Afrologics: Arts, Analysis & Action

Fourth of July, 2011

2011-07-04T13:14:00.001-07:00

Happy Birthday USA! Now let us point out some of the most incredible ironies: how do we celebrate the birth of nation that meant the death of so many others and the imprionment and enslavement of entire ethnic groups of people from the Western Coast of the Continent of Africa, large swaths of Scotland and all of Ireland? Imagine, if you will, a nation facing its history of conquest and crimes, seeking reconciliation and seeking a present, not only a future, but a present, a nownow, that was inclusive and dismissive of the amazing variety of people that we call "Americans." Would that not be one nation under a groove?

We Are Royalty

2011-06-24T20:58:00.001-07:00

Another song to know! The Youth from Crenshaw area schools have learned this song. Put your ancestor into the mix at the call!

Learn this for Festival of The Mask

2011-06-24T20:40:00.001-07:00

This Sunday, June 25, 2011 in Leimert Park in Los Angeles,CA the procession begins at 3pm. This event by Najité, who is leading the song in the video.

AFRO ALERT: Neighborhood Festivals For Family Fun This Morning!

2011-06-18T12:03:00.001-07:00

It's Saturday, Afronauts! For those of you hardcore thespian, film mavens and performance artist types, I'll see you later on. You are probably just rolling over anyway at 10 AM after all the art-magic at DanceCamera West, Los Angeles Film Festival, Grand Performances, Hollywood Fringe Festival, RADAR Theater Festival, and TCG conference. If you want to see how the critics enjoyed some of the work, check out engine28.com for NONSTOP coverage. I kid you not. I went to the REDCAT Lounge after Sheetal Gahndi's "Human Nature" and engine28 was setting up at 9:30. Setting up! I love it.

But right now, family fun for everyone! Yes! Hustle your bustle to any of these events today and you will be quite happy with yourself. I am headed to Baldwin Hills for the 2nd Annual Parade and festival. They kick off at 11 AM with a giant puppet march! Hope to see some of that. Waedao Sirisook & Michael Sakamoto will be performing, among others, beginning at noon. FREE. Wear your sneakers. It is really a HILL. No disposable water bottles. Bring a reusable bottle. Awesome. 6300 Hetzler Road, Culver City, CA

https://fbcdn-sphotos-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-snc6/251687_10150334376274746...

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In Leimert Park, the first of a two-day Juneteenth Celebration began at 10 AM. My money is on Noon. Their invite recommends you shop for your pop with their vendors and enjoy the music and performances. KJLH is the radio sponsor, so this will be a large event, and according to Leimert ParkBeat, Texan! Have a look at their coverage of last year's event. It will be a great time. Be prepared to walk a bit for this one, too since it is set up in the parking lot for the area, behind the Vision Theater. https://fbcdn-profile-a.akamaihd.net/hprofile-ak-snc4/195755_211294518893999_...

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In Oxnard, CA (yeah, I said Oxnard) their 21st Annual Juneteenth Celebration kicks off at 11 with Ijoya Drum & Dance Ensemble performing at 1:30

http://gallery.mailchimp.com/76359758f0ac5cc69d920d1ee/images/ROL3.1.jpg Juneteenth Festival

June 18th at 1:30pm
5th street /Plaza Park, Oxnard

What is Juneteenth? Africans who were being held as slaves in the state of Texas did not find out that they had been declared free September 22, 1862 by Abraham Lincoln until June 18th & 19th, 1865. From the wikipedia entry:

Though Abraham Lincoln issued the Emancipation Proclamation on September 22, 1862, with an effective date of January 1, 1863, it had minimal immediate effect on most slaves’ day-to-day lives, particularly in the Confederate States of America. Texas, as a part of the Confederacy, was resistant to the Emancipation Proclamation, and though slavery was very prevalent in East Texas, it was not as common in the Western areas of Texas, particularly the Hill Country, where most German-Americans were opposed to the practice. Juneteenth commemorates June 18 and 19, 1865. June 18 is the day Union General Gordon Granger and 2,000 federal troops arrived in Galveston, Texas, to take possession of the state and enforce the emancipation of its slaves. On June 19, 1865, legend has it while standing on the balcony of Galveston’s Ashton Villa, Granger read the contents of “General Order No. 3”:

So it became quite the celebration, with a parade that always ended with those who had been enslaved closing the parade in a solemn walk. Today, it is a festival that celebrates the tenacity and creativity of people of African descent.

Heading out west to the beach:

The Neptune Festival is being revived. Yo Venice is reporting the rules of engagement and the bar for the after party. This event was an annual parade waaay back in the day, rather segregated judging the photos from Venice Paparazzi's site (they appear to be the organizers), which is odd given who used to live in Venice--historically it had a black core, though the "Negro beach" was Manhattan Beach. Nonetheless, this event has the modern Venice Vibe on it: free your mind and your backside will follow. Sounds invigorating in that Pacific-Ocean-without-a-wet-suit kind of way.

Venice High turns 100 next weekend! The movie Grease will be projected on the side of Venice High for free sing along. Venice High, on the corner of Venice & Walgrove, was the site for Rydell High in the movie! This will be a complete freakfest of a scene, so come early to stake out your patch of grass. I plan to dance along. Are you interested? http://theopendaily.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/06/Screen-shot-2011-05-26-at-...

And finally, let's go east to Atwater Village, where an up and coming arts colony has taken root along the river. The second Artist Bailout begins today at 3 PM. The Bailout is part of an internaitonal movement of "Soup Kitchens" where artists come together to support ech other's work through an instant micro-grant. The grant is generated by charging a small amount for a bowl of soup $5. The purchaser is then given a ticket to use as a secret ballot for the anonymous project s/he likes the most, which are circulated in advance or posted at the dinner site. I helped itch dance journal's Sarah Wolf run a soup kitchen which was hosted by Nehara Kalev back in 2009. We had great time. The twist on the Artist Bailout at Atwater Village is that there are only two projects up, and you will know who they are, plus, there are donors for things beyond the soup. This creates a large possibility for the artists who have their work up! Head over to the event today at 3PM. $10 to eat, $5 to vote only. Or, start your own! Atwater Crossing 3191 Casitas Avenues, L.A. CA 90039

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Well, my family has voted down a run to Baldwin Park, so I hope to make it to Leimert Park! Have a wonderful Emancipation Day!

Leimert Park ArtWalk, May 2011

2011-05-29T17:33:00.001-07:00

See the full gallery on Posterous

AFRO ALERT:Gil Scott-Heron Walks On

2011-05-27T19:01:00.001-07:00

Reports are flowing in that seminal poet, Gil Scott-Heron has passed away. At least he gave us one last sinewy album to rock our consciousness before he made his departure. The revolution will not be televised, it will be passed via hugs, earphones, and messages in the night.

VISCERA lands the N2 B.O.O.G.I.E. mission at the Van Nuys FlyAway

2011-05-25T00:12:00.001-07:00

The ori.Xas find themselves outside the jump station...again. 'Bout To Get On, Artistic Directon by Anna B Scott, Photo by Andy Holtzman http://www.dailynews.com/ci_18124749?source=rss_viewed

WHAT A BLAST!

A huge thank you to my cast >>Pat Payne, Judith Scott, Staci Mitchell, d.Sabela Grimes, Paul Outlaw, Alexandria Yalje, Amy Shinson-Santo, Shelby Williams-Gonzalez, Anindo Marshal, Jahanna Blunt, Adanna Jones, and Baker Scott de Almeida

Thank you to staff of Department of Cultural Affairs and LAX World Airports, and especially the staff of the FlyAway itself for their willingness to play along, eventually ;->

We just completed 'Bout To Get On, an installation at the Van Nuys FlyAway and now I turn to getting involved with the politics around the FlyAway system that our work sought to highlight.

Did you know that you can only buy passage with a credit card on the FlyAway system?

Did you know that just last week, a report was released from their offices stating that it continues to run in the red at a tune of several million dollars a year? Worst example: the bus that departs Westwood (serving the campus of UCLA) has an average of 7 passengers for each trip. SEVEN.

Some of the things I discovered while preparing the piece would point to missed ridership and an overly narrow focus on service delivery. For example, each time I was there, at least 2 individuals required assistance from fellow travelers to get their ticket since they either did not have a major credit card (meaning they had Green Dot or some other pre-paid card service), or had insufficient funds (the last actually happened during the show while I was in negotiations with him to show me his ticket). Another thing we discovered during the show, the "tickets" expire in one hour and are mere flimsy fax paper receipts, very easily smudged!

With a series of performances and opportunities for audience feedback, even changing the ending of the show in real time, for example, 'Bout To Get On could help the FlyAway project managers and users work together to design a better system more friendly to multiple types of riders.

'Bout to Get On is absolutely fabulous, and now I am ready to go deeper with the work. So pelase, contribute, sign up for our shortcode messages, cause we just got the refractor beam harmonized: it's time to discover the rhythm of seamless transportation in LA.

Make a donation today! A fun inversion of the show might appear at an ArtWalk near you...

This installation was made possible by the generous support and/or assistance of Earnestine & William D. Scott; Mary Trautwein of reDiscover Center; Cooper Bates Photography; Stephanie Sills of Ingenuity on Call; Baba Thiam, Tailor; Baba Fasegun; Keisha Davis of Community Build, Leimert Park; Fractured Atlas; Lucy Florence; Lula Washington Dance Theater; Anindo Marshall, and Pat Payne.

'Bout To Get On is the inaugural installation of the Ephemeral Art Program of the Public Art Division of the Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs in Association with The Los Angeles World Airports.

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 5/23/2011

2011-05-23T09:38:00.001-07:00

AFRONAUTS!

If you are in Los Angeles area, I would like to cordially invite you to dance theater installation by my pick-up performance instigation troupe, VISCERA. The show is called 'Bout To Get On and happens today, Monday May 23 at 2 PM then again at 4 PM. It is free! Commissioned by The Los Angeles World Airports and the division of Public Art in The Department of Cultural Affairs, 'Bout To Get It On asks the question: what happens when the signs in the airport turn out to be extraterrestial beings on mission to find their team leader?

Make a donation to the project! We have some fancy t-shirts for everyone donation over $75. New gift ;-> And the QR-Codes will make an appearance at the Leimert Park Art Walk, so get on the bus!

AFRODESIAC

2011-05-17T10:17:00.001-07:00

STOP WHATEVER YOU ARE DOING, AFRONAUT, AND RELISH IN THIS GIFT.

Give thanks for the Afrosphere!

More on Kevin K.O. Olusola can be found on his website.

DANCE ARTS BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS: SAND to screen at Cannes

2011-05-10T18:06:00.001-07:00

Los Angeles screen dance and dance filmmakers should be absolutely beside themselves with joy at the announcement that Cari Ann Shim Sham• is headed to Cannes. Her moving short film, SAND, has been invited to screen in The American Pavillion on May 18th, 10:30 AM. What does it take to get into the final 16 at the Pavilion? Clearly, a whole lot of shim sham verve and class.

Kyle Ruddick & Cari Ann Shim Sham* at The Idea Project Dinner Series, AD, speaking about Ruddick's project, One Day On Earth.

The American Pavilion hosts young and emerging filmmakers, giving them an opportunity to meet industry insiders while having their work showcased. The 16 films are gleaned from a nationwide call to ALL film schools. It is out of this rather competitive and large pool that SAND emerged as a singular work. In addition to being hosted at the American Pavilion, SAND will screen in the out-of-competition segment of Court Métrage. Directed by Cari Ann Shim Sham* and co-produced with Kyle Ruddick, SAND is at once a dance film and an archival document.

Sand Trailer from Cari Ann Shim Sham* on Vimeo.

LA was quite fortunate to see SAND first, at the 2010 installment of DanceCamera West, where many thought it deserved top prize. Your writer here, though, was among a group of 50 who saw it at UCLA, the crowning jewel in an exquisite MFA reel by Ms. Shim Sham. After the re-edit of Bleu into the even more incredible Are You For Real, the audience could not imagine anything better. After the first 60 seconds of SAND, we were quite clear that a) Shim Sham is an incredible story teller; b) this was no simple documentary, no class screen dance post modern pastiche, clearly not an elegiac biopic. No, SAND is something rare, incredible, precious: it is a gift to all involved, given by all involved, including the audience.

If you are now slapping yourself for having missed SAND last year, you can at least get to meet Ms. Shim Sham* herself at DanceCamera West in 2011. She is also on the screening committee for the festival and serves as the curator of short films at the Topanga Film Festival (a very sweet festival if you have never been. Still looking for other ways to connect with the Cari Ann Shim Sham* magic? Sign up at One Day on Earth and she is likely to see your footage. She serves as the educational tool kits core writer and facilitator for the project and constantly digs through the ever-expanding group-sourced archive looking for wonderful surprises to share with the One Day On Earth Community.

So join in a toast and click those heels for Cari Ann Shim Sham*!

Ogum has no clothes

2011-04-26T20:55:00.001-07:00

Ogum Ko aso.amr Listen on Posterous

Vania Amaral

2011-04-26T20:44:00.001-07:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Ogum Onire.amr Listen on Posterous

AFRO ALERT: Pentacle Dance Break NOW

2011-04-25T19:03:00.001-07:00

Pentacle'’s Help Desk/L.A. and Bootleg Theater

Pentacle’s Help Desk/L.A. and Bootleg Theater
in association with Dance Resources Center, Los Angeles County Arts Commission, Los Angeles Department of Cultural Affairs, Los Angeles Stage Alliance and Show Box LA

invite you to join us at the Second Los Angeles Dance Community Meet and Greet

Want to meet others in the L.A. Dance community and see old friends? Looking for partners for collaboration, opportunities for performance or for resources to help you build your dance company? Join us for an evening of music, socializing and fun for L.A.’s dance makers. All are welcome!

When: Monday April 25, 2011, 7pm

Where: Bootleg Theater

2220 Beverly Boulevard

Los Angeles, CA 90>
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Earth Day Anyway

2011-04-23T00:38:00.001-07:00

Funny thing about LA and its enclaves: you can get the same celebration with different inflection for about 2 months from the actual day. Though today was Earth Day, be aware that you have not missed all the festivities. In fact, Santa Monica, known for its festival on the Promenade, did not through an event this year, thei blog asks you to wait until June. South LA did theirs last week. Wishire Corrider had a Car Free Day Across the City starting at 6 PM, but I was definitely in my car at that time, hustling costuming...in Lemiert Park which did not have an event (maybe they are firmly South LA). Saturday, April 23, however, Topanga Canyon rolls out the green carpet for us all. This Earth Day Event is rumored to be EPIC. If only there were shuttles up the hill so you did not have to drive...In any event, it is Earth Day everyday; this is the only mothership we got y'all. I continue to read Bridge at the Edge of the World by James Gustav Speth and wonder if we are goign to own that fact sooner rather than later.

honestly, this image does not soothe me one bit. The world is turly in our hands, but we keep mistaking it for an orange ready to juice.

Obama fans wait on Motor

2011-04-21T23:48:00.001-07:00

waiting on Obama1.amr Listen on Posterous

Afropos #1; Gas and Go No More

2011-04-17T14:14:00.001-07:00

Are your show tickets swirling in your gas tank? Afrologica editor Anna B Scott, the Doctoradancer, has spent the last week in think tanks considering the impact of the arts on the environment. It ain't always pretty.

Appearances
With gasoline now "cheap" at $3.99 in LA, and actually averaging $4.17 for gas that does not make my car go "are you crazy!" I find myself self-sidelining. I was not really aware why I kept missing shows, or just ignoring certain invites where normally I would make a way to show up for at least a bit of it. You know how your subconscious always shows your behind? Well, as a mother of two, mine went into survival mode, which for me translates as, almost all art consumption has to either serve the three of us, or save their little lives once a week. We are down to community arts experiences and two weekly master dance classes that I take, and one dance class that I give.

Weird.

I am astonished at the number of magnificent things I just decided I would not see. But yesterday, when I went to put that gas in my tank and realized that since I was waiting for some payments to come through on Monday, I would need to only pt in a 1/4 of a tank, everything slid into place. Awareness found me: I am not going because going costs me before I even buy the ticket. Obviously this has always been the case, but now, it is exceptionally clear. After sitting with this realization, other connections made themselves known.

<insert personal art infographic here>
I am reading The Bridge at the Edge of the World: Capitalism, The Environment and Crossing from Crisis to Sustainability. This was an assignment given to participants of "Arts and Environmental Dialogue" sponsored by the California Lawyers for the Arts. The event was on April 17. I was added to the guest list on the 16th, so I only deeply read chapter 1 and skimmed the rest. I am now going back over it. I want to invite those of you so moved, to read this with me. Here's why: according to Debra Deets, landscape architect with LA City Dept. of Public Works, there are 400 SQUARE MILES of city here and 8,000 SQUARE MILES of street. If you go and check out the Dance Ninja's interactive map of just dance studios and then the recently released SpaceFinderLa interactive map of performance-centered space, you'll notice that "space" is flung across various locales in LA, with normally significant distance between your audience and your stage or you and your rehearsal space or you and the cool community art event or...We are very quickly about to experience an oil-fueled crisis in the arts.

Each time we crank up our gas-fueled car or truck we had some carbon to the air. once we get on the freeway, driving at a clip, we add particulate in the air. When you get close to all the amazing art places downtown and begin to idle your car while you impatiently wait to make the transition from the 10 to the 110, you really dump a lot of carbon on the heads of folks who live in Adams. Are we asking certain neighborhoods to bear the health cost of our art making/consumption?

Last night I announced to the kids that they were going to give up chips, beef and juice. These foods are too expensive in more ways than one. I was listening to a radio interview on Pacifica where the speaker talked about water getting exported int he form of grain. Something like every ton of grain has at least 100,000 gallons of water in it?!? What this comes down to is that my kids' diet contributes to water crises in other parts of the state and the nation, but also to the oil crisis, which means it creates an art crisis.

Our food consumption creates an art crisis?

Our desire to drive to go and see more than one event in a day creates a health crisis?

Kicking the Habit or the Can Down the Road?
I am very excited about the new train lines. I do not think they are coming fast enough, but I want them to be safe and well built, so I work on my patience. But when you check out a Metro map of Los Angeles, you'll see that the trains are not really going to do all that much for most of us living here. Trains at grade should go in on Venice, Pico, and Santa Monica Blvds. for their entire lengths. Perhaps we'll see that in the next en years. But right now, we are going to need to make a way to get the art adventurer mobile without feeling like an ecoterrorist (and yeah, that term has been used against people who are working to save the planet, but I think it should be applied to people who keep doing the same ol' thing with their oil, water and food consumption).

SuperShuttle for the Arts?
Dance Van?
ARtBUS?
Can we buy carbon offsets along with season tickets?

At that meeting sponsored by CA Lawyers, I asked Council member Jan Perry if there had been any consideration of applying a car surcharge to all ticket sales for art events downtown with the money pooled as a way to sustain improvements that are being made with redevelopment money which is now 'disappeared' by Gov. Jerry Brown. She gave me one of those looks, did some talking, and we had a bit of a back and forth about license plate lotteries, economic development, the shows starting on a bus, etc. She gave me her card afterward. In the Bridge at the Edge of the World, James Speth outlines the ways that change towards saving the planet and human society (no planet, no humans) is regarded within government and capitalism, one of which was Policy World. Jan Perry firmly lives there. Are we willing to hand her ideas for policy that make art practice, consumption, and advocacy sustainable?

This past Thursday, I got invited to the Imaginative Commons and joined the housing think group. Thankfully, our team was lead by Beth Steckler, member of MOVE LA, an advocacy group for thinking about housing as the new Metro stations develop, and Jan Williamson, executive director of 18th Street arts center. This issue of travel for artists is also tied to the issue of space for artists to LIVE and make work. What a conversation. The entire event was put together by LA County Arts Commission and the California Community Foundation. Claire Peeps of the Durfee Foundation lead us in a "speed summit" with several think groups created around the core missions of the Mayor's Office. Sobering, tough work, but enlightening work.

So now, I am thinking about that gas in my tank and the missing programs and tickets. I am concerned about popping into community arts activities without setting forth a travel plan and looking for folks to carpool with me. I am mad that there is no longer a student cash fare on the bus and that children 5 and up must pay. I am wondering about how far will this all have to go before we decide to remember that thriving as a species never occurs when we work as individuals, but as groups that problem solve, negotiate and collaborate on meeting our basic needs.

It would be ridiculous to have everyone thrown into survival mode because of the cost of gasoline. It sucks that there are people who are expected to live there, and those who believe that that is the only setting on the TV called their life. And now I go to get in my car to drive to an art district because art making has been zoned a nuisance.

I just thought this was apropos.

Big shout out to Giavanni Washington for coming up with the title I am using above. This new title is for things that have me going...where, I do not know.

Medusa Talking out the side of her neck

2011-04-16T13:32:00.001-07:00

Medusa talking.amr Listen on Posterous

This is Leimert Park...

Tell your story, Honor your Mask

2011-04-16T13:20:00.001-07:00

Medusa testifies about her ancestry. Najité parses the code.

AFRO ALERT: Dance break!

2011-04-12T12:57:00.001-07:00

Seriously! First Lady MIchelle Obama, Beyoncé and Ailey Dance have teamed up to make this "flash workout" for kids. After watching it, I think this would make a great teambuilder for adults. So Let's Move!

http://youtu.be/-sN5VALvrVE

Head over to the Ailey blog and leve your comments on teh video there. But f you have something snarky to say, like, thankfully Beyoncé is not in the video, feel free to post that here;->

Spring and 6th

2011-04-10T14:14:00.001-07:00

Finally a bit of entertainment.

Cigars on Spring.amr Listen on Posterous

Just off the Metro at Ciclavía

2011-04-10T13:58:00.001-07:00

Ciclavìa q.amr Listen on Posterous

REDCAT on Broadway

2011-04-03T18:57:00.001-07:00

History wound round itself.

million dollar theater.amr Listen on Posterous

AFRO ALERT: AUDITION for 'Bout To Get On

2011-04-01T15:55:00.001-07:00

VISCERA Performance Instigation Troupe (a pick-up project of Vita Vibrare) is in search of dancers and dancer-actors to join our site specific piece, 'Bout To Get On to be performed at the Van Nuys FlyAway, May 21, 2011.

"'Bout to Get On," A Site Specific Sci-Fi Thriller proposed by VISCERA for the Van Nuys FlyAway, utilizes structured improvisation, Dance Theatre and Kinetic Sculpture for 6 character-dancers and 7 body installations based on an ancient creation myth of the world form the Yorúbà tradition. The FlyAway is a docking station, receiving patrons from across the space-time continuum and metaverse. A team of Ori has descended the Sut/Chain of Light and landed from Olorun in search of resources and their leader. Many patrons of the Los Angeles World Airports will recognize them immediately: they are the signs that move you along your journey. Or are they?

We are normally about 7 strong but some of the team have other projects rolling. This means you have an opportunity to join us beyond this gig. The details:

Auditions will be in Leimert Park in 2 weeks, week of April 11. There will be rehearsals once a week starting week of April 18th. Dress rehearsal on site is on May 14th. The performance is May 21. I am looking for 7 dancers for non-speaking parts to perform as living sculpture and 2 - 3 dancing actors who are comfortable with improv. The performance is paid with some reimbursement for mileage to site. Must be adventurous, have a quick wit, work as a team player, and have a solid foundation in your respective movement idiom. Must be able to articulate body isolations. Knowledge of traditional dances of the Yorúbà diaspora (Lucumi, Candomblé, Santería, Shango Shouter, Dahomey, Voudun) is a definite plus.

Please email anna [at] vitavibrare [dot] com or call 323-642-7037 and leave your name, dance training, and contact. Further details as to the specific location of the audition will be forthcoming.

'Bout To Get On is commissioned by the Department of of Cultural Affairs Public Art Division as one of two pilot projects in its new Ephemeral Art Program.

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETER: hope floats

2011-03-24T01:53:00.001-07:00

AFRONAUTS! The last ten days have been harrowing, to say the least. Actually, let's make that 15. Amidst it all, you lovely, freakish wonderful artists have been giving it your all, no matter what. Let's not confuse this with going all Nero. No, this drive to create, to perform, is grounded in the belief that all that makes us human is at its best when we are surrounded, suffused in beauty. So I want to personally thank everyone who insisted that the show must go on. My body couldn't on more than one occasion. A hazard of the job, I suppose, when the job is to know more than you can possible do anything with. However, during these days of major transformation, precipitation, and annihilation, I have become clear that the job of an artist right now is not to witness but to manifest. This, fellow travelers is precisely why artistic production, research, expression and output is under such intense attack in the United States right now, why it is outlawed in Belarus, why it is under surveillance in Indonesia. This is also why it is integral to daily life in places like Brazil, Senegal, and Israel but channeled through official organs of the state. It is why it is in flight in Guinea once again, why it is being disappeared in Libya, Bahrain, Yemen, Syria and Palestine. It is also the core expression of the Jasmine Revolution in Egypt, the stupendous face off in Wisconsin and all the gatherings of people inspired by manifestation of change through the art of being human. Being love.

I know, I never do two paragraph intro to these newsletters, but there is a lot to ponder. This year Holi, Nowruz, the Equinox and a super moon all coincided. Nowruz is likely the inspiration for Easter, as it means "new light," and is associated with the return of spring. It is the Persian New Year. Holi is a festival of color in India. COLOR! People throw perfume and color and at each other and sing and dance, bathed in the rainbow. With the moon so superduper close to the earth and all these colorful festivals going on I was reminded of two things: 1) a scene from the Kurosawa film, Dreams, where the worst has happened and the nuclear meltdown has occurred--colored gas alerts people to the stages of their death; 2) Aida Wedo, the boa constrictor that holds up the world has a multicolored belly so when we look up and see the rainbow, we are looking at its belly. In death there is art; there is beauty in the transition. As Dr. Seuss said, "don't be sad that it is over, be glad that it happened." So here we are at metaphorical, political, epistemological, and if they bury those darn reactors soon, physical endings. We can no longer believe that having someone else, or a group of them, represent us is a viable way to conduct living. To profit is not human; to share is human, is the primary primate mandate. And yes, it is profitable to share, but we must begin thinking beyond humans, beyond animals, beyond plants; we must even share with microbial worlds. Not extraterrestrial but intercellular. In all of this, the drive to create is glorious and necessary, central to our very survival. Don't stop, git it, git it.

Afrolicious. Afrodelic. Afronautical. Afrologica. Fractal, improvisational, polemical, pedagogical, neurochemical, inspirational... that's the Logic of the Afro. Sign up, read up, be up. How big is your 'fro?

BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO spring has sprung in the midst of a torrential downpour for us here in southern california at exactly the same time the nuclear plume from a beleaguered Japan was to reach us. Let's light it up! Let you "exceptionally low dose" of radiation be your super fuel. We are all mutants now. As Seth Godin said last week in his newsletter, "don't wait to get picked by someone, pick yourself." Werd.

The Garage, 975 Howard St. (Between 5th and 6th streets), San Francisco, CA Friday March 25 8pm – Saturday March 26, 2011 10pm

Tim Rubel Human Shakes performance

Tim Rubel and Rogelio Lopéz will show an excerpt from Tim Rubel Human Shakes' evening length work-in-progress, "Eroticize This!" The piece weaves the audience down a humorous path filled with erotic desire, exotic fantasy and fun at the beach. The human desires for love and connection to others, are presented in direct relation to how queer individuals are eroticized and exoticized by a heteronormative public.

With New works by Harvey Rabbit and Kevin Seaman as well.

Dances Made to Order

Here is a chance to get some swag by co-creating a dance for film with a choreographer and their dancers. http://dancesmadetoorder.com/41d1c3/ New Project of Kingsley Irons. Mr. d. Sabela Grimes is on the line up of he first round, looks verrrrrry interesting. Sign up. Voting begins April 1. Which kinda has me wonderin'…

Miles Memorial Playhouse in Santa Monica

SUNOH! TELL ME, SISTER, Friday & Saturday, 8 PM; Sunday 2 PM; April 1-3; $20 tix

Shaymyla wants you to come out and see how some diaspora artists get down over the 'net. The PostNatyam collective's latest work is meta: it's about how they make work being high powered, transnational globetrotting women.

The Alexandria Hotel, 501 S. Spring Street, Los Angeles, CA 90013 in the King Edward ballroom

Anatomy Riot #40

presented in partnership with the Blankenship Ballet at the Alexandria

Monday , April 11, 2011, 8:00pm; tickets $10 at the door ~ no reservations

"For April's 40th edition of Anatomy Riot, we are going old school and featuring choreographers over 40. Co-curated by Ilaan Egeland Mazzini and Lionel Popkin, the evening is designed to look where we are going, recognize where we are, and give props to where we've been."

featuring:

Rosanna Gamson, David Hurwith, Ilaan Egeland Mazzini, Lionel Popkin, Wendy Rogers, Susan Rose

Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions (LACE)

6522 Hollywood Blvd, Los Angeles, CA Thursday Apr 14 7pm – 8:30pm

What Did I Do to Be So Black and...

“What Did I Do to Be So Black and…” is a surrealistic and satirical meditation on a controversial alternative lifestyle: blacks and gays in the Republican Party. This new interdisciplinary work will feature live performance and video by Paul Outlaw, as well as sculptural costume and prop pieces by Curt LeMieux. "What Did I Do to Be So Black and..." is the final performance of SO FUNNY IT HURTS, a four-night performances series about satire and the subconscious. This is the first show produced by NATIVE STRATEGIES, a new LA-focused performance art showcase and journal initiated by Brian Getnick, Zemula Barr and Molly Sullivan. The performance will be followed by a Q&A with Paul Outlaw, Curt Lemieux and other SO FUNNY IT HURTS participating artists.

For more information please go to
www.welcometolace.org "What Did I Do to Be So Black and..." is funded in part by an ARC grant from the Center for Cultural Innovation.

The Landmark

10850 WEST PICO BLVD, West Los Angeles, CA, Wednesday April 27 6:30pm – Saturday April 30, 2011 9:30pm

4th LOS ANGELES BRAZILIAN FILM FESTIVAL - LABRFF 2011

Celebrating its 4th anniversary, the Los Angeles Brazilian Film Festival- LABRFF will take place at The Landmark in West Los Angeles from April 27th - May1st.

LABRRF will showcase over 30 films from Brazil. The festival will offer free seminars, workshops and opportunity to network with a lot of Brazilian directors and producers. For more information please send an email to info@labrff.com TICKETS FOR THE OPENING NIGHT WILL BE ON SALE SOON.

and finally, save the dates and get ready for a road trip all you rumberas/os! Fri May 13 8pm – Sat May 28, 2011 7th Annual CubaCaribe Festival

QUERIES

Dance Truck

Dance Truck needs a SOD Sponsor--that's right, 1500 square feet of sod.
It will be used at The Goat Farm Atlanta in a performance by choreographer Blake Beckham. It can then be re-purposed for someone's front yard, a mini golf course, or a dry patch in Piedmont Park....
Anyone have a lead?

itch

Call for submissions: In this year of the rabbit and itch's 5th anniversary, we offer up an invitation to talk about celebrations, new modes of protest and approaches to making a mark in the world. Let's bring back the soft, meandering clarity of our childhood minds as a force for re-conceiving the past, present and future. Dream us up a fable, a drawing, or share your research, first-hand experiences or future fantasies. Read complete call http://www.itchjournal.org/itch_dance_journal/thirteen.html

ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Babacar is back for another installment of his ferocious Sunday (3/27) djembe class at Crenshaw Yoga and Dance, 5426 crenshaw blvd., Los Angeles, CA. $15 at the door. Advanced Senegalese, so you will know whether or not you can dance.

Economic Dance Relief with Alexandria Yalj -self producing performance artist with an MFA in choreography from CalArts. If she is not chasing the sun regardless of direction, she's probably diligently coordinating the next Collective Movement. Classes are $12 @ the Electric Lodge 1416 Electric Avenue Venice, CA 90291. Saturdays, 2:30 - 4:30 PM. Carpool!

Kati Hernandez, human volcano, is launching a 4 week Rueda de Casino intensive in Eagle Rock 4210 Panamint Street (on the corner of Eagle Rock Blvd.) Los Angeles, CA 90065 (gorgeous studio, btw) Saturdays March 26- April 16th, 11:00 am -1:00 pm; $20/door or $75 prepaid for the series. Pre-pay at any of Kati's classes or contact Kati @ happyhappykati@yahoo.com She will be joined by her dance partner Duane Wreen. This is too hot to miss.

In Chicago, my girl Meida McNeal brings it with a special series of talks, investigations, classes and performances (whew) called To Art & Profit. Next installment is at the Elastic Arts , 2830 N. Milwaukee Ave, Chicago, IL, March 20. http://toartandprofitpanelweek1-efbevent.eventbrite.com

Congolese dance class is back in So. Cal with Patrick Ssenjovu and Anna Scott! @ InFocus Wellness Institute, 719 Broadway, Santa Monica, CA; Fridays, 7:30 PM, by donation.

ACTION

The Department of Cultural Affairs keeps coming up for the chopping block. This time, before the battle even got going, Mayor Tony Toni Toné hastily wrote a letter of support stating that he had no plans to cut the DCA, that an independent review recommended it, but he stands by the Arts. So by all means, keep writing him and calling him to remind him that he said that as the budget process continues. We all know how fickle he can be. For info on how to take action on this and other important art policy issues in LA, please join Arts4LA. They rock.

OK, Dance for Democracy, or the Double D Movement is still rolling. I have personally avoided buying any new Lycra items and have received a few reports from friends that they too are foregoing new Lycra. Why are we doing this? Did you know that your Lycra purchases are helping to end your democracy? The Koch Brothers own the Lycra brand (along with many many others) and are channeling your money into the war chests of ill-prepared and government-hating Tea Party Members, most of whom have no idea what democracy means, let alone what the intent of the Koch Brothers truly is. We are being forced into a constitutional crisis and eventually, the end of our government. Why would you want to pay for that? So no more spiffy new Lycra fabrics--buying used is acceptable--but my research has revealed that Lululemon does not use Lycra in its products. Take that evil corporate conglomerate! Do you have a Double D story? Post it here: http://doubleddance.tumblr.com/

Lovely!

Wow. I could just stay asleep for days, but I don't own a TV (ba dum dum). Really, right now, it is tempting to crawl into the comfort of a good story that you are certain is fictional. Did you really sign up to be a character in a tragicomedy about environmental degradation; or an everyday hero in an epic about the human condition and the tendency to strive towards aspirations for success for the many? You decide, but you can't do that in front of the screens. get out your magic pens, AKA your feet, and write your new tale upon the skin of the earth, She's due a massive dance massage.

in love,

-Anna

Hatian Class @ Festival of the Mask

2011-03-13T16:15:00.001-07:00

Portia Cobb's Hatian Class.amr Listen on Posterous

Afro on the Road

2011-03-13T16:04:00.001-07:00

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 3/5/2011

2011-03-05T14:08:00.001-08:00

Three amazing events of Afrological interest happening NOW (or at least today, March 5, 2011): Nina Simone; CicLAvía fundraiser; Valley Song directed by Patrick Ssenjovu -doctoradancer

William Grant Still Arts Center presents A New Day - Nina Simone
March 5 - April 29, 2011

An Exhibition of Albums, Archives, Art of Eunice Kathlene Waymon aka Dr Nina Simone
from Dr. Carrol Waymon and the Waymon family archive, Alden Kimbrough collection and art by Moses Ball, Ramsess, AISE, Sam Pace, Lili Bernard and more

Opening Reception March 5, 2011 3 - 6 pm
Music by Marcus L. Miller and the Freedom Jazz Movement with very special and surprise guests

A New Day - Nina Simone exhibit is in conjunction with Music LA African American Heritage Music Education Program, focusing on teaching music through the music of Nina Simone

Panel Discussion Saturday April 2, 2011 2-4 pm
screenings and other events to be announced, call for more information 323-734-1165

William Grant Still Arts Center
2520 S. Westview St.
Los Angeles, ca. 90016
323-734-1165
ami.motevalli@lacity.org

William Grant Still Arts Center is a facility of the City of Los Angeles, Department of Cultural Affairs

NEXT, GOOD is hosting a fundraiser for CicLAvía, an awesome smog-reducing, pedestrian increasing event scheduled for April 10, 2011. Early tickets are closed, que é obvio, pero you can buy a $25 ticket at the gate and get your fun on!

3229 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90039; 2 - 7 PM March 5, 2011

LAST, my buddy Patrick Ssenjonvu is directing Athol Fugard's play, Valley Song at the Electric Lodge Theatre, 1416 Electric Avenue Venice CA 90291-3734. It opened last night night and runs through March 20th, Thurs- Saturdays at 8 PM and on Sundays at 2 PM. Patrick is a dynamic actor and demanding performer. This show will be wonderful. Grab tickets at Brown Paper Tickets or at the door.

Searching Beyond Babel: Landscaped Identities in The Marrabenta Solos and A Story at 120 mph

2011-03-05T12:04:00.001-08:00

Anna B. Scott
Editor
Posted: March 5, 2011 7:54 AM

Panaí-bra Gabriel Canda, Michel Kouakou and Daudet Grazai are siumlataneously subjects of mass experimentation and hallucination. Born on the continent called "Africa," raised in countries that no longer exist, having citizenships in states indentured to foreign ideals and global banks, these three dance artists mobilize their reality through the phrase, through the weight of their memories landing on the floor. Exacting an 'experimental' dance at a level terrifying to consider in its brutal honesty, their work last night at Highways Performance Space in Los Angeles, California was at once disconcerting and engaging while consistently elegant.

Conundrum.

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Friday night, March 5th found the LA experimental dance scene curiously full of options for well-produced evenings of work. Bootleg Dance Festival opened for its first night, Eiko & Koma continued their run at the REDCAT, Heidi Duckler's Collage Dance opened a work that had been in development for a number of years, and Highways hosted an evening of Afro-Europea experimental dance. No, a night of African modern dance. No, a night of contemporary dance from post-colonial Africa. No, a night of performance work from a Moçambique national and from two Côte D'Ivorians. No, a night experimentation by European subjects born in Africa. No a night of...

This review teeters in the same precarious space as the work it attempts to assess. Opening the night with his back to the audience recounting what felt would be a lovely tale of his village life in "Africa," Canda could have lain a trap for our Western minds, lulling us into a space where our expectations of hot rhythms and excessive exertion on deep, dark skin were heightened, awaiting fulfillment. Instead, we were breezily treated to an encounter with the conundrum of his life traversing several major transitions in the territory in which he was born.

A Portuguese citizen in an ultra-marine state a birth, a "tribal" member, a descendent of a Marrabenta musician, a citizen a newly independent and communist Moçambique, a student studying in Portugal, a member of a democratic state, a subject to a black body...the permutations were endless, baseless, absurd. Absurd. A man in a Portuguese fisherman's hat was laying on the floor holding an electric guitar. A pink chair sat upstage, anchoring the center. Absurd. We laughed at first. Then, we squirmed. Next, we froze: he was speaking in English.

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Not only was he speaking in translation, but he was dancing in translation. With each new proclamation for a new "identity," Canda laid a percussive phrase with his feet, marking not only time, but the space of his "me-ness." The man with the guitar was standing now, looking like a lean, older Roberto Sifuentes. We wanted, I want, I need, music, he is talking about music making music and that guy with the guitar looks menacing, is not musical. I gave up, Panaí-bra continued to build the phrase, his steps echoing across the stage, when suddenly the guitar sprang to life, into Marrabenta.

The piece was an extract of a larger work, and according to Canda, a significant element, an iron chair he constructed from recycling cans and assorted detrious, was missing, as were a few other components of the secret costume. He was happy to send me an image of the chair. Stay tuned for that link. With elements from his "tribal" tradition, his father's contemporary "Marrabenta tradition, Fado, and a nice jab at "African Dance," Cando begins to name, then shed bodies, seeking a new corporeality: Numan? new man? neume man? A group of notes sung as one, danced as one, Time and Space" "The Marrabenta Solos" challenged us to find the chord in the cacophony of nation building and release the contraction known as identity politics.

A Story at 120 mph was a slicker and sleeker production, but it gave the effect of needing a much larger stage than the one Highways provides. A piece for three dancers Michel Kouakou's and Daudet Grazai's piece experiments with rate, time and distance. An extended journey to balance the equation of the multi-national artist, the piece had several moments where it felt very self-referential.

It also veered towards excessive post-modern styling for the sake of the styling and not necessarily to imbue the piece with gravity (something necessary to consider when objects are traveling a great distance at a certain rate in a given time). Shaking hands and bouncing crouched bodies feel rather culturally specific to me. What is a Ivorian pedestrian movement? How would it look deconstructed?

But this was perhaps the problem of the piece, the desire to create it, the fact that one of the performers was not there and was replaced by Nerissa Castilleja who, though a strong dancer, felt too lanky for the speed of the choreography: these dancers are post-national bodies. They reside in an anti-aesthetic seeking, experimenting with the modalities of contemporary dance making on a global stage. The work began in 2008 and has been worked in two week stints. According to Grazai, it continues as an exploration; they are looking for something but they know they have not found it.

He is right. They might have experimented with the piece as a duet between Grazai and Kouakou since Nadia Begre was not there. I suspect, even if she had been there, she would have been the hanging chad suggested by the choreogrpahy. Grazai and Kouakou have know each other since they were 14 and it shows in their dancing. They are capable of perfectly matching each other's speed and center of gravity. Their sudden bursts of partnering were absolutely stealthy and captivating.

Castilleja had her work cut out for her and she was delivering, but next to the synchronization of the piece's choreographers her character's role began to feel not just pointless, but intrusive. The entire audience was audibly dismayed when she spoke first, returning tot he phrase that paunched the entire piece. She spoke for a while as she struggled against a white wall, making her way over to the the two men who were doing ridiculous post-modern leg crossing citations. Eventually, as it was with the rest of the piece, they settled into a moment where you could feel something exceptional trying to break free. Grazai began to speak in his home language, but while in a partial backbend looking up at Castilleja, while Kouakou danced behind her. They quickly returned to an incredible passage, grabbing hip after hip after hip, in a spiraling triangle, seeking the footlight down stage left.

But it was tiring, which I guess it should have been since we were going at 120 mph. And it was long. But they were exploring time. And there were no drums, though allusions to the intricacies of traditional body placement abounded. This was a landscape of terror and struggle and shifting sands. There is no ironic twist or statement here just yet. Perhaps there will never be one. Who knows fully the process of taking on not just a spoken language, but a body language? This not just a stage with black ballerinas flawlessly executing the craft. This was/is/will be something else. Terrain, Identity, Nation these are all concepts that these two pieces indicate we must relinquish if we are to understand what we are becoming.

Go see tonight's show.

AFRO ALERT: To Dance in LA is Human

2011-03-04T00:45:00.001-08:00

This weekend is ABLAZE with dance events of incredible prowess, and it ain't even MFA concert season yet! Here is a quick heads up on a true BLOWOUT COMB show that you may not have heard about:

HIGHWAYS PERFORMANCE SPACE, March 4 - 5, 8:30 PM $20
MICHEL KOUAKOU's
A Story at 120 Miles Per Second

PANAIBRA CANDA's
Time and Space Series: Marrabenta Solos

Kouakou givin it all he's got.

Vic Marks of WAC at UCLA has been very busy bringing us some intense and fabulous artists from the experimental dance Afro-Europa scene. Last month students had a 10 day deluge of Gregory Maqoma and this week Michael Kouakou and Panaibra Canda tear up some dance floor Central African stylee. While the LA Times and the LAist are both hyping the BOOTLEG DANCE FESTIVAL, I think you should build some time in your schedule to check this show out. Order tickets now on the website or by calling 310-315-1459, seats are likely scarce. BLOWOUT COMB!

BOOTLEG DANCE FESTIVAL is going to be ridonculous. Seriously, this show has the makings of an edited volume for cultural studies in the year 2065. Curated by Heidi Duckler and Bootleg Big Girl Alicia Adams, the festival serves up a variety usually seen in music at SXSW. The LA experimental dance scene is starting to evolve into a nice size tree with a few well-established boughs. Righteous.

Friday, March 4 "The Men": Arianne Hoffmann, Keith Glassman, Carmella Hermann
Saturday, March 5, Post Natyam Collective, Antics Performance
Sunday, March 6: Jamie Benson, WIFE
$18 each show or $40 for festival pass. Tough call between night one and two if you are having to choose...

and now for some not so nice weirdness, or things that make me go, ah, wtf?!

Heidi Duckler's Collage Dance Theater presents A Gallerina’s Guide to an Exhibitionist
March 4 & 5, 2011
Laurel Hardware Space, 7984 Santa Monica Blvd., West Hollywood, CA

How is it possible that te curator of the Bootleg Dance Festival also has a show the same weekend? I know not. I do know that Heidi Duckler is a badass and her dancers just about fearless, so my goodness, you have a tough choice to make this weekend! Duckler has made a name for herself inverting spaces by inserting dance tableaux and figures. Yet another bough of this tree called LA experimental dance.

PURCHASE TICKETS:
General Admission: $30; Students (w/ proof of ID): $20

Friday, March 4, 2011 - 7:00 pm

Friday, March 4, 2011 - 9:00 pm

Saturday, March 5, 2011 - 7:00 pm

Saturday, March 5, 2011 - 9:00 pm (SOLD OUT)

Spirited refreshments served at 6:30 pm and 10:00 pm
Perfomance duration: 60 minutes
Street parking

AFRO ALERT: From the Office of the Mayor of LA

2011-03-03T22:56:00.001-08:00

no joke, log in and vote!

The LA BUDGET SURVEY is EXTENDED to March 4th. VOICE YOUR CHOICE TODAY, and PASS IT ON !!!

The Los Angeles Budget Survey, LABudgetChallenge.lacity.org, deadline has been extended through March 4, 2011 to accommodate the many stakeholders who have not yet had a chance to voice their choice on which City Services to preserve and which will have to take on deeper cuts. This will have an impact on the quality of life issues that matter to you most. Take a moment to DO the SURVEY, and pass it on to your family, friends, neighbors, colleagues and associates, and anyone else you know that has a stake in LA.

This is a unique opportunity to have your voice and choice heard directly at City Hall.

Don't let this chance slip by, and claim later that you did not have the opportunity to weigh in.

Cannibal Flower

2011-02-28T00:31:00.003-08:00

DJ l.croskey on the ones and twos. Check this l'il taste.

(133 KB)
Listen on posterous

Feeling A New Order

2011-02-28T00:31:00.001-08:00

(364 KB)
Listen on posterous

The Double D Movement

2011-02-24T20:46:00.001-08:00

Dancers for Democracy: LET IT HANG!
Did you know your dancing was supporting people who are actively working to demolish the NEA, unions, and Planned Parenthood? Lycra®, one of our beloved faux fibers, is manufactured by INVISTA, a subsidiary of Koch Industries, owned by the infamous Koch Brothers.* How can we run our State Representatives ragged to stop the cuts when we are accidentally funding the campaigns to enact them? Swear off the Lycra®! I know it seems like a random thing, a "few dancers and yoginis swearing off Lycra®," but together we have an incredible reach and cultural impact.

Think of all the dance competitions locally, globally and televised. That's a LOT of Lycra®. There is also an incredible influence of Yoga on today's fashion styles. TJ Max is seething with Lycra®-infused tops and bottoms, not to mention undies and bras. And let's be honest, these items tend to give us headaches and rashes. Save your bodies, save your democracy, and save the environment: boycott Lycra®.

Besides, this might be the extra push you need to walk more, change your eating habits and love the skin you're in!

Yes, this is scary, and likely heart-wrenching, especially if you remember the days of polyester, but this is important. Besides, we are only asking that you stop buying new gear. You can swap, you can go to used clothing stores, but no you cannot accept gifts of new outfits; that would be cheating.

If you want to go radical, toss it all out, or make very funny stuffed "animals," write to your favorite brand, like say, um, Lululemon or Danskin, and ask them to invest in finding a high performance fabric to use that does not include Lycra. As a matter of fact, let's just call our beloved dance wear brands and ask if they have apparel without Lycra. That would be a good way to start.

Lululemon has a fabric education page (of course they do) but let's call to make absolutely sure...phone: 1.877.263.9300 ext. 2 or phone: 1.604.215.9300

Danskin does not have fabric care page and if you bought their gear from Wal-Mart, you have to call a completely different number. Whoa. Here is the corporate number and email Toll Free: 1-877-443-2121
Email: edanskin@danskin.com

Think about it: are there alternative fibers and designs that we have been ignoring out of habit?

Now who can get this message out to their mass mediated patrons/clients/agents? Can we reach into SYTYCD? Can you figure out how to enlist your students in a campus-based viral campaign? Can you host a bra top sewing party? What ways can you support your body without Lycra? Make a video and post! Create a postcard for us to hang in dance studios everywhere! Keep a blog journal of a day without Lycra®--this might be devestating if you are a Vickies fan ;-< but worth the drama! record your call to the apparell companies. You can send them all to editor [at] afrological [dot] com. If they aren't too lewd, they will be posted. Spread the word.

Let 'em bounce. Let'em fly. Let it all hang out.

Boycott LYCRA®. Join the Double D Movement. Dance for Democracy.

*I posted an earlier note about these two gentleman if you are not aware who they are and what they have been up to, especially in Wisconsin, where there is a citizen occupation of the state house.

AFRO ALERT: are you funding the end of your democracy?

2011-02-23T23:49:00.001-08:00

The boycott of Koch Industries has begun. Who or what is that? Koch Industries belong to two arch conservative, yet exceptional businessmen known collectively as "The Koch Brothers." These two men are funding major strategy and policy shifts across the United States, including in the Supreme Court. They hold meetings for a very select few, offering opportunities far from Washington, DC to influence politics and society. They have been very successful in their endeavors, mainly due to the confluence of secrecy, money and oppositional inertia. Those of us who believe in a society where happiness counts, with public commons and good at the center have been bickering among ourselves as to the best route to take to maintain these values.

I rather believe that what has actually happened is that the Democratic Party has attempted to usurp these ideals while running a game of long term strategy that has yet to pay off. They generally have messed things up with all their horse trading and insider back biting. What a perfect opportunity for very patient, reform-minded ultra-right wing investors, corporations and strategists. Don't hate the player; hate the game. No matter the party in power, money will win in this game. Which is why we MUST boycott these products, regardless of your political ilk.

It is incumbent upon us all to restore the value of our vote. If two brothers can eviscerate our Commons, upend our social contract with a few timely meetings and millions of dollars, then we are all, ALL, just a few decisions away from becoming indentured servants. Don't know what I am talking about? Ask anyone with credit card debt higher than $15,000 or college loans over $100,000 if they feel in control of their destiny. Read what Egyptians, Tunisians, Bahrainians, Saudis and Libyans had to say about living in oil-rich countries with few if any social services, job opportunities, and CULTURAL OUTLETS. Yes, the cuts of the Planned Parenthood, NEA, NEH, CPB, and NPR are all part of this "social blitz."

Let's stop chasing each issue and cut to the chase: keep your money in your pocket.

Guess what? If you refrain from buying these exceptionally toxic and environmentally destructive products, you become instantaneously green! Imagine that. Not only are they controlling our perceptions of society at large, but The Koch Brothers are also decimating our forests, polluting our indoor air and giving us skin rashes. DANCERS: they make Lycra. Time to make like Isadora Duncan or go completely Wolof and hit the cotton supports! Dancers for Democracy Let it Hang!

BOYCOTT KOCH INDUSTRIES

Time Capsule: Gandy Dancers, Washerwomen & Wisconsin

2011-02-20T12:36:00.001-08:00

Songs and dance organize labor, especially repetitive, dull, difficult labor. Mechanization often is said to liberate humans from this type of work, but it also usually frees employers from dealing with people who are literally synchronized into pools of labor, where they can clearly see the value of their work. This also means that mechanization has displaced communal labor and thus communal memory. Not to fall into the pit of nostalgia for "simpler times," these workers instead show us the value of group negotiations; of power through collectivity.

In our mediated, mechanized culture (because it is not like this everywhere), it becomes much more difficult for workers to galvanize their efforts, to work as a union without giving the appearance of being exclusionary and/or parasitic. This is awful. When you watch the Gandy Dancer's video, you will hear towards the end how unions made it possible for these mean to take their very intricate knowledge and advance in the companies that simultaneously valued and disavowed their contribution to the railroad.

The washerwomen in Brasil fought hard to get the right to the equivalent of a social security card so that they could have retirement. In the clips, they all speak about learning these songs as a way to make the work happen, even when it felt impossible. They sung and danced themselves back to their own humanity. That's what unions do; they guard the humanity of workers.

Now, our current problem is that contemporary unions also protect and reward ineffective workers simply because of how much time they have had on the job, not necessarily because of evidence of specialized knowledge. We are at a tipping point where many people who would like to become workers feel they cannot because unions are making sure that their members stay in jobs that are either no longer needed (stalling digitization of records for example), or maintaining practices that no longer serve the needs of society (like last one hired, first one fired). While this may not be true, it is the perception and possibly exists because we do not labor all that much as a nation any more.

In particular, the role of teacher unions in large cities in the US have become fraught with these questions. For example, here in Los Angeles, there are "banked minimum days" that teachers use to meet and learn from each other, but this happens during school hours, thus reducing the amount of classroom time for students and creating a bit of work havoc for parents, especially single working parents. Parent teacher conferences no longer happen at night, but during the day, again cutting into instructional hours and work hours for parents. It is great for teachers who want to get off campus asap, but for those committed to teaching, those precious missing hours are debilitating. For parents who want to be involved with their child's learning but cannot leave work for fear of loosing their at will jobs (an entire other discussion about unions), these "business hours" for teachers are especially punitive. This is an instance where collective bargaining may be hindering the labor needed to complete the job. Very touchy stuff.

So look to Wisconsin right now, where a Tea Party governor is trying to eradicate unions by stripping collective bargaining, and then think about advances in railroad maintenance and clothes washing. Would those advances even have ocurred were people still treated as indentured servants today? Collective bargaining pushes innovation. Song and dance define humanity. Let's not loose sight of that.

Enjoy these videos.

http://www.folkstreams.net/film,101

Gandy Dancers, Film by Barry Dornfeld, Maggie Holtzberg-Call

Lavadeiras de Almenara

Check out this website for the North East Festival of Washer Women in Brasil!

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 2/19/2011

2011-02-19T19:05:00.001-08:00

To listen to LA news, the sky is falling, but it is just rain. What this means for those of you headed out to take in some of the MANY magnificent dance shows and film screenings tonight is that you WILL take the streets. Steer clear of the freeways as they have absolutely horrible drainage and most of the lane dividers are not visible during downpours, let alone during downpours at night. Give yourself some extra extra time to get to the show, which means as soon as you are done reading this, head to the theater of your choice!

REDCAT, 631 W. 2nd Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012 Winter Studio, Saturday & Sunday, February 19 - 20, 8:30 PM; $15/$12/$8

Winter Studio 2011 features some of my fav fools of the performance art scene: Marcus Kuiland Nazario and Kristena Wong. This round of STUDIO is INSANE! OMG, looks ridiculously good. I am especially interested in BEATRIX*JAR: B. LUXX & J. STARR but I am wondering about putting an ensemble piece with six kids, EMILY MAST: WE PLAY NOTHING, on the same bill as Cat Lady. Wong's Cat Lady is nasty nasty nasty. I laughed so hard at Anatomy Riot #38, almost dropped my camera phone. MKN's Drift is most assuredly not all about sleep neither, ahem. Well, who am I to talk? Gregory Barnett selects his outrageously revealing outfits based on whether or not my kids will be in the audience.

PAN AFRICAN FILM FESTIVAL, Culver Plaza Theater, 9919 Washington Blvd, Saturday night February 19th, tickets at the box office, $11

Fantastic fantastic fantastic line up of films, and the rain even gave us a break a bit earlier today, atypical for the festival which almost always takes place during a torrential downpour. Oh the black girl hair angst! Right, so films to go check tonight, seeing as I missed "The Prof" by Abena Busia this morning at 11 AM (walking pneumonia is no joke). Well, tonight, there is quite a range of things to see, so please go "flip through" this pretty happening film guide. Desert Flower, about a refugee from Mogadishu finding a career as a supermodel in London sounds interesting for 8:30, Mountains Take Wing at 6:30 PM could be both depressing and incredibly inspiring, especially if you love you some Angela Davis; at 8 PM definitely go check Flags, Feathers and Lies, a documentary on the Mardis Gras Indian and the possible disappearance of this unique art form; and PAFF staff highly recommend Scheherazade,Tell Me Story, a narrative film depicting a female talk show host in Egypt who unwittingly oversteps her boundaries

A Little Louder: Performance in Conversation #1: DOUGLAS KEARNEY, Kristi Engle Gallery, 5002 York Blvd., Los Angeles, CA Saturday, Feb 19, 8 - 11:30 PM

Highland Park is in for a treat. This is one bad-ass poet. Brotha can ROCK IT! I might end up there, though Studio doth call. If you have never seen this man do his do, you gotta get there.

Transcendent Man, the film

2011-02-16T23:05:00.001-08:00

Party at WAC

2011-02-16T19:00:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on posterous

The last bit of discussion

2011-02-16T17:58:00.001-08:00

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The piece sounds like..

2011-02-16T17:23:00.001-08:00

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Gregory Maqouma at UCLAZ

2011-02-16T17:22:00.001-08:00

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Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center

2011-02-11T21:30:00.001-08:00

I just took action on this important arts issue and I hope you'll take a moment to do the same.

Freshman Republicans have not much of a clue how deeply intertwined innovation in ALL things is with the arts. A mind developed with at least exposure to arts is a mind fit only to take orders. Given our current economic situation, it seems that we should support the arts and bring them front and center, electing instead to take deep cuts in military spending. It is an embarrassment to see all those pictures of empty tear gas cans from Egypt that said "made in America." We can, should and will make something that support human endeavors. Saving the NEA is only the beginning. Please take action on this issue immediately. The vote is coming on Monday. Please Follow This Link to Take Action on Important Arts Issues http://capwiz.com/artsusa/utr/2/?a=13209311&i=106801899&c=

If your email program does not recognize the URL as a link,
copy the entire URL and paste it into your Web browser.

-------------------------------------
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http://www.capitoladvantage.com
"Connect and Be Counted"
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BREAKING LOCAL SCHOOL GARDENING NEWS

2011-02-10T21:06:00.001-08:00

OK Y'all. Egypt is on the brink of something major, The NEA is about to be sliced and diced and though we love to say the word "innovation," very few folks are willing to undo business as usual in order to foster it. Feeling helpless? DON"T. We still got our collective mojo and here is one of those moments where we can exercise it. My new BFF, Mud Baron, is seeking to revolutionize school gardens EVEN THOUGH HE GOT SACKED BY LAUSD. That's right, a little more cow bell please! Hate on Hater, but he's gonna do him, and what he does is plant for change. Please read below for instructions on how to get him 100,000 organic seed packs plus wheelbarrows, shovels and other farming tools the kids will need to grow their own food.

Mud Baron

Can you help our school gardens out:

We have less than just 24 hours to GET OUT THE VOTE. Do send directly to your lists (work, fam, personal) to get 100 nods out of all school garden fans. Yesterday SEEDS OF CHANGE committed 100,000 seed ...packs for you, us, EVERYONE. AND they are going to get more than just seeds for us this year. We're talking gardens. Their marketing team is partnering to source in the long-term - shovels, wheelbarrows to go along with the bag of seeds, dirt and kids we have. Stellar. But we gotta get to 1000 first. DO nudge. THANK YOU! Mud >>>

>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>>

Twitter Users and supporters WE have 1 day to get out the vote to support the garden at agriculture programs and school gardens across the US. Log in to twitter and tweet this in your own words: I nominate @cocoxochitl for a shorty in #green because (where you live) loves school gardens!

> or because LA loves kids and veggies

> or b/cuz we all need greener, healthier schools in all of our communities

> or because kids that grow broccoli eat broccoli
your voice is best!

> Or click HERE:
http://shortyawards.com/Cocoxochitl

It's part of an online contest called the shortys. Online contests are silly, resources for cash-strapped schools, not. A sample wishlist is up here

https://sites.google.com/site/greenshortypledge/home/micheltorena-elementary-school-and-community-garden

and here:

https://sites.google.com/site/greenshortypledge/home/-bk-farmyards-school-garden-list

tumblr here:

http://schoolgardencoop.tumblr.com/

Mud Baron aka @cocoxochitl, needs 370 votes to match over $300,000 in in-kind support for school gardens in LA, SF, Denver, New Orleans and Brooklyn. There are 100 of you that can help do this and it takes 10 seconds. We are looking to never have to buy organic, heirloom seeds again for our school gardens if we do this.

> Thank you.

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 3

2011-02-10T12:04:00.001-08:00

You don't want to miss this!

Finale of the Golden Dragon Parade 2011

2011-02-08T00:19:00.001-08:00

What a surprise! In previous years, we were never able to get close to the final fireworks, but this year I discovered that the Lion Dancers "eat" firecrackers as they pop. The Lions chase the fuses up to the bar where they are tied. Because of the smoke and ash (!) I had to put the camrera away for a bit. It was a formidable feat of dance and martial arts. Worth risking the burning eyes if you ever get the chance to see it.

See the full gallery on posterous

New Moments in the Golden Dragon Festival

2011-02-07T22:58:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on posterous

Golden Dragon Parade 2011 (( Los Angeles, Spring Festival, Chinatown, Chinese New Year))

2011-02-07T19:13:00.001-08:00

The middle of the parade, lots of confetti, gunpowder and color!

See the full gallery on posterous

Happy Chinese New Year

2011-02-05T14:37:00.001-08:00

Having a good time welcoming the Rabbit!

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AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 2/4/2011

2011-02-04T11:20:00.001-08:00

Might as well make this an official series...y'all know who you are.

The Jazz Bakery is in transition but that does not mean that the music has to stop! They are presenting a Moveable Feast series across the Southland. Get ready for ONE SHOW ONLY of some of the finest avant-guarde jazz on the planet. One of the things I miss about Chicago is the AACM, but I am fortunate enough to be good friends with one of their exquisite, and now LA local artists, Maia. But go get your dose! Kahil is no joke!

Friday, February 4th - One show 9:00 pm
General - $25 / Student - $15. tickets

Black History Month

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

Kahil El'Zabar -percussion
Ernest Khabeer Dawkins -sax
Corey Wilkes -trumpet

VENUE: Musicians Institute Concert Hall

1655 N. McCadden Place, Hollywood, CA 90028 tickets

VINCENT MATSOE & GREGORY MAQOMA RESIDENCY AT UCLA

And, luckily Vic Marks at UCLA is helping celebrate the UN Year of People of African Descent (even if she might not know that) by hosting some INCREDIBLE dance artists from the continent of Africa. See below for some special discounts for those in the know.

February 9-12 8:30 pm; Sun, 13 at 3 pm: Vincent Matsoe

SPECIAL OFFER: $12 TICKETS ON FEB 9 & 10 (Call (213) 237-2800 or visit REDCAT's box office and mention codeword "SOWETO" to receive more than 50% off general admission. Offer is limited and subject to availability.)

Vincent Matsoe, Gregory Maqoma’s (see below) close colleague and oft collaborator from South Africa will be presenting his "San" at REDCAT.

As Mantsoe reveals the diverse ancestral influences within the dancers’ movements, his company expresses the range of joy, exaltation and melancholic despair that have become the melodies of their bodies today.

Location:  REDCAT, 631 West 2nd Street, LA 90012

For tickets and information: 213-237-2800 or visit www.redcat.org

Wednesday, February 16, 4-6 pm: Gregory Maqoma

FREE!

Gregory Maqoma will be a guest at UCLA performing an excerpt from his acclaimed "Beautiful Me" in an event entitled “Memory and Identity.” Presentations and discussion by international scholars Catherine Cole, Polly Roberts and Susan Foster.

Location: Kaufman Hall Theater 200. Park in UCLA’s Lot 4 off of Sunset Blvd.

Realistic Magical Negro Action Figures

2011-02-04T07:52:00.001-08:00

Today on Uprising with Sonali Kohudkar, a guest (Clark Newhall) frothed at the mouth, expressing his anguish that we had "voted for Obama for a revolution and he is not delivering," or something equally emotional like that. They were discussing the merits of the Affordable Health Care Act. A bit later, looking through my Face Book newsfeed, a friend had posted a qoute from an editorial in the NYT. Here it is verbatim: "President Obama owes the democracy protesters being attacked in Egypt – and our own history and values – a much more forceful statement deploring the recent crackdown." NY Times

What followed that post were three vitriolic responses about Obama and his empty promises, our support of Mubarak because we are addicted to oil, and Obama's absence on the issue of Egypt. These characters, and many others in this particular circle of "friends" like to refer to people who support Obama as Obamatrons. You might think I am talking about a bunch of wild and red Tea Party Republicans, but I am not (but dont get me started on those friends of mine or the Black Power Traditional African religion folks). At least I think I am not. You see, these folks also routinely talk about fight the power, power to the people, listen to Patty Smith, support Wikileaks and 350.org. This is the radical left.

And just like the speaker on Uprising, they are childish racists, and don't even know it.

Mommy, I want a Magical Negro for Christmas!

We did in fact vote in a revolution with the presidency of Barack Obama. Who can forget people singing the sporting "goodbye" song as W. boarded that helicopter with a bewildered look on his face? Who can forget all the YOUTH turning out the vote among their friends? All the Independents swinging to the tune of the Democrats? The rebellious antics of Saturday Night Live and The Daily Show as their writers and actors made it known what they thought of the status quo? Shepard Fairey's theft of an AP photo turned into an iconic poster creating a visual for all our hope for said revolution? We had our uprising, we toppled a WAY of governing, but we did not hunker down and do the grinding work of dismantling the system of governance in order to secure a new pathway for meeting our obligations to each other as citizens of a nation state.

We revolted at our own revolution, balked at the idea that now begins the real work. Well, some of us knew better, but we could not get you guru-chasing fools to listen. When we tried to explain that if we did not send laws to Congress that dealt with the more egregious aspects of our system of laws and governance, Obama would be forced to compromise quite a bit to get things done, a majority of you said, "but W. did whatever he wanted." W. Bush should have also been impeached and sent to prison for life, or did you forget that part?

I am a bit snarky because I was hoping that it would not come back to race, that this time, it would actually be that Obama is a hack, and his party is full of strategists that are trying to play a long game to the detriment of the short. But alas, as the blame pours in and the vitriol continues from either side, ignorance seems to be the main culprit driving the divisive activities, well anti-activities. Sitting around pontificating on the internet is often the most active non-activity one can manifest. This ignorance is not only a clear inability to understand how many different "governments" our country has running at any given time on our own soil for the sake of organizational structures, the flow of capital, and the management of resources over time; it is also an ignorance of the power of black skin.

We are not going to be redeemed the Shawshank way. Bagger Vance is not going to help us improve our world dominance game. We will not be put in touch with the ghosts of our great presidents of the past so that we can come to some sort of national emotional healing and move forward into the best era our republic has ever known. Barack Obama is not a life-size Magical Negro action figure. He is a public servant who had the expectation, perhaps misplaced, that people would interact with him as if he were a person and not a super hero who does not obey the laws of physics.

Revolution of the Mutants

Globally, the uprising we launched here in the US in 2008 continues. The mid-term elections have shown that most people born after 1974 have no idea what "civics" are because they did not get to study it in school (or because they watched Ronald Reagan warp the concept for most of their young life) and thus were not psychologically prepared to continue to evolve the uprising into a stable, systemic change. People like me born in 1969 are mostly discovering that we are in sideways leadership positions, straddling the paradigm shift, bridging The Social Networked Gen with the takers and haters of the Free Speech movement (I just thought y'all should know that is how e experience y'all) while all we want to do is live on The Big Blue Marble in Space and play with our beloveds, where ever they are in the world. It falls to all of us, not just a carmel-colored super-eloquent basket-ball-playin statesman. Around the world, the unlikely candidate is being voted in with great hopes that their outsider perspective, their lack of contacts on the inside of the machine will be the saving grace of the people voting for them. But what a shame to throw our best talent and all our hopes into the belly of the beast! Time to tame the beast and put it out to pasture.

Youth uprisings occurring right now across the so-called Muslim world have just awakened to this fact in the last 48 hours: who cares if these 40 year-long autocratic states change "leaders" if corrupt constitutions and systems of surveillance remain in place? What does it matter if Obama had an immigrant father if ICE had a ten year strategic plan and a career technocrat in place when he was elected? Sustainable change is in the details and the temerity to identify the useless components of "tradition." Sometimes the legislation has to be junked. And if anyone should know this, it is the person in their mid-twenties to mid-thirties who has always had not enough of _________ while surrounded by visual clues that there is in fact plenty of IT for everyone. And these folks have invigorated all aspects of their societies; experience not age now drive people to the streets. They are not having buyer's remorse; they are having that clarity that comes sometimes in the dressing room when you realize the latest fashion is all a ruse, a sham, and obviously not designed for a real body. They are feeling that stomach churn you get after you have agreed to do a performance for someone/thing/ group that is deserving, but you realize as soon as the agreement was struck, all the person wanted was a show, a trifling entertainment, not your art. It is that feeling you get when you walk into the room and you are the only "one" in a mass of "them."

Let the mutation of this uprising begin. Let the people understand that we must get back into our working groups on an issue by issue basis and avoid the pitfalls of departmentalization and disciplinary boundaries and come to our own rescue. It is time for us int he US to stop trying to turn everything into a viable, neatly packaged market and stop dividing ourselves by generation. We are all action figures. Some of us have gifts that feel almost like magic, but each one of us can make the impossible possible with the right effort applied at the right time to the right place, Magical Negro or not.

BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Request of Egyptian Dance and Performance Artists ((tags: Egypt, dancers, Karima Mansour, Adham Hafez, HaRaKa Dance, MAAT for Contemporary Dance, SHOWBox, uprising, Mubarak, White House, foreign policy, injured journalist

2011-02-03T11:54:00.001-08:00

The global dance community has been trying to get information on dance artists in Egypt. Here is an exchange among several experimental dance choreographers. It is enlightening. Dancers for democracy doing the freedom stomp.

Today the newly appointed prime minister Ahmad Shafiq of Egypt said it was a "grave mistake," that the pro-Mubarak thugs attacked pro-freedom civilians, but those thugs remain at large, terrorizing people in the streets, even though the military has intervened and has created a wall of tanks between the pro-Mubarak thugs and the non-violent protesters. Reporters are also under attack by the pro-Mubarak forces. It is widely known in Egypt that these people are not protesters but police officers working in their street clothes, among others.

I would like to urge everyone, as a final note, to take care with the language you use to describe the situation there. Yes, the protesters want Mubarak to leave the country immediately, but not because they are "Anti-Mubarak" as I heard them described this morning on NPR. Rather, they are pro-freedom. Last week, we might have characterized them as pro-democracy, but as there is no political party running this uprising, no major set of demands other than people deserve and want freedom to choose their leaders, it would follow that they would also eventually determine their system of governance. Please continue to contact the White House and voice your support for the people of Egypt to create their own government of their own choosing free of violence and bullying from a regime which our tax dollars have supported for decades. It's the least we can do.

If you have dance buddies stuck in Egypt and have some news from them, please send it to editor [at] afrological [dot] com.

note: I have removed email addresses and phone numbers that appeared private and left company contact information. All other text is unaltered, unedited.

---------- Forwarded message ----------
From: Meg Wolfe
Date: 2011/2/3
Subject: Fwd: FW: Request of Egyptian Dance and Performance Artists
To:

------ Forwarded Message
From: Christa Spatt
Date: Thu, 3 Feb 2011 11:44:48 +0100

Anfang der weitergeleiteten E-Mail:

Von: Aydin Silier
Datum: 02. Februar 2011 20:09:19 GMT+01:00
An: christa.spatt
Betreff: [jde coorganizers] Request of Egyptian Dance and Performance Artists
Antwort an: coorganizers@jardindeurope.eu

Mısır'da yaşayan dans ve performans dünyasından dostlara kaç gündür ulaşmaya çalışıyorduk. Bazılarımızın yakından tanıdığı Karima Mansour ve Adham Hafez'den gelen mesajları aşağıda okuyabilirsiniz. Lütfen isteklerine uyarak ulaşabildiğimiz bütün email listelerine bu mesajı gönderelim.
We were trying to reach friends from the dance and performance scene living in Egypt for some days to ask about their situation. Below are the replies from Karima Mansour and Adham Hafez, whom some of you would know very well. Please follow their request to circulate this email for support.
Aydin Silier and Gurur Ertem
BiMERAS | iDANS
Istanbul <http://www.bimeras.org/>
-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Adham Hafez
Sent: Wed, February 2, 2011 6:39:25 PM
Subject: Egyptian Democracy in Photographs

Egyptian Democratic Regime in Photographs

The following photographs are only traces of the brutal and incredible violence that has been exercised towards Egyptians asking for freedom, justice and basic human rights during the previous days of the peaceful non-sectarian non-religious revolution of the Egyptian people against injustice and against oppression. Plainclothes policemen harrassing Egyptians on streets, Interior Ministry hired thugs that shed a lot of blood on streets, some of which still staining buildings and sidewalks in Egypt, and pro-Mubarak protestors that went out on streets after the latest presidential speech are carrying knives with which they have attacked children, youth, old men and women protesting against the current "Democratic" regime. Mainstream Egyptian media still denies the violence that took place towards the protesting civilians.
Please circulate widely, locally and internationally.

Message from HaRaKa Dance Development and Research Board Members in Cairo, Photographs by artist Hamdy Reda, and other photographers.
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: adham-hafez
Subject: EGYPT- SUPPORT US
Date: Wed, 2 Feb 2011 15:29:49 +0200
EGYPTIANS NEED URGENT SUPPORT

Right after the latest speech by President Mubark, plain-clothes police and Ministry of Interior hired thugs were let loose on civilians on streets in Cairo, Alexandria and Port Said. People were violently attacked on streets last night. Some protesters were not able to reach their houses, under the violent verbal abuse, and physical aggression from the plain-clothes secret police as well as the uniform-clothed policemen. They carried knives, some carried guns, and other started violently beating up protesters, and laymen passing by any police station at night.

Phones were shut down again in Egypt today. The internet is going to be shut off again on Egypt.The current regime also has launched a campaign on streets to provoke and divide the groups on Tahrir Sqaure protesting against violence and injustice. The Egyptian TV is broadcasting wrong information on the current situation, and is broadcasting images of the massive crowds that are protesting against the regime of Mubarak, stating that those are National democrats asking Mubarak to stay.

Transparent Media and communications seem to offer one strong potent possibility for Egyptians to bring out the case into the light, and to show international media the monopoly taking place through the Egyptian TV and Egyptian telecommunication and internet services providers. Today, Wednesday 2nd of February 2011, Egyptian army forces are retreating from Egyptian streets, leaving Egyptian civilians unprotected against the violence of the Egyptian police and Ministry of Interior, the violence that started already since last night and continues to shed blood this morning. Today, the possible birth of conflict between Egyptians themselves is a threat that was generated by the wrong and misleading information from Egyptian media and TV, by the reaction of the current regime, and by the violence exercised daily on Egyptians from their own government. The current Egyptian regime and Egyptian local media are trying to frame the protests as a violent force of opposition and are attempting a creation of an inner war between the citizens of this country. Help us spread this message, and the following five questions that might help to clarify the situation, and to raise more media awareness, and more support locally and internationally.

Simple Questions from the Egyptian Nation to the Egyptian Government, and to Local and International Media:

Question One:
If the current Egyptian government truly wanted to fight the riots and exercise damage control, then why was the building of the National Democratic Party (the ruling party) left on fire without a single fire brigade arriving to extinguish it?
Question Two:
If the current Egyptian government truly wanted the safety of its nation against “the violent riots” that were not violent at all, entirely peaceful and literally repeating “Peaceful, Peaceful” on their banners and through their voices, why were Egyptians left without policemen, fire brigades, ambulances? How come the phone numbers to such security apparatus became suspended and unable to receive calls of citizens within urgent dangerous events for a few days?
Question Three:
If the current Egyptian government believes whatever that was happening on Egyptian streets was very minimal and simply a “small group of monopolized young minds” protesting, the way the Egyptian TV mis-announces it, why then did the government shut down internet, Al-Jezeera Channel and telecommunications? What did the government wish to hide from the local independent media or the international media for one week?
Question Four:
If the current Egyptian government wanted the security of its nation, and to control violence and to fight destruction, why were Egyptians left without a single police officer for over three nights on all Egyptian streets? How come in a heavily policed country like Egypt that it would be possible for all policemen to disappear suddenly for over three nights? And why were street lamps shut down, and remain shut down, in many streets in downtown Cairo the heart of the event?

Question Five:
What about the people who were shot to death by Egyptian police, and by Egyptian secret police? What about those? What about their blood that still stains certain streets and buildings? Why was the peaceful request for freedom answered by governmental silence and by police bullets?

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
----- Forwarded Message ----
From: Adham Hafez
Sent: Wed, February 2, 2011 4:12:18 PM
Subject: RE: How are you doing - in Egypt?

...
We are being murdered by this fascism in Egypt.
Internet just came back this morning, and we think it will be shut down again because of the violence that has been happening since last night, i Couldn't go home without policemen chasing me and threatening me with knives, and my other friends were beaten up till they were left bleeding. TOday they shut down mobile service in Egypt again.
Help us by spreading around the following email that I shall send you now, and by spreading the link of UncensoredEgypt Youtube video channel that will have the images and videos of the crimes that the current regime has committed against Egyptians.
Thank you so much for thinking of me and of my colleagues in this harsh period. Your words are supportive and kind.
Adham

-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: karima mansour
Date: Tue, Feb 1, 2011 at 8:21 PM
Subject: RE: How are you doing - in Egypt?

Hello,
Thank you very much for asking. It is crazy and history is being made!
I hope we stand strong and united until the end...
I am proud of being an Egyptian.
Generally speaking all is well, some friends have been hurt but all in all we are winning!
Thank you again and soon.
Karima

Karima Mansour
Artistic Director
MAAT for Contemporary Dance

www.karimamansour.com <http://www.karimamansour.com/>

"You have to love dancing to stick to it. It gives you nothing back, no manuscript to store away,
no painting to show on walls and maybe hang in museums, no poems to be printed and sold,
nothing but that fleeting moment when you feel alive. It is not for the unsteady souls."
Merce Cunningham.

Christa Spatt
Artistic Director
[8:tension] Young Choreographers' Series

ImPulsTanz
Vienna International Dance Festival
Museumstr. 5/21
1070 Wien
Austria
t: +43 1 523 55 58
f: +43 1 523 55 58 88
e: 8tension@impulstanz.com
i: www.ImPulsTanz.com <http://www.ImPulsTanz.com/>

------ End of Forwarded Message

See the full gallery on posterous

AFRO ALERT: People of Egypt need you help

2011-02-02T10:03:00.001-08:00

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I was driving back from dropping my child at school when Amy Goodman on Democracy Now! began interviewing via cell phone one of her producers, Sharif Abdel Kouddous, who made it into Egypt to cover the uprising there. As they were talking, you could hear mobs of Mubarak operatives streaming into Tahrir Square. Apparently the soldiers allowed them to pass.

The attacks on the people of Egypt are clearly orchestrated by the Mubarak government. It is also VERY clear, that they were formulating their strategy in close consultation with intelligence forces in several other countries. Ahem. Democracy Now! is reporting that police forces in plain clothes, oil workers, and government employees are launching a violent three pronged attack on the square in Cairo. Call the White House. Ask Obama to make a clear statement, not one open for interpretation, that violent reprisal against peaceful families is not tolerable.

I just sent him this letter under "Foreign Policy" via whitehouse.gov:

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Dear President Obama,

Please, I understand the need for diplomatic parsing of phrases, but the people of Egypt need assistance and they need it now. That Mubarak would send his police force, his workers and receive help from oil companies to terrorize and abuse his people is unconscionable. Yes, hardline, "old school" Zionists in Israel are terrified of what a rapid transfer of power in Egypt might mean for them. But as you stated (and I thank you for that) the people of Egypt are to determine what they want.

To that end, it is not appropriate to allow Mubarak to pretend to have "people" who support him. It is not appropriate to have him in place until elections in September. It is not appropriate for our country to be silent on our past support of Mubarak. We must apologize tot he people of Egypt, place our efforts to help Mubarak in their proper historical context, and then support THE PEOPLE.

By doing nothing, keeping quite, you will assuredly create the monsters that your "constituents" in the Middle East so terribly fear. Please get ahead of the ball, run off sides if you must, but Mubarak will go to great lengths to "maintain order" because he is of a different order, a different era. He does not understand his citizens; they are from a world that he has never known. There is no political party running this. People simply want to be free. They want to be respected. They want to eat. They want to love.

Please, do not stand by and allow a massacre to occur simply because it is politically expedient.

Thank you for your swift action in this matter (I trust that you and your cabinet understand what is at stake in "protecting interests" rather than supporting the love of life and freedom.

Sincerely,

Dr. Anna B. Scott

You can read a rush transcript from Democracy NOW! by clicking here.

Grupo Corpo, after the drive home

2011-01-30T00:27:00.001-08:00

Parabelo, Grupo Corpo

The secod act sizzled away my distate for the first. It was like watching a completely different cast. Parabelo (1997) began with similar irritating floor work as act one, but it quickly was erased by, springing, engaged bodies. The overwrought arabesques in ímã (the first act) were definitely missing in action as the dancers exerted intense control over their limbs in the most precarious transitions.

It was breathtaking.

The ghost of Lenny Dale continued to appear on the stage, but by now, some of his famous bossa nova "backward samba" breaks were turned into choreographic kernels: extrapolated, refined, deconstructed, muddled, refined again, then shifted to another plane.

To find out more about Lennie Dale and his troupe Dzi Croquettes, check out this movie trailer! The film is coming back to LA soon in the Brazilian Film Festival!

There was quite a bit of partner work, affording the choreography opportunities to repeat a phrase at a 90 degree angle to the floor on a dancer's body 45 degrees to another.

Both pieces were built into the music, but there was more space in its orchestration for the second piece than for the 2009 Ímã, just as there was more space on the stage. I realized sitting there in the first act that what Susan Rose had once told me was true: "Any thing looks good if you have enough of them lined up next to each other." Thankfully, the second act showed us why there are so many dancers in this company; each one of them is a virtuoso and can hold an entire 40 foot stage on their own.

Great recovery in Parabelo, but it is a shame that the company has not settled into Ímã yet; there are a few gems hidden in that work that they have yet to excavate.

Opening of Ímã, Grupo Corpo.

Grupo Corpo Thoughts

2011-01-29T20:42:00.001-08:00

It's intermission. I found the first piece with its seams showing. I could count down the transitions, anticipate the pattern of the pick up. But then, there was this incredible allusion to Lenny Dale.

One of the more portly male dancers was channeling him! My goodness, it was enjoyable. There was an entire section of a twisted Bissau nova which all but screamed Lenny

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

Grupo Corpo

2011-01-29T19:25:00.001-08:00

It is 8 minutes to show time and there are far too many empty seats. I do not know if they do rush tickets here synthesis Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, but it is worth your to investigate.

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETTER: doing the black bottom

2011-01-29T17:02:00.001-08:00

AFRONAUTS have you figured it out? The big puzzler of a State of the Union Speech given by the O? Well, I am NOT going to jump into that fray. Suffice it to say, brother can throw down some verbiage! Good grief. But what does have me annoyed, are the lefty-lefties who want our president to behave like Emperor George. If we are to restore order, rule of law, then we, um, gotta actually play by our national handbook. Now, it is evident that said book is in DIRE need of an overhaul/simplification, but that is a completely different issue. If you don't like our laws, change them. We are too busy being too busy. I was noticing the food in my freezer is all packaged. This means that it is precooked by someone else, packed in garbage, and awaiting a reheat because I am too busy to actually be bothered with cooking from scratch. You can read this as being sensible--I did plan out when said 'food' would be dispensed--or being overwhelmed. In this state, it is easy to find rules and regulations "just changing" out of the blue. It doesn't help that our system of governance is so bankrupt of love for humans that our civil servants have learned to time their work on "change" in such a way that most of us don't notice it until it's too late. Two things exemplify this strategy this week: Gov. Jerry brown is proposing to eradicate Redevelopment Agencies in the State of California (most public art funding is tied to development dollars and check out what the Broads got right after the announcement) and in Ohio, a single black mother went to jail for sending her daughters to a school district other than the one in which SHE lived, even though the children's father lived in the mostly white district and had joint custody (just looking for a link on this made me cry). I'll have more to say about these two things later in the week, but to me they exemplify, each in their own way, how rules meant to enable civil society are often easily corrupted by unconscious behavior. I guess I need to plan my meals better. Change starts at home. What short cuts are you taking that helps along 'accidental' punishment in your community? How you gonna change that rhythm?

BLOWIN BACK THE 'FRO this weekend? My own reticence in promotion exceptionalism. Truly. IABD is da bomb and I know it exists because the racism in the dance world is putrid. Get this, in what other industry is a "style" actually a racial category? But I just had a very unsavory "raced" experience myself, and shoot, have had more than a boatful throughout my career, so I know how excruciatingly important it is to create safe spaces for exploration and affirmation. I just have to wonder what happens to development ad efficacy when we hunker down in our "communities." I am feeling the paradigm shift, but having a nostalgia for a future that has not yet arrived. Here are some mighty examples that you should go see to take a tour of my worlds.

TONIGHT

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION

135 North Grand Ave. Los Angeles, CA 90012

Grupo Corpo

Friday & Saturday, January 28th, 29th 7:30 PM; Sunday 3 pm; tickets begin at $25

This company is crazy mad fresh. Intensely athletic and daring, they bring that Brazilian resolve to celebrate eros in our lives no matter what. Go check them. I'll be there tonight.

BILTMORE HOTEL

International Association of Blacks in Dance

The conference continues with master classes being offered across the day and a few showcases. Those of you on the ball have laready made your reservation for a few auditions. I do not have the sense that LA is really making a good show of itself here. Lula Washingto, though fierce, can only represent so much. But this association is fundamentally NOT about African-descended dance, just black people who dance The Dance. Still the ferocity of the performances will leave you feeling both blessed to have witnessed and inadequate in your own endeavors. Get a day pass.

HIGHWAYS

1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA, 90404

Los Angeles Poverty Department presents... State of Incarceration

Fridays & Saturdays, January 28, 29 & February 5, 6 8:30 PM; online tickets $15/$20

My Face Book feed was practically aflame last night with people urging folks to go and see this remarkable show. The Los Angeles Poverty Department brings it HARD, every time. Collaborative, community pieces, they make work of the work of living. This installment takes you into the world of the incarcerated. They get the MORE COWBELL AWARD this week. Get there. You have two weekends, but don't bank on easy tickets. BUY NOW.

coming up

CHINESE CHAMBER OF COMMERCE OF LOS ANGELES

Broadway & Hill, Chinatown, Los Angeles, CA

112th Golden Dragon Parade & Festival; route map

Saturday, February 5th, 1PM Parade; additional Festivities on Sunday February 6th.

Whew! The year for me is finally over! That's right, I follow the lunar calendar, babee! But it gets kinda confusing because February will be FULL of various Asian Lunar New Years. When I lived in Oakland, I just stayed in the street and in red for all of February--when I was not a Black History Month event! If you have never been, GO! This is amazing fun. You can do it on the cheap, or you can roll out your own red carpet and buy yourself confetti cannons, horns, bells, ribbons and other assorted party makers. The have a food court, but be adventurous and go into one of the shops. When you need a break, the LA Public Library China Town Branch is perfect! Put some money in a red envelope and say your wishes for The Year of the Metal Rabbit and put it in the mouth of a dragon. If you are really lucky, ACTA artist Chris Low will be dancing your chosen dragon in the Los Angeles’ Awakened Blessing Lion Dance Troupe.

GETTY VILLA

17985 Pacific Coast Highway, Pacific Palisades, California 90272

Poor Dog Group presents a work in progress, Satyr Atlas

Friday, February 4th, 8 PM; $7 tickets online

I already have my ticket for this! And likely, the show is already sold out. But go check. If you have never seen these weirdos do their thing, you might be happy, but it is likely that you have missed something. Reminiscent of the Monty Python stew of oddballs, scatology and jump cuts, Poor Dog Group keeps you on the edge of your seat because you just can't believe you are even still sitting. Interpret that as you will. I love them and well, I might be a frenemy! But they are a local DIY troupe that is not afraid to drop their pants to see what will happen performing at the Villa and dammit, that deserves to be celebrated!

get ready for

Feb 12th: Contra -Tiempo Gala Fundraiser! Tickets are already on sale now!

Feb 18th: Fourth Annual Pasadena Dance Festival, presented by Lineage Dance. Newly on my radar! Looks exciting with Mark Morris featured. Tickets on sale already!

THE UNKNOWN THEATER

Nope! Not quite yet, but Chris Covics, director of this infamous performance space wrote me a fantastic response describing what the production team for this space is up to. If you didn't know, or have never heard of them, The Unknown Theater was a great stage space with only a 75 seat house in the theater district in Hollywood, next to the comedy clubs around Seward. Well, they were tossed out on their ear, but have regrouped and are putting together a September multidisciplinary show (as they are wont to do) which sounds like the bees knees. Stay alert for this production. As far as getting another great dance stage back in action, they are taking their time finding the sweet spot. If you know of one, their website is still up and they do respond to inquiries.

ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

This Pasadena Dance Festival (Feb 17 -19) is looking like a real inclusive winner. Check out their line up of workshops on their website.

In Oakland, Conceição Damaçeno hosts a Iemanjá Festival! Very exciting. February 12th. Look for an AFRO ALERT with the details.

Many dance camps have announced themselves for the summer season, but the majestic Congolese Drum & Dance Camp is about to kick off in MAUI on Feb 25th - March 5th. Get yourself there.

Then save up some cash for Camp Fareta. Right now is the time to get on the volunteer list, which will get you a reduction in registration fees. July 10-16, 2011, at their usual beautiful location in central California! Led of course by Youssouf Koumbassa.

Baker & Tarpanga will be taking another group to Burkina Faso this summer August 7 - 11. Flyer available on the bottom of their homepage.

Makeda Thomas of Roots & Wings has announced her Dance & Performance Institute in Port of Spain Trinidad. This one has an application deadline of April 11, so get crackin! Looks rather amazing.

Viver Brasil has been blessing us with special workshops by their new Brazilian company members, so much so that you might have forgotten that you can go with them to Brasil in August. Their trip is August. Expect AFRO ALERTS on upcoming visiting artists.

Lovely!

Oh my dears, my fingers are going numb with all the good news! There are some incredible changes ahead for all of us dance artists, why wait for them to happen? Get into the front of the line of this shift happening in Tunisia, Egypt, Jordan, Yemen. Solidarity marches by youth the world over have begun. It would be wonderful to exert some of your craftiness and love for beauty to ensure that when the feet stop kicking up dust, the paradigm would have shifted. No more revolutions--they just dump you back on a different place on the wheel. Let's get fractal, like the roots of a tree, like patterns of star dust.

in love,

-Anna

Which Word is Easier to Read?

2011-01-28T15:50:00.001-08:00

Yummy

People

Dance

Better

Every

Time

Let me know in the response box below.

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETTER: pas de cat

2011-01-27T18:00:00.001-08:00

AFRONAUTS! First off, PAPA DOC?!?! I had to say that, just like that. Yes, Papa Doc Duvalier got somebody in France to let him on a plane so he could rush home to his, ahem, beloved Haiti and do...what exactly? Who had the brilliant idea to let this man back on the island? And during the one year anniversary of the earthquake no less. Makin my heart hurt. He is allegedly under arrest for some money thang, but Aristide remains in exile in South Africa which kinda makes you wonder if some bureaucrat somewhere has a formula to determine when a former exiled ruler gets to go home and under what circumstances. I know many of you have been working to help out Haiti through your art. I especially want to give a More Cow Bell Award to Maia and Congo Square West for their innovative use of their artistic gifts to assist in the recovery of Haiti. It is disheartening to see so little progress in clearing the ruble, and alarming that UN aid workers brought cholera onto the island. Please don't give up hope. This is one of those moments where we cannot let talk radio feedback loops distract us from true progress and healing. Yeah, Tea Bagging Republicans voted to roll back the Health Care Reform, but what a symbolic waste of time while our pledged aid dollars and people power are not getting to Haiti, while our own schools are shortening the instructional year and using consumeristic hoarding tendencies to raise funds. I could go on and on about the fact that the Tea Party is a DISTRACTION and a FABRICATION of the Koch Brothers. But since the brothers Koch have a very strong mesmer and a few Supreme Court Justices partying with them out in the desert while they establish "think tanks" to force the rest of us to do things like compete for every little thing, including surgery apparently, they cannot be ignored any more than a Duvalier in a motorcade in Port-au-Prince. Instead, I want to cajole, instigate, badger,okay, I'll even ask those of you who are convinced you can't make that new piece cause you didn't get that grant, or didn't get into the show, or can't make your art because you have no space, those of you who reside, either occasionally or permanently in the land of Yeahbut to rehearse in parking lots and parks, make work for intersections, corners, roundabouts, and bus stops. Please do this to reclaim the Commons. When asked what you are doing feel free to talk about just about anything at all, but talk, engage. Be prepared! Have your facts straight, but make that art, make that connection, generate some public space.

BLOWIN BACK DA FRO are calls for security in the schools when what we need is humanity and last time I heard, that is generated by belonging to something greater than one's self, like, say, a dance company, a theater club, a woodworking crew. You get my drift. This week we got some surprises headed our way and a few repeat

FELA! continues to screen live from London in movie theaters near you! For only $20!

International Association of Blacks in Dance come to LA for their annual meeting, hosted by Lula Washington Dance Theater. A la carte tickets are available for master classes at $20 each; conference day rate is $150. There are likely some spaces left!

Check for AFRO ALERTS since there are many things just popping up left and right. Not worth it to aggregate in one big list, Gotta pick out da 'Fro each time! Got an alert? Send a notice to [editor] at afrological dot com.

ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOP

Drum and Dance report: well, my preliminry findings suggest that racism can be a mutha when you're trying to make money giving a traditional dance class! So can faux authenticity. Bottom line, it is time to innovate! So far, innovation is being expressed in classes like Katí Hernandez's Afro-Cuban (Universal Dance Design in Mid City) by combining special workshops on focused repertoire and bringing in master teachers to share her class while offering opportunity to top students to gig with her. Oh, and it helps that she is a loving fireball on the floor. In Venice, Dani Lunn gives you a chance to dance to a live band that is playing with you in her 7:30 PM samba funk class (Electric Lodge). Viver Brasil is turing up the heat for all of February to get you ready for Big Fatty, a Santa Monica based Mardi Gras/Carnaval. Go to their Tuesday night, 8 PM, class (Dance Arts Academy) with Badaró and you will learn a Muzenza choreography for performance! I am in talks with Barron Lightner and Fatou Diouf to celebrate the Year of People of African Descent in high style, but until then, you can check out Barron's Monday 8 PM night Guinea class in Torrance (Hype Studios) and get yourself a drum over at DEUNEU, Fatou's new spot in Leimert Park. Or, if you are in the mood to connect in a Senegalese funk, take my Monday night class in Venice (Studio Moon).

LOVELY!

So this is a post from my personal wayback machine ;-> Definitely keep your eyes open for AFRO ALERTS. And look forward to a few series on arts and politics. I hope to read your comments soon.

in love,

-Anna

Admission to MOCA: A discussion with The Phantom Street Artist

2011-01-19T08:00:00.001-08:00

At the end of last year, Italian street artist Blu had a mural censored by the very person who had comissioned it; Jeffrey Deitch, director at MOCA. There was a significant amount of back and forth about whether or not it was censorship or a curatorial move in the global art scene press. Now we find ourselves requiring better understanding of just what it means when we say "street art," exhibition," "curatorial decision," "censorship."

This week on the Afrological Investigation News Feed we have few streams going: one on drum and dance sites; one on dance and competition; one on reality TV and LAUSD green space; and yet another on public art performance and exhibition. These all interconnect, usually somewhere downtown on Hope or Flower, but also through a number of the aforementioned terms. We shall see.

Take a listen to my unedited discussion with the Phantom. He and other street artists--all of whom, interestingly enough, were not slated to be in the Street Art MOCA show--launched protests of support for Blu's work that are ongoing. He contacted me just as I was reading the press release outlining Shepard Fairey's resolution with AP Newswire over the Obama HOPE photo appropriation. The Phantom has a lot to say about that, too. Stay tuned for more of these talks. We are just getting started.

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Listen on posterous

AFRO ALERT: The Biotechnic Opera ((lecture series, Novum, biotech, futurism, Fallen Fruit, Avenue 50 Studio))

2011-01-18T13:07:00.001-08:00

Kingdom Day Festival

2011-01-18T12:55:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on posterous

Kingdom Day Parade 2011

2011-01-18T12:47:00.001-08:00

See the full gallery on posterous

Wrap up with Mud Baron

2011-01-18T11:32:00.001-08:00

Hear the final, chaotic part of my encounter with the man of mud. I like this guy. It is so rare to meet someone on a mission, clearly on that mission, and having a great time doing it. The Mud Baron gets the More Cowbell award this week!

Download now or listen on posterous

Butterflies with Baron.amr (508 KB)

Makin boxes

2011-01-17T13:02:00.001-08:00

Download now or listen on posterous

part 2 with Mud Baron.amr (580 KB)

Need more people ovah here.

Building boxes at 28th St. Elementary

2011-01-17T13:00:00.001-08:00

Download now or listen on posterous

building with Mud Baron.amr (585 KB)

Stanford Elementary School Pop-up Garden

2011-01-17T11:24:00.001-08:00

I came to plant and found a DEEP story. The Jamie Oliver Show wreaks a bit if havoc on the greening programs of LAUSD.

See and download the full gallery on posterous

AFRO ALERT: be GOOD and green for MLK

2011-01-16T14:33:00.001-08:00

AFRONAUTS! Yes, the Kingdom Come Parade is tomorrow, Monday, January 17th, HOWEVER, if you would like to participate in the National Day of Service, one of First Lady MIchelle Obama's many initiatives, then I suggest you pull some fractal math and instead of hoeing a long row while keeping your eye on the prize and hoping the chariot swings low to take you to the promised land down by the river, get yourself to the 28th Street Elementary School in downtown LA to help plant their modular garden that GOOD folks installed on Friday, January 15th.

This is an exciting, useful, and energizing way to spend MLK Day. It is also a great example of the type of work that we are being called to do in this millennium: super smart, very creative, humble, effective, entertaining, self-sustaining, collaborative and communal. GOOD and LAUSD have more of these in the pipeline, so get on the one y'all!

8 a.m. to 3 p.m.
28th Street Elementary School
2807 Stanford Avenue, Los Angeles, 90011

View Larger Map

See you tomorrow.

ps: there are MANY other opportunities to work tomorrow, wherever you are. Use the locator to find a project for you to honor the Dream....

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings

2011-01-14T23:14:00.001-08:00

Hey beautiful Afronauts! I got some calls and emails asking me to let y'all know about some marvelous goings on that just never got the PR thang together, but would love an audience and/or participants. And then of course I got some calls about a dinner event I am helping to organize and had to handle that, then what?! The kids are hungry and oh my goodness my Kongo class is in 45 minutes, but listen! There is a dance festival cum fundraiser for Chester Whitmore, a phenomenal tap dancer. http://www.atlantajazzdance.org/images/chester-slideshow.jpg He is presenting/producing a show, "The History of Black Dance in America" on Feb 12. The word from the Crier is that it is a big production but on 1/15/2011, (that would be tomorrow, Saturday) they are doing a fundraiser for it. THERE WILL BE DANCING ALL DAY LONG!

Here are the details we could pull together for you fanatics:

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Vermont Square United Methodist Church Community Center

4410 S. Budlong, LA, CA

View Larger Map

First class is at 12:15 PM and will be taught by the legendary

Nzinga Camara, price is $12

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Tap

Line Dancing

and much more!

and, now, Mr. Whitmore in action:

And just in case you did not hear, Swing Brazil will perform a the California African American Museum, 39th & Figueroa in LA, on Sunday, January 16, 2011 at 3 PM as part of the Martin Luther King Jr. Celebration program. The full program begins at 1 PM. Lula Washington's dance school will be in the house, too. Those kids are FIERCE!

Though there will be parades all over So Cal, The Kingdom Come Parade will likely be the largest. The sad truth about all this celebrating/reminiscing and dream having/deferring, black people have been disappearing from Los Angeles since the last millennium, down to 9% of the population. And perhaps, numerically speaking, there has not been a true exodus, rather a ballooning of other populations, while black folks headed east to San Bernadino or South to Atlanta. Now theres a story!

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETER: doin the swim

2011-01-10T18:10:00.001-08:00

AFRONAUTS! You have probably noticed a very weird series of entries from my other blog on No Impact Day. Try as I may, I cannot get the glitch worked out that is sending you that link: it's not in the feedblitz! However, since you have been getting it, I hope you take some time to check out at least the podcasts as I struggle through an attempt at a "carbon cleanse." Yes, delving deeply into our daily environmental impact is vitally important for us dance artists. Those of you who are true independent contractors and handle your business well can tell me exactly how many miles you clock behind the wheel each week, getting from one class to the next, one audition to a workshop, and on and on. Have you ever thought that this might not be the most sustainable way to live? Other than the fact that you likely have a very thin margin for error (especially this week with gas prices approaching $3.50), perhaps all your kvetching about not having enough time to make new work has more to do with your cabon impact than your time mismanagement. What if you set out to accept work that was only on major bus lines or what if you formed a car pool...okay, I hear you laughing. As an INDEPENDENT contractor, you have no set schedule really, and when you do--think adjunct faculty--you are expected to show up by yourself, unless you carpool with someone in another department (drama). That was exactly my response to the leaders of this week: yeah, if I were in NYC, I would have an easier go at getting around low impact stylee! But I would have a terrible time eating locally, or saving fuel on heating. We have our benefits to the rat race out here. But really, what if we decided not to race? not to compete? What if we formed cooperatives? What would we cooperate on? What are some of the major issues around sustainability affecting dance and performance artists in LA? Today I am reducing my water consumption but I wound up thinking about my conflict mineral consumption because I was thinking about all those birds and fish and crab dying off, in unison: creepy choreography! Choreography, cultural choreo started the whole thought line. I wanted to spend a week checking out "traditional drum and dance" classes. These choreographies are based on/ describe and analyze the environment in which they emerge. Each dying animal is a bit of choreo gone missing. Each major die-off is likely a direct result of our carbon and water footprints. We are killing the dance for many around the world (ourselves included) and setting terms for the global get down that are just outrageous. Time for a dance of disruption.

Robokop - We move at midnight preview ( FORTHCOMING ON MWM recordings) by Robokop

BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO this week, other than the amount of trash my food is packed in (really, think about it) is the monster dance extravaganza, The A.W.A.R.D. Show and the fact that African Dance is somehow more commercially viable than po-mo and experimental dance thus, forever insuring that it ("African" Dance) is never quite considered an "art" form by ahem, certain sectors *cough*NEA *cough*. Conflict kinesiology? Okay, on the positive? AFRO PICK and the MORE COW BELL AWARD are going to the DCA & The REDCAT, respectively.

MORE COW BELL

THE REDCAT! don't stop get it get it! With the Unknown Theater closed, there is currently no place else developing adventurous dance-based arts in. If I'm lyin', misinformed, or that ticks you off, holla! Just be forewarned, I am serious about that "adventurous" part, and if the dance floor is only reserved for you and your students, then "it don't count."

AFRO PICK

Okay, now, The Department of Cultural Affairs doth obfucate, placate and otherwise delve into the art of prestidigitation, but y'all, they are the Monty Python knight of city departments! "Chop off me arm, that's just a flesh wound! I'll switch my grip! No arm? I'll kick you to death!" They are still there, sending out calls for participation and applications, and awarding grants and pulling down big national ones for themselves. Now if we could just get them some help getting the Controller's office to CUT them checks in 10 - 14 days, things would be nice.

on to the listings, finally!

CHINESE MANN THEATER

6925 Hollywood Boulevard, Hollywood CA

National Theatre Live presents FELA!, the film of the show, Live from London

Thursday, January 13, 2011, 7 PM, tickets are $20 only available online

I am not making this up. Too bad it conflicts with one of the nights of The A.W.A.R.D. Show. Fela! is coming to LA at the end of this year, live, but this film is supposed to be incredible. But no worries! There are several other So. Cal showings, but make your plans with a quickness! Just because the LA Times did not advertise this does not mean the Examiner dropped the ball. Thanks to Selimah for the tip! BLOWOUT COMB!

REDCAT

631 West Second Street, Los Angeles, CA 90012

The A.W.A.R.D. Show!

January 13 - 17, all shows at 8:30 except Sunday the 17th at 7 pm, different program each night; $18, no festival package.

Well, it is finally here, and of course, there are some tough choices to be made for some of us with many fingers in lots of different flavored pies. Geez, my gurls are on night one and three, but all the evenings offer something worth your while. The dance Ninja, Meg Wolf, is on night 3. BLOWOUT COMB!

check back for some updates...

ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Well, I am still looking for more folks to respond to my questionnaire--even if you KNOW that I know about your class. I am up to something BIG, hehehe! This week two new West side classes launch and I have a spotlight.

Crenshaw Yoga & Dance, 5426 Crenshaw Boulevard Los Angeles, CA 90043-2408 great studio, chill vibe, and an awesome place to have a dance-centered event! I've been here once before for just such an occasion and finally got a chance to take a class, my feature. BABACAR N'Daiye. Sundays 3 - 4:30 PM, $15, live percussion. There is finally a seriously profesisonal level West African dance class in LA. For those of us who are older and former company members of Les Ballets African inspired companies, we mostly have been dancing for the fun of it, challenging ourselves to keep the choreographies alive in our muscles. Well, now there is a teacher able to challenge us with new choreography, too. This is NOT a beginner's class. Babacar is rhythmically challenging, even for those who know the repertoire. His funk works your junk. I highly recommend you arrive early and loosen your neck and shoulders on your own.

Burlesque Ballet, MECCA Vazie is back! And this time her inimitable class is down in Crenshaw. Check out this Collage Dance member's work. She's fierce. I am not sure if she is still runnning movement movement, but make sure you get a chance to see her perform: exquisite.

Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Avenue, CA 90291-3734 has just added Economic Dance Relief, a workshop with ALEXANDRIA Yalj, another new class for the dance professional! January 15th, 2:30 - 4:30 PM. This one is for the hardcore modern dancers who are looking to be ready for the next pick-up company gig. Working through Limon, Horton, Cunningham, Graham, and Simonson techniques, Yalj has created an energetic style that will get you up, out and ready to book. Only $12.

Ongoing at the Lodge, DANI Lund gives a wild samba funk class to live arkestra (I'm not kidding) Wednesdays, 7:30 PM, $15. KIMBERLY Miguel Mullen gives her oriccha-inspired Afro-Caribe class on Saturdays at 10:30 AM, $20. Sundays, VITA Vierra brings the axê of Afro-Brazilian drum and dance at 12:30 PM, $15.

InFocus Wellness Institute, 717 Broadway in Santa Monica, CA, just announced LUNGUSU Malonga from Fua dia Congo is in town!!! CONGO IN DA HOUSE! Okay y'all, you must come. get your samba on with Vita, then roll on over and work dem hips some mo! Gusi is second generation fierceness, her father, Malonga, being one of my dance masters. This is HOT! Sunday January 16th @ 3 - 4:30 PM. Call 310-576-2008 to register, cost is $30.

Also at the Institute, Friday nights 7:30 PM, PATRICK Senvosu & ANNA B Scott (that's me) give a wicked Congo class, one hour of hip grooves, smiles and sweat, by donation.

My Soular System Senegalese class continues at Studio Moon in Venice, 1327 1/2 Abbot Kinney, Mondays, 7 PM. The studio door is on the parking lot in back, off Electric Avenue, next to Intelligentsia. Here's my flyer, spread the word and come and dance!

Other spots to check out: Universal Dance Studios, where the maestra throws down a killer Cuban class; Dance Arts Academy, where Bahia and Sabar live and Your Neighborhood Dance Studio, where experimental West African dance thrives. More to come on that one ;->

Please please answer the questionnaire! I am looking for drum and dance classes, no matter the tradition. We have some responses, but need several more to augment the daily feature, yes DAILY!

LOVELY!

So, as I said, I am choosing good. We can get wallow in the muck of political grandstanding and environmental ignorance, or we can accept responsibility and begin to make the necessary changes to have the life we want to live and love. LOVE. LOVE! LOVE! Yes, send your vibes (and letters to your reps) out to end gun violence in the US and the world. Get inspired, not mired. Be the love y'all. See you on the dance floor.

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: cart + wheel

2010-12-31T16:33:00.001-08:00

AFRONAUTS! How you be? Habari Gani? Kuumba, that's what? Today is creativity to take it higher day in that mysterous "holiday" of Kwanzaa, and how fitting that it lands on new Year's Eve! I have been thinking about what I would go and do, and I realized that I am still in love with a New Year's Eve at home setting intentions, clearing the energetic deadwood, and celebrating my best poems ever--my kids. Right about now, however, they are feeling all elegiac as I have both of them cleaning their rooms--disaster! What to say about this final week of 2010? It was telling that Christmas sells were up beyond industry expectations: how else could we force ourselves to ignore the obvious? I am using "we," because even I rolled into the 99cent store and temporarily lost my mind. As Reverend Billy will tell you, we shop too much. We are addicted to shopping. It is our national drug of choice, along with TV consumption. I long ago threw out the TV, but as it invades the smaller screen of my laptop, I am confronted with ever encroaching psychic slop. Cue Parliment Funkadelic!

So we went shopping because of the embarrassment of the Wikileaked cables. Those embarassments are MULTIPLE, large among them is pure and simple mismanagement. How on earth did that many people need access to those files? Why were they never properly archived? Next among them, why are our diplomats so damn snarky? Can't they be nice? And this of course lead to the realization that most of us are not nice in our daily dealings at work either. In fact, if you are "in it to win it" in the small-minded game of office politics, you are NEVER nice, only polite for selfish motivation. Where is that credit card?! Oh wait, I have no card? Okay, I'll just use all the cash from my check I have not received yet! Right. There are the lies told to maintain de facto slavery on the continent of Africa which are revealed in those cables. There are lies to maintain a lot of things, especially the thought, the feeling, the zeitgeist that we are a supreme nation. Kinda clear that ain't true now. Shopping feels like we still have choices (have you been following the debate over an open internet), that we live in a free society (remember those new airport rules), where every one has a chance to make something of themselves (how about that college debt that you can't shake and a degree for a non-existent job), be of service just by clicking a box (remember Haiti) and express themselves without repercussion (have you tried being an artist or gay or both or Latino in Arizona). Keep playing this game if you like. The close of 2010 is turning the wheel AND the cart. If you look just beyond all the crushed, shiny, phony stuff scattered on your metaphorical ground, you will notice a road you have never seen before. Take it. Walk into the second decade of the new millennium daring to take responsibility for your own happiness.

BLOWIN' BACK DA FRO : deadlines! Discounted tickets for an array of items and a few fundraising campaigns are coming to a close at midnight.

Celebrate Dance Festival had a sale on for this extravaganza in Glendale. Here is the link to the regular box office, then use the following info TODAY tog et the discount: 30% off tickets Use promo code: DANCE11 - on line at - the box office or by phone 818-243-2539 don't wait there will not be tickets on Gold Star this year - Promo Expires 12/31/10

LA Idea Project also has a discount going for this brain-food-more-than-you-can-fathom buffet: Check out their website for the link to the discount for the conference on November 5 & 6 and for an upcoming dinner on Jan 15th! I'll be at both. Holla!

The A.W.A.R.D. Show at the REDCAT is close to selling out! Unfortunately, there is no block ticket for each night, so throw fiscal responsibility to the wind (um, or not) and go to all 4 nights. If you are of this world of dance, sorry, your buddies are scattered across all four days, so suck it up and go. Conversely, write a scathing blog ont he role of competition and send it to itch dance journal!

Viver Brasil is needing to stock up on their 100 @ $100 donors before 2010 is gone! DONATE!

LOVELY!

Well, if you have plans that are not really making you feel festive or you have no plans, I have the desire to dance without music, dance to ambient sounds in a parking lot or a park, in my dance whites, in silence, to ring in the New Year. Who wanna ride in this possee?

HAPPY NEW YEAR!!

Get ready for the rest: 1.1.11

The International Year of People of African Descent

BREAKING GLOCAL PERFORMANCE ART NEWS!

2010-12-29T16:21:00.001-08:00

http://www.unitedstatesartists.org/project/cat_lady

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As of 4 PM, Wednesday December 29, 2010, Kristina Wong is only $140 away from meeting her fundraising goal for her first ensemble work, CAT LADY!

She is working super hard over on Face Book making personalized videos for those who donate at the $50 level. I am not kidding. So if you are an FB member, Join the House of Wong. Next follow the link to her page on United States Artists and make a pledge of $50 or more. REMEMBER: when she "tips" your cash will be collected. So only pledge if you've got it cause this woman is going to make her money!

Why fund Ms. Wong? Well she has given us a string of incredibly funny, shocking and thought provoking one woman shows and is now ready to make ensemble work. All of her work has been funded by grant makers we know and love like The Durfee Foundation, The MAP Fund, and probably a few others I can't recall right now. Time is of the essence!

But I will say this: the other reason to support Kristina is because she supports other local artists, wherever she happens to be! From Austin to Miami, to NYC and back to LA, Ms. Wong shares her cheese with the rest of us in the maze.

MAKE YOUR PLEDGE NOW! SUPPORT LOCAL ARTISTS WHO SUPPORT YOU!

OLMEC, exhibit @ LACMA

2010-12-28T19:22:00.001-08:00

All my life I have wanted to visit these heads in Vera Cruz, Mexico, and here two came to LA to visit us. While the descriptions are very timid and often obsfications of the battle for historic realism--many contend that explorers from western Africa arrived long before Columbus--the collection is still fascinating. Go before it does.

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Drum Day Dance & DJ

2010-12-26T17:25:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

Drum Day Give Away

2010-12-26T17:08:00.001-08:00

See and download the full gallery on posterous

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: trippin the light fantastic

2010-12-24T00:31:00.001-08:00

PEACE&TIME, Afronauts! Did you catch the lunar eclipse on the Solstice? Were you able, sustahs, to participate in the "Fill em Up" global chant? Or if in LA, did you see the incredible double rainbow? This week, the sky gave us quite the celestial show. Meanwhile, here in the mud, we kept on rakin'! While Wikileaks threatens to release documents on Bank of America, Don't Ask Don't Tell gets repealed with ultra-right wing Republicans vowing to waste our precious time and tax dollars repealing it first thing, next term. Whaaaat? Under whose authority? Oh, wait, I forgot. Okay. And the Dream Act does not pass, bringing into focus the fact that higher ed, though allegedly the ticket to a better life, has become in the last 5 years a ticket to the poor house. Turns out that the cost of a university education far outstrips the rate of inflation and the rate of wage growth. In fact, the thing that college degree seems to be doing the most is pre-screening potential workers for employers who are actually offering jobs that do not require a college degree. What to make of this? One, expect the bursting of the education bubble. Two, dance artists can tell you how frequently they were told to make sure they got a 4 year degree as something to "fall back on" to now find that they struggle to make their work because they have to pay for that piece of paper, that only got them the right and go get yet another piece of paper! Can I get an amen from the MFAs?! Stay down in the mud, or make that show like the sky did this week--that's the choice presented to artists of all kinds when considering the advanced degree. What would it be to exchange knowledge, like a gift? You give me some childcare, I give you some books to read and talk to you for a while? Well, The Free University of San Francisco is launching, so we will get a chance to see. If you don't want to wait for the results, if you are still feeling the magic of a double rainbow right after a solar eclipse on the solstice, then let's make some magic together.

Afrolicious. Afrologia. Afrodelic. 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

Holidaze are BLOWIN BACK DA FRO this week, with the epic, Emmy nominated LA County Holiday Show making its 51st appearance this year. For the first time, a dance company using African arts will make a presentation. I'm pretty excited because this is the group that I have been working with this Winter. This performance closes out our time together. How's that for the big finish! But if you know me, you know that this is only the beginning. Holla if you want to take your work higher.

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILION

135 N. Grand Avenue, Los Angeles, CA USA 90012

51st Annual L.A. County Holiday Celebration

Friday, December 24th, 3 PM - 6 PM, doors open at 2:30; FREE admission and parking, but wristbands required for entry. Distribution begins at 11:30 AM

Traffic will be a mess, so go metro if you can. From their site:

"Childhood Holiday Memories” is the theme for this year’s Holiday Celebration, broadcast live from the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion on KCET-TV. 24 groups and nearly 800 performers will present music and dance of the season from the many neighborhoods and cultures of Los Angeles.

Yup, everyone has just over 4 minutes, so this is an action packed show. Balle Fette will be on stage at approximately 4:15 PM, performing Goumbe a harvest dance & Simba, the tale of the Lion King with lightening speed and flash of Sabar. Wawwaw! I got to see a flash of Halau O Lilinoe during their tech rehearsal: hotness! So wade through the choral arrangements and wait for the hot dance numbers. Last year Catch Me Bird was in the show and has been featured in replays earlier this month. A wild show, but one that can be good to the local artist!

BARBARA MORRISON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER
4305 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008
Leon Mosley's Drum Day Give Away

http://www.facebook.com/drumdaygiveaway?v=info

Sunday, December 26, 2010, 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm; FREE for those who donate non-perishable food items, or suggested donation is $5.00

"The 4th Annual Drum Day Giveaway in historic Leimert Park Village will be hosted by Leon Mobley, a lion on the djembe, and draws in some of the most notable drummers in the world, to donate their time in support of Mobley’s vision. Leon Mobley and Da Lion will perform along with invited guests such as legends Poncho Sanchez and Paulinho DeCosta. Profile drummers such as Marvin “Smitty” Smith (The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno) Munyungo Jackson (Miles Davis / Stevie Wonder), Kevin Picard (American Idol Band / Tonight Show), Long Beach Drum Crew and Balandugakun Drum Crew will also take the stage and participate in the giveaways. Giving Drums and Performances all day long." BLOW OUT COMB! First day of Kwaanza, too?! Gotta get to Leimert for this. Car pool, parking can get tricky around the park. Bring cash for the numerous street vendors (food, tshirts, jewelry, art) and don't forget your food donation! See you in the drum circle!

ONGOING CLASSES

Just about everyone has canceled for the holidays, but if you are inspired by Balle Fette's performance at the Chandler, you can go and take class with one of the soloist, Babacar N'Daye on Sunday.

Crenshaw Yoga & Dance, 5426 Crenshaw Blvd, Los Angeles, Sunday 3 - 4:30pm

Any one have plans for a holiday blowout of a dance class? Let me know!

LOVELY!

This year is coming to a close with mind-shattering revelations almost daily. Be present when your personal bubble breaks: I hear we humans make pretty good piñatas when we are open to learning the lesson. Be your own rainbow.

In love,

-Anna

LivingHomes

2010-12-16T21:09:00.001-08:00

Sent from my Verizon Wireless Phone

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: hyper extended

2010-12-15T19:29:00.001-08:00

ALô beautifuls! Every so often, I find myself cruising along as a character in some bizarre series of coincidences and interrelated data; that is, after all one of my superpowers that I put to use in my biz. This past week's novella: black women, robots, environmentally based code writers/readers. It got me wondering about the future's past already being right in front of our faces. I marveled at the gorgeous Joyce Guy done as a photo sculpture for a dancing robot named Spins and had my brain twisted by Bina48, a Hansen Robotics android head with the consciousness of a a black woman named Bina downloaded into it. I was struck that I was looking at the relics of my culture for 2075. These two women will be/are a record. It got me wondering about other ways recording culture was or was not happening. The big articles this week on Afrologica have addressed timely events in which the past and present, the right to culturally define what matters, have been tampered with or at least controlled by very few. In Washington, DC, the battle rages over the exhibit Hide/Seek, with the Warhol Foundation announcing it will no longer fund The National Portrait Gallery if a certain video is not returned to the show. Here in LA, Italian street artist Blu had his MOCA-commissioned mural white washed the day after he finished it...by MOCA director Jeffrey Deitch. Have we just had our future truncated, re-routed and coded? Is the future looking back on this moment wondering why all art production must pass a cost-benefit analysis and a community review panel made up of clergy? Are robots hiding Black gestures and dance moves in architecture, awaiting a fleshly body to sense the data score and break it down on a dance floor? Ciphers and cybertecture, zealots and censors, WikiLeaks and sex by surprise..I had to watch V--often art makes much more sense than life, y'all--to get an "ovahstanding." The deal? First they came for..." Well peoples, not only do we have to have each other's artistic backs (regardless of genre), we also need to be honest with ourselves about our responsibility to the archive: a bit more self-awareness, a lot less self-censorship. It is time to bring it in a LARGE way, and if that means several small, networked audiences get to see, then rock it! But don't hold tightly onto your work, that's stingy and throw off our collective rhythm. And make sure you got your back up copies if you're trying to roll with an institution. Dance for the common good, not the common denominator.

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

BLOWING BACK DA 'FRO this week is that eery silence right before the last minute shopping rush. Seriously. Making the 'fro stand on end is the more than 20 regional versions of the Nutcracker being performed this weekend alone. Egad! Paging Pat Payne & Gregory Barnett! I need an intervention!

TONIGHT

Pieter PASD

420 Avenue 33, Unit 10, Lincoln Heights, CA

Performing Process Continuing…

Wednesday, Dec 15, 8:30pm; Admission is FREE and you are welcome to bring drink,food, or free-boutique items to share.

Victoria Marks and Christine Suarez & Laiyle Weisman invite you out to an open floor of performance and discussion of making choreography for and in community. With all three having made recent works that took them out of the studio and to parks and rec centers, the night should be quite interesting.

DIY GALLERY

1549 West Sunset Boulevard

Saturday, December 18 · 8:00pm - 11:00pm, doors at 6 PM; FREE

TINY CREATURES REUNION SHOW

"Final Show for The MOVEMENT movement performed by the mecca v.a, Inez Parra, Shabrena Barnard, Adrian Bayless, and Annie Gimps, puzzle pieces arranged, folks contributed...if you swing by that would be terrific we perform at 830 (dancie move step) and 1030 (sing song jig)"

Movement movement performs as part of the opening for BIG DEAL, curated by Miss Janet Kim. I love watching Mecca dance. If you have not seen her solo work (she can be found often with Collage), go check this out. She teaches a burleasque ballet barre class, too. Yes, you will see the difference! Looking at the line up of artists, musicians, dancers, filmmakers, this is a BLOW OUT COMB!

Cracked Nuts

I love and hate the Nut Cracker. As a good little girl, I swoop and spun out of the theater each year we managed to get to Memphis to go see it for Christmas, by college years I was deep in my Pan African thang and could not be bothered. In Brasil I was hijacked b y Isaura Oliveira and taken to see Quebra Noz! I am still traumatised. This piece remains the quintessential Christmas choreography, so here are some really insane reinterpretations for you to check out if, like me, you have tried, unsuccessfully, to check out of the nut house:

Bob Baker Marionettes

1345 W. First Street, Los Angeles, CA 90026; 213-250-9995

Bob Baker Marionettes presents The Nutcracker

Tuesday - Friday, 10:30 AM; Saturday & Sunday 2:PM Nov 17 - Jan 30, $20, kids under 2 free, likely to sell out…

This man just won't stop, so you should go. Classic hidden LA.

Inner City Arts

720 Kohler Street, Los Angeles, CA 90021

Nutcracker Reloaded

Saturday, December 18, 2:00 PM; $10 http://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/137684

"is an urban retelling of the classic tale. Join the youth of A Place Called Home http://www.apch.org/ and special guest performers as they travel with Naima and the Nutcracker to the Land of Beats where break dancers, krumpers, hip hop dancers, Afro-Brazilian, Asian and Indian dancers entertain. Great for the whole family." GREAT organization, so please support these kids!

coming up!

THE BROAD STAGE

http://www.thebroadstage.com/bodyelectric

Better go get you some tickets for the tiny but mighty dance series at the Broad! 2011 is looking hot. Diavolo kicks it off Jan 21 for a two night run then String Theory rigs the joint on Feb 18th and KCRW hosts the legendary Bill T Jones/Arnie Zane Company on March 18th to close out the series with a night of duets not seen since the 1980s. WARNING: not only are the tickets a tad steep, but the online ticketing interface is terrible. TERRIBLE! Good grief!

ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS

Last week, I chose to leave this section out, but I kinda missed it. I LOVE the idea of a modern dancer checking out a rumba class or an "audience member" deciding to find out just how difficult dancing really is. Here's the thing: I want to hear about some new classes and studios. Yeah, yeah yeah, the DRC has a listing, but this is AFROLOGICA, ain't trying to list everybody and anybody. Tell me about a radical class you take. I mostly cover African-descended dance stylings and experimental dance here, because they tend not to get too much publicity anywhere else. I also want to hear about dance hot spots--places where there are a few studios in close proximity and certain groove is afoot. Here is one:

Venice

Way west, you can find an interesting mix of African-descended dance classes, all at a pretty high level, almost through the week.

Electric Lodge

Kimberly Mullen's Afro-Caribe class has live drumming and a solid anchor in Afro-Cuban oricha dances. Saturdays, 10:30 AM; $20
Dani Lunn throws down a samba funk inspired ballroom dance deconstruction class with a house band and fun fanatics. Wednesdays 7:30; $15
Vida Vierra mashes the sweat out of you on Sunday with a mix of Afro-Brazilian dances from Bahia. Sundays, 12:30 PM; $15

Vera McClendon Davis Cultural Center

Thiane Diouf had a very fun sabar bak class, teaching the basics of this intense Senegalese groove; it might come back. Mondays, 3 PM; $10

Studio Moon

Anna B Scott, according to her students, gives an inspirational Senegalese class, teaching the inside of the dances to live drumming. Mondays 7 PM; $15 (me!)

All of this can be found near the intersection of Electric & California Avenues! Where is your dance hot spot, and what is its vibration?

LOVELY!

I am working to keep myself amused during the holidaze, so hit me up with some of your funniest costume failures. I'll post the more hilarious ones. If you've got video, do send! It's not so much that I need a distraction from all that the world is slinging at us, but that I need a reminder why it is so amazing that we keep doing what we do. Be love y'all!

in love,

-Anna Bee

Dropping Shoe: White Washed Mural in LA

2010-12-14T10:56:00.001-08:00

Some of you may have heard about MOCA in Los Angeles commissioining the Italian street artist Blu to create a mural, then white washing it (literally) for its anti-war, anti-capitalist message. Well, check out the reasoning of the new director of MOCA, Jeffrey Deitch, for his decision, a decision which many are comparing to the removal of the Wojnarowicz video from "Hide/Seek" at the National Portrait Gallery:

"Look at my gallery website — I have supported protest art more than just about any other mainstream gallery in the country," he added. "But as a steward of a public institution, I have to balance a different set of priorities — standing up for artists and also considering the sensitivities of the community."

In the LA Culture Monster interview, Deitch goes on to say that, "there were zero complaints" because he "took care of it right away." Now there are LOTS of complaints because he took care of it right away. Was this a preemptive strike to prove that MOCA merits continued public funding or was it a pure curatorial call?

The removal of this mural was a missed opportunity to have MOCA generate a series of collaborations/actions around the work to discuss the place of the veteran in society. Vic Marks could have performed her latest work, VETERANS, right in front of it with actual veterans. Aimee Allison and Aaron Glantz, former KPFA Morning Show hosts, could have brought their series Winter Soldier 2008 Eyewitness Accounts of the Occupations for a live public reading. I am sure Cornerstone Theater could have made elegant use of such an incredible back drop, not to mention veteran groups themselves having speak outs of various political stripes. The community would likely have benefited from engaging this mural as a catalyst for dialogue.

This all begs the question, are artists not considered part of "the community?"

Breaking National Arts Funding News

2010-12-13T17:11:00.001-08:00

In a move certain to startle curators at public art instituions across the US, The Andy Warhol Foundation issued a statement today saying that it would no longer fund any future exhibits at the National Portrait Gallery. The Foundation provided over $300,000 to the embattled exhibit "Hide/Seek." According to their public statement, the Foundation had attempted through back channels to have David Wojnarowicz’s video, "A Fire in My Belly" reinstated in the show, obviously, to no avail.

What does this move mean?

As considered last week in this blog, an escalation of this situation has the potential to play straight into the hands of the small, rabid corner of the Republican Party that hews to a radical Christian Fundamentalism, one based in such a resolute ignorance of the laws of our nation as to make it possible for Rep Boehner to demand the removal of a video from an exhbit he never attended, a video he never saw, made by an artist he has never heard about, claiming the right to do so using suspicious interpretations of "rights" under the US Constitution. I think it reprehensible that the video was removed, however, removing the possibility of future Warhol Foundation funding to the National Portrait Gallery will severely restrict this adventrous group of curators in their ability to tell the stories of all Americans.

And that's great news for members of "The Family." Now all they have to do is completely tie up allocations to governmental arts agencies by demanding a thorough examination of the recent history of the use of "tax payers' dollars" to drive further wedges between art makers, art lovers, art consumers, art educators, entertainment consumers, entertainment producers...Yes, these are all false constructs, to a certain extent, but these divisions, real or perceived, will take on a new gravitas, playing more significantly in national policy than they have in recent memory.

For an example of the type of strategic trojan horse or "The Play" type moves we as art makers/lovers/funders can expect, one need only to look at a story that YES! Magazine is breaking today about a hidden attack on Social Security in the extension of Bush-era tax cuts. According to the article, the payroll tax break that is to go to the workers directly, in little bity increments mind you, is to be funded from Social Security, not from the General Fund. The article goes on to explain that in a few years when this temporary tax relief approaches expiration, it can be spun as a tax hike while simultaneously used as proof that Social Security is faltering; payments from Social Security to workers will be covered by the General Fund, which will then need to pay more into Social Security because more will come out...and I do hope you are getting the picture.

Essentially, any local clergy member can now hunt out an "offensive" image, show, choreography, declare it a waste of tax payer dollars in these fiscally tight and morally wayward times, and force the hands of local presenters/museums dependent on public dollars. Now more than ever it is important to send congratulatory letters the public artists and venues that move you. A stack of letters from pleased tax payers goes a long way to support the work of the civic art producer/funder/curator. if you have not signed up for your local arts action network, sign up now. If there is not one, start one.

Art production, touring, curating, and exhibiting cannot become the purview of private entities alone. Should that happen, those who need the vitality and inspiraiton that art making brings to life will have significantly decreased access to it. Let's not forget that a cornered art market, in all meanings of the phrase, also provides a DEEP tax shelter for the rich, depriving cities of much needed revenue in order to support things like publicly funded arts-in-the school programs, while giving them the power to shape (or eradicate) local art scenes.

Breaking Local Dance Arts News...

2010-12-13T14:03:00.001-08:00

SHOWBOXLA, the labor of love birthed by Meg Wolfe some 5 years ago just received a grant from the Department of Cultural Affairs!

Follow this link to read a statement from Meg herself: http://ymlp.com/zO6CXq

This is pretty wonderful. Congrats, Meg!

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: putting the foot on the world

2010-12-09T18:59:00.001-08:00

In Portuguese, there is an old expression for traveling: pôr o pes no mundo; literally, put the foot on the world. When I first learned that phrase, I would imagine myself with these giant clown-shoe feet, walking on a tiny globe that spun only because of my stride. There have been moments this past week where I could swear that we are only moving because Julian Assange keeps spinning the globe with his big foot called WikiLeaks. To my mind, this is almost unfortunate. Assange's foot is casting such a large shadow that truly dubious activities--like telecom and rich media properties merging and collaborating to revise copyright laws--that we truly do not know where to look for the real action. Besides, as the Australian top diplomat said today, "the real party responsible for the leaks is the US Government itself for allowing the leak to happen in the first place." We can try an d convince ourselves otherwise, but trying will only get our freedom of expression further limited. This week, artists and innovators need to ask their representatives what is happening with COICA. You see, while WikiLeaks is all gangsta, rollin' deep droppin science and binary bombs in a self-assured, well-cooredinated attack, the US government has practically no coordinated policy that accounts for the rights of the citizenry to self-express through media. We have a very raggedy patchwork quilt while the entertainment industry has a 300 thread count Damaskous cotton duvet. COICA, the latest attempt to make us all safe from pirates on the Internet (instead of the ones on the radio hawking lipo and home refi) will deal dirty with the independent artist. And that's a promise. if ou had any audio stripped from a video hosted somewhere, then you have felt the sting of DMCA. Well in advance of the passage of COICA, Homeland Secutiry (yup) has already taken down 80 sites, without warning, for copyright infringement. Not the foot on the world, but the foot firmly up the backside of due process. Let's hope that it turns out to be foot in the mouth. until then, don't let the chicken livered journalists "WIkiLeak" you into believing that we need great privacy protections and therefore, laws like COICA. We are back in the village: everybody knows your business. Get over it.

Speaking of putting the foot out on the world, BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO for the last several weeks, Los Angeles-based artists tore it up on the East Coast, and got new initiatives going just about wherever they landed. Viver Brasil hit the tour bus in the Mid West & South, as did Contratiempo. Meg Wolfe turned up in Praxis Place in Chicago, run by a former WAC graduate, Celia Bambara. Kristena Wong made Miami fall in love with her. D'Lo is in NY making magazine covers and what not. MKN & Santa Perversa took the road and ended up in the Bay Area building out a network of latina/o adult deliquents with mucho to say. Peter Harris took the Johnson Chronicles to the BIg Apple for a preview of his, well, balls. Victoria Marks had her work with veterans aired nationally on the Tavis Smiley Show. Meanwhile Raphael Xavier damn near lives on the road between here and Mexico and here and Brasil and here and Philly--he is a frequent flyer program unto himself. Y'all are doin it to it! Locally Balandugu Kan announced its drum school and institute slated for a July 2011 opening and Balle Fette jumped into a new building in Leimert Park, setting up an array of small businesses like presto change-o! If you see smoke around Leimert Park, it is not a building on fire, but minds blazin out a new reality. SHAZAAM! WIth the holydaze upon us, there are a surprising number of things to do that are not chriskwanuuka related.

TONIGHT

LOS ANGELES CENTRAL LIBRARY

Mark Taper Auditorium, 630 W. Fifth Street, Los Angeles, CA 90071

Thursday, December 9, 2010; doors 7:30; Conversation 8:PM; Concert 9:30 PM; $15 SOLD OUT/ Concert only $5 at the door SPACE STILL AVAILABLE

This is Your LIbrary..Your Library After Hours

Good googa mooga, this is sold out, but for $5 you can catch the concert of the Holloys. But you know, Afrologica is/was interested in this for the very eclectic mix of folks/activities--conversation about food, music, culture in el Lay, stuff white people like, and food trucks--and all at the library downtown no less! BLOWOUT COMB but if you ain't headed there already, you missed it!

THIS WEEKEND

DIAVALO STUDIO SPACE

616 Moulton St, Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, December 11; 4 - 6 PM and again at 8 - 10 PM; tickets $15 - $20

Catalyst 2010 presented by Los Angeles Movement Arts

"An evening of interdisciplinary performances inducing sensuous experiences to wet your appetite for the imagined, the recollected, and the unexplored side of our 'self.'"

The Diavolo Studio Space is magical and holds numerous memories for the LA experimental dance scene. This evening's events will no doubt add to the scrapbook. Working under the theme of necessity is the mother of invention, 7 choreographers make work through/with the art of 9 artists working various mediums, the dance artists will push themselves to create a work, since, well, they sold tickets and you will be there! Featuring Jim Tsou, Nguyen Nguyen, Nichol Mason, Michelle Shiu-Lin Lai, Heyward Bracey, Lindsay Ducos, Sara Silkin, in collaboration with the following artists and their respective forms -Humberto Howard | Visual Art | www.ultradesigncompany.com, Stella Chong | Visual Art, Bonnie Jiang | Culinary Art, Celeste Kim | Music, Stephanie Bates | Visual Art, Kio Griffith |Cooking & Live Video, Lyman Pon | Video, Charlie Liu | Video, Da Xu | "Whatever works"

LA FONDA RESTAURANT & LOUNGE

2501 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA

Saturday, December 11, 9 PM until 2 AM; $10 at the door

L'Esprit Afrique @ La Boa

Alright now. Yes. It is a "floor show," but as Gregory Barnett can testify, sometimes that is the hottest thang around. If you have not seen The Spirit in action, then take yourself and some friends out to get you some Emeka. Brother can throw DOWN. You want some rumba? Check. You want some samba? Check. You want some Manjani? Check. You want call and response? Check and Check. You want a duet with the lead dancer on stage? CHECK. No joke, get there. AFRO HALO with da pick still in it!

MILKBAR in the Old Sunshine Biscuit Factory

81st and San Leandro, Oakland, CA

Saturday & Sunday, December 11 and 12, 1 PM; $10 - $25 donation online or at the door

The Gutsy Series #1: Brunch Bites and Food-Inspired Choreography

"BreadnButter is getting in one final performance this year so if you have yet to see EGGS, this is the moment!" If you are in the Bay Area, this show will be pretty amazing

MALONGA CASQUELORDE CENTER for the ARTS

1428 Alice Street, Oakland, CA
Saturday, december 11 - Sunday December 13

MALAKI MATANGA 2010

Fua dia Congo, part of my Oakland Family, has its annual homecoming and is hosting a bevvy of local dance goodness. It would be great if I had one of those teleporters right about now. Yet another wonderful thing to check out in the Oakland Bay Area.

BARBARA MORRISON PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

4305 Degnan Blvd, Los Angeles, CA 90008

Leon Mosley's Drum Day Give Away

http://www.facebook.com/drumdaygiveaway?v=info

December 26, 2010, from 2:00 pm to 8:00 pm at the Barbara Morrison Performing Arts Center, 4305 Degnan Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90008, on the corner of 43rd and Degnan in the historical Leimert Park Village. Admission to the event is free for those who donate non-perishable food items, alternatively suggested donation is $5.00

The 4th Annual Drum Day Giveaway in South Central, L.A. will be hosted by Leon Mobley and draws in some of the most notable drummers in the world, to donate their time in support of the Mobley’s vision. Leon Mobley and Da Lion will perform along with invited guests such as legends Poncho Sanchez and Paulinho DeCosta. Profile drummers such as Marvin “Smitty” Smith (The Tonight Show w/Jay Leno) Munyungo Jackson (Miles Davis / Stevie Wonder), Kevin Picard (American Idol Band / Tonight Show), Long Beach Drum Crew and Balandugakun Drum Crew will also take the stage and participate in the giveaways. Giving Drums and Performances all day long

COMING UP

The A.W.A.R.D. SHOW at the REDCAT, January 13-16! Better get them tickets NOW!

LOVELY!

More to come! Headed out to make some dance! Subbing for the lovely Cari Ann Shim Sham* in Topanga at Yoga Desa!

FUNdamentals systems check

2010-08-16T12:30:00.000-07:00

FUNdamentals systems check

Digital Media and Learning Conference @ UC San Diego

2010-02-18T09:18:00.000-08:00

This is a quick note about a conference where I will perform in a few hours! The MacArthur Foundation is supporting the Digital Media and Learning Hub at UC Irvine to host its first conference on the topic. Registration was closed once they hit the 400 attendee mark! That is great, and yet, kinda terrible, because there does not appear to be a streaming alternative.

Well, I am working on one.

Just for Texterritory, of course. Sheron Wray, performance architect and her co-conspirator Fleeta Siegel are (re)launching the platform tonight, Thursday February 18 @ 8:30 PM. I play a new character for the series, Lily Anna deForce. This is proving to be a rather hard hitting installment to the journey of Grace, a legal secretary just looking for love, via your cell phone suggestions;->

Register your cell phone NOW to participate in the show: TEXT UCI to 72648

To find out more about this SMS-induced performance, please check out
http://www.sheronwray.com and
http://www.texterritory.com

To maybe see a bit of the show remotely, look for my Ustream feed:
http://www.ustream.tv/channel/texterritory-dml

We don't have an extra body yet, so cannot promise that the feed will go live. I think I will get that solved shortly. You can follow the conference feed on Twitter by searching #dml2010.

See you soon, or at least chat/text with you...

FLASH: Ayiti is not lost in Haiti

2010-01-17T14:44:00.000-08:00

I am overflowing right now, like a river too full to know which way to go. Since I happen to be, like you, a pond walking around in semi-permeable sack, I have the potential to make my flood purposeful. Haiti, Ayiti, has been forced from our collective buried trunk of things we treasure yet wish to forget. Yeah, I just said that. Without Haiti, there would be no African Diaspora Dance studio. Katherine Dunham may have well continued to be a ballerina, trying in vain to become a prima in stories that did not reference her. Instead, Ayiti opened its doors to her and took her in, even as she worked a bit to betray it with her US State Department connections. Dance and the Cold War. It feels like another tale, but it is not. This is a tale that we are in the end. And since we citizens of the United States of America are in this tale and have wagged the various dogs that have ravaged the resources of Haiti, we are certain that we must respond to the people who are Ayiti, returning the miraculous energy that they have shared with the world through their magnificent art and dance, and exquisite business skills that were marshaled by France in the 1960s as various Departement d'Outre Mer began to shift into independent nations. Independent. The citizens of Haiti have been independent since 1804, and ruthlessly charged with theft ever since then. Below are lists of ways for you to return some of this ill-gotten cash of ours to a few of its rightful owners. I would love for this to not be a rant steeped in socio-political analysis, but I am flooding with memories of all the times in my lifetime alone (I just turned 40) that Haiti has been abused by the US and international agencies, making it very difficult to even have a government. The earthquake, Aganyu, has awakened us/US from the sleepwalking we do through this hemisphere. We cannot reasonably expect ANY PLACE to have quick, rapid, efficient response to major natural disasters if we are unwilling to prevent perverse, inhumane man-made ones. Those buildings needed repairs. There should not have been one hospital in a city of the size of Port-au-Prince. I know: shoulda coulda woulda. But now that our ponds are sloshing about in our insides, we must seek equilibrium or be undone. Equal. Liberty.

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, act up--you can move mountains, now make it beautiful.

Agape International Spiritual Center has chartered a plane that is leaving tonight to Haiti to take supplies to Hope Hospital. They have a particular need for children-focused supplies, especially baby formula and aspirin. Your packages must be received by 5 PM @ 5700 Buckingham Parkway in Culver City. http://www.USFCH.org for info on hospital. If you are in the area, this is a good one to rally for.

YeleHaiti: Wyclef is under fire, but you know what? His is a great example of micro-financing in a non-traditional format. To be sure, they have to watch their overhead, but his organization is on the ground and many of the more traditional ones are not even there yet. http://www.yele.org/ There is a fund JUST for relief for the earthquake. He is headed back and forth, helping in the rescue efforts with his own hands. It is an easy donation: text YELE to 501501 to give $5.

Medecin Sans Frontieres/Doctors Without Borders: They, too are already on the ground and are waiting for their portable hospital to show up. They also have a specific fund just for the earthquake in Haiti, but if you read carefully, they will also use some of that money for other disasters that are not making the news. I gave to them anyway because they are good at what they do and great with their funds. http://www.doctorswithoutborders.org/news/article.cfm?id=4157&cat=field-news&ref=home-center-relatedlink

Red Cross: It is unclear to me how much space is between them and failed US governmental policies; aid is often used as a diplomatic tool. They have set up specific cell phone initiative as well: text HAITI to 90999 to send $10 to efforts on the island. https://american.redcross.org/site/SPageServer?pagename=ntld_nolnav_text2help

Causes on FaceBook: Causes has set up a special action page that has a few other groups listed. They are selling virtual gifts that you give to friends on FB that become actual items needed on the ground.

Every bit helps, some bits more than others. if you can, consider giving a largish amount to a medical organization and then several small donations via cell phone. Keep track, less you end up giving your bank a couple of gifts in overdraft fees.

If you, too are full to overflowing and want to come be in moving community to release and give thanks for Ayiti, join me in an MLK Holiday dance jam/class, Monday January 18th, 7 PM at Studio Moon, 1327 1/2 Abbot Kinney Blvd, Venice, CA. The door is in the back, next to Intelligentsia Café, in the parking lot which is parallel to Electric Ave. $5 donation. Contract. Release.

I am looking forward to hugging you tomorrow. If you know of other relief efforts, please bring details with you to our gathering. I will have a laptop set up for live donations. And don't forget, the plane is leaving tonight for Haiti, sent by Agape spiritual Community. You have until 5 pm to get your donation up to the Center.

in love,

Anna B

ps: here is an interesting game to teach children about children's lives in Ayiti that i came across in preparing this for you. could we dare to make one that show what life could be like as conditions improve?

AND SOME ACTION

I just got wind of this so this is a blog post with an addendum. the universe shows it knows.
-a
Hi,

Like millions of people around the world I've been shocked by the terrible events in Haiti.

Only now is the true scale of the disaster emerging. Reports now suggest as many as 50,000 people may have died, with hundreds of thousands made homeless.

The work ahead to recover from this tragedy is immense. So here's our goal: $890 million for Haiti. That’s how much Haiti owes to the International Monetary Fund, the Inter-American Development Bank, and a handful of others.

Sign the petition below to ask Haiti's creditors to act quickly and cancel Haiti's debts:

http://one.org/us/actnow/drophaitiandebt/index.html?rc=upgradeaidmailto

As Haiti begins to rebuild we can help by lifting this debt.

Together as ONE we can make a difference!

Thanks!

SCREENCAST: hot dance classes this week

2009-11-29T22:53:00.000-08:00

There are three really hot visitors in town this week! You don't want to miss Nildinha from Ballet Folórico da Bahia with her husband Zé and Babacar N'Diaye from The National Ballet of Senegal.

Looking for the calendar? Go to http://www.afrologic.ning.com. Join up and post your listings directly. Membership is free!

SCREENCAST: post-turkey possibilities

2009-11-28T17:57:00.000-08:00

on the up or back swing?

2009-11-28T17:32:00.000-08:00

Howdy!

DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE DANCE

Let's see what Google AdSense does with that.
Seriously, I'm working my way back to you, baby, with a burning desire to have some help run this site and an assortment of other projects I've got my energy hooks in!

This is not yet an official relaunch nor yet an official job posting, but, um...likely, it will become just that.

I am sinking in a mire of invites to post and stunned that I do not have the Feedburner up and wondering why I have not yet pimped these ads on the site and generally, really missing you all and missing going to and making events. I have been scavenging for amazing tools to get it all done. I think I have the right set now.

I know I have the right T.E.A.M. now.

I think I have turned a corner and am on my way back. or forward.

Aw hell, I've gone fractal and I am so proud of it! You can meet me by getting up on the down stroke.

You can thank Jing, especially since it rhymes with Ning.

Blogger sounds too much like Frogger, and we all know what happens to the frog when he tries to cross the highway. At least those of us over 35 know...

So HELLO!!

Get ready for some fun with Jing, FeedBurner, Posterous, more Twitter action and some art services. Your smart phone will fall madly in love with me and Afrologica.

Now to get there with grace and style:

You wanna get your press out, but you think you should be able to do it yourself and for free, but that is simply not true. I should know, I have spent a good deal of my time editing your invites, correcting your addresses and generally wondering about my sanity. I love you! I love the ARTS! I love community-based fun! For those reasons, I have done your work FOR you, however, I am not seeing an improvement! I am seeing invites and press releases that read like you forgot that you were not jotting a quick note to yourself. I have reformatted date panes because you still have not understood how Google Calendar works. I have thus come to the conclusion, that you could exchange energy with me in the form of cash and really get your press release whipped and ready for prime time! Oh, and learn that an invite is not actually the place for a press release, hint hint. We shall speak more of this, in the mean time, if you are not signed up, please do so!

Hit me with a questions about how I can help you out and put you in touch with other people who can get you WOWED by visiting
http://www.vitavibrare.com

My INSANE editorials will be back, too; perhaps not weekly, but they will be back, bringing you honey loved, mind bending analysis of your day to day. As always, I will continue to strive to center the arts and your body in the flow of "news." You will find clarity and you will find it immediately after and invigorating mind scrub, courtesy of Afrologica.

with deep gratitude and in LOVE,
-Anna

Afrologics: Arts, Analysis & Action

Fourth of July, 2011

We Are Royalty

Learn this for Festival of The Mask

AFRO ALERT: Neighborhood Festivals For Family Fun This Morning!

Leimert Park ArtWalk, May 2011

AFRO ALERT:Gil Scott-Heron Walks On

VISCERA lands the N2 B.O.O.G.I.E. mission at the Van Nuys FlyAway

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 5/23/2011

AFRODESIAC

DANCE ARTS BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS: SAND to screen at Cannes

Ogum has no clothes

Vania Amaral

AFRO ALERT: Pentacle Dance Break NOW

Earth Day Anyway

Obama fans wait on Motor

Afropos #1; Gas and Go No More

Medusa Talking out the side of her neck

Tell your story, Honor your Mask

AFRO ALERT: Dance break!

Spring and 6th

Just off the Metro at Ciclavía

REDCAT on Broadway

AFRO ALERT: AUDITION for 'Bout To Get On

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETER: hope floats

Hatian Class @ Festival of the Mask

Afro on the Road

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 3/5/2011

Searching Beyond Babel: Landscaped Identities in The Marrabenta Solos and A Story at 120 mph

AFRO ALERT: To Dance in LA is Human

AFRO ALERT: From the Office of the Mayor of LA

Cannibal Flower

Feeling A New Order

The Double D Movement

AFRO ALERT: are you funding the end of your democracy?

Time Capsule: Gandy Dancers, Washerwomen & Wisconsin

Lavadeiras de Almenara

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 2/19/2011

Transcendent Man, the film

Party at WAC

The last bit of discussion

The piece sounds like..

Gregory Maqouma at UCLAZ

Americans for the Arts E-Advocacy Center

BREAKING LOCAL SCHOOL GARDENING NEWS

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 3

Finale of the Golden Dragon Parade 2011

New Moments in the Golden Dragon Festival

Golden Dragon Parade 2011 (( Los Angeles, Spring Festival, Chinatown, Chinese New Year))

Happy Chinese New Year

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings 2/4/2011

Friday, February 4th - One show 9:00 pmGeneral - $25 / Student - $15. tickets

Black History Month

Ethnic Heritage Ensemble

VENUE: Musicians Institute Concert Hall

Realistic Magical Negro Action Figures

BREAKING INTERNATIONAL NEWS: Request of Egyptian Dance and Performance Artists ((tags: Egypt, dancers, Karima Mansour, Adham Hafez, HaRaKa Dance, MAAT for Contemporary Dance, SHOWBox, uprising, Mubarak, White House, foreign policy, injured journalist

AFRO ALERT: People of Egypt need you help

Grupo Corpo, after the drive home

Grupo Corpo Thoughts

Grupo Corpo

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETTER: doing the black bottom

Which Word is Easier to Read?

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETTER: pas de cat

Admission to MOCA: A discussion with The Phantom Street Artist

AFRO ALERT: The Biotechnic Opera ((lecture series, Novum, biotech, futurism, Fallen Fruit, Avenue 50 Studio))

Kingdom Day Festival

Kingdom Day Parade 2011

Wrap up with Mud Baron

Makin boxes

Building boxes at 28th St. Elementary

Stanford Elementary School Pop-up Garden

AFRO ALERT: be GOOD and green for MLK

AFRO ALERT: or cp-timed listings

AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETER: doin the swim

AFROLOGICS NEWSLETTER: cart + wheel

BREAKING GLOCAL PERFORMANCE ART NEWS!

OLMEC, exhibit @ LACMA

Drum Day Dance & DJ

Drum Day Give Away

Friday, February 4th - One show 9:00 pm
General - $25 / Student - $15. tickets