here in the US. It will not be led by the Greens or pushed by a clamor for a green economy. It likely will never be characterized as communist. The tax revolt is coming because the largest number of investors in these companies drinking our taxes like a cactus after a rainstorm is, well us!!! We poorly invested our money and now that we are not getting dividends, now we have to pay for our bad investments because they are costing us money. Paying three times is not sitting well with most of us, and since we owe ourselves, we are likely to say, we ain't gonna pay, and hopefully then, once we have recognized that value lies not in instruments of investment but in exchanges between people, we can then go about building a society that is just and fair, that acts locally while thinking globally, that provides mechanisms for citizens and non-citizens alike to be treated with respect and grace. That recognizes that people have to flow just as easily across borders as "capital" does. A society where artistic practice is not considered leisure, but a road map to a stable, vibrant economy. Watch what happens in Sacramento in the coming weeks. It will be monumental. Get up there and place your voice in the chorus. Bring some percussion.