AFROLOGICAL NEWSLETER: hope floats

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

Portia Cobb's Hatian Class.amr Listen on Posterous

Afro on the Road

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

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

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

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

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.