NEWSLETTER: shift control

ALAFIA!

Wow and wow. !!!!!!! Alright, y'all I am pretty excited and can't quite put my finger on why. It can't be because of all the layoffs that are occurring. Nope. Nor can it be the announcement that I might be receiving an IOU as a check in March if the California Legislature does not get its act together and make a real budget. Naw. That's not it. Is it that gasoline cost less than $2? Actually, though that makes me grin like the Grinch, it has made my commute double ugly again. So no to the price of gas (though I ain't hatin). Could be the caffeine. Yes, could be that go organic is all I can say! But really, it is not that. Okay, I know it's kinda silly, but I think that it's because I dusted and wet wiped with an awesome organic all purpose cleanser. Under and within the dust were microbial worlds, not only adding a hard to trace almost-an-odor odor, but dampening the holiday spirit. It was a mega wipe down: I moved curtains, wiped blinds, tops of doors, those ornamental ledges on doors and window panes. I got down. A'ight, you know I'm about to go all metaphorical on you and what not, right? So, I realized that I had to apply that same level and approach to "clean and cleared physical spaces" to my egotistical ones. Pull your toes back! It is so superduper easy to have it all looking clean, well organized (or at least properly stacked, you know who you are) and continue to experience that, "sniff sniff, what's that? is that...? wait. what is that?" vibration in your life. The thing about that thin layer of dust is that it begins to create allergic responses. Imagine being allergic to your life cause your ego done gone and got epistemologically mouldy! If you are having a hard time with this particular leap I am making, check it: Blagojevich is Obama's thin coating of dust, giving refuge to a microcosm of greed, corruption and hate. Yes hate (you want me to say disdain, but really a disdain for the public discourse and due process is hate). Now the O got to pull back all the drapes, wipe down the blinds, open them and check to see what is growing on his window sill. And only he can do that; can't delegate that to nobody lest you invite the microcosm straight into your own lungs as tey kick up a lot of dust, pretending to handle the job. Here in LA, it could be that MOCA is having the same moment. The beauty on the hill is in big financial doodoo mostly because of its disdain for reality, but also because the board functioned in a closed world with very little air circulating: mold fiesta! Here's a great Op Ed piece laying out a course of action to get the air breathable, and another article laying down some law about collections. And still, I am excited, giddy, with the freshness of perspective, the possibilities, the shift in the need to control, cause we can maneuver....


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


BLOWIN BACK THE 'FRO this week are changes, transfers and transitions.


TONIGHT
DOWNTOWN ART WALK
Phyllis Stein Art
207 W. 5th Avenue, Los Angeles, CA
Why not start out at Phylis Stein's? Today is her birthday after all! Or was it yesterday? I"m time warping, but this event is for sure tonight, so get down there ad wish that the air were much cleaner so you could live there without courting Asthma. PSA is hosting, A Smorgasbord: A Group Feast with 9 artists works on view and the reception tonight.

PERSHING SQUARE ICE RINK
532 South Olive, Los Angeles, directions
the movement Movement
Thursday, December 11, 8 PM; FREE
Mecca Vazzie Andrews heads out into the world with her new initiative, the movement Movement. Tonight she makes a pass at dancing on ice with live music by Holloy.

METABOLIC STUDIO, directions
1745 N. Spring Street #4, Los Angeles, directions
The Moth, storytelling, tango and drinks
Thursday, December 11, 7 PM; $20
So I was gonna blow this one off, until I saw on Metromix that Joel Smith and Liz Casebldt were dancing in it AND the bards were kinda hot too!?! Um, so, when you put up pretty pdf fliers on Face Book as pictures, just know that it is really difficult and highly unlikely that anyone will be able to see all the details, so please repeat them in the listing. You can always email me any press release for my consideration at afrologic@gmail.com. Whew! SO y'all, go and see my baby dance! This will likely be a very memorable evening causing you to take tomorrow off...

MS. DONUT
1353 Glendale Blvd in Echo Park
Thank Tank 2008: Going Public, presented by arts collective 1830
Friday & Saturday, December 12 & 13 Noon - 5 PM; FREE
Okay I will see you there! This is my kinda roving experiential, unlikely scenarios but we'll believe you anyway type of gig. Since it moves all around, wear great walking shoes, bring your own water and pack a snack and arrive on time! Yes, you are meeting in a donut shop getting the details there no doubt which hopefully includes a map. mecca Vazie will dance in a paddle boat at some point during the afternoon. A city bus will provide the stage for an "instadance." Another attraction is the group Fallen Fruit helping you to get your glean on--free fruit! See you there.

THE BROAD STAGE, directions
1310 11th Street, Santa Monica, CA
Harambee Suite, by Lula Washington Dance Theatre
Saturday, December 13th 7:30 PM; $39/$49/$55/$75
GO SEE THIS SHOW! I saw a preview of the little kids section of the piece and you awill be delighted. Plus you have to see this latest addition to the So. Cal performance venue constellation; swanky!

A+D MUSEUM
5900 Wilshire Blvd, Los Angeles, CA
Artbash
Saturday December 13th, 8 pm - 2 AM; $20 door, $10 Open bar
As if you have not heard, there are lots of parallels with our historical moment and the 1929 stock crash. To drive home the point, and offer sardonic hope, Need Theater and Hollywood Fringe team up to produce a live "museum piece" to just twist the knife in a little bit deeper. Of afrological interest on the bill: Poor Dog Group (they irk me but i can't stop looking, kinda like a car wreck even though you know it's just one lucky fool with a flipped over car, you rejoice) and Original LA Breakers. Others: Anacron • DJ Jedi • DJ Shiro • dj.AnaRoxSicc • Himself • Kruse • Tha Brothaload • Cabeza de Vaca Arcestra • CDN Collective • Gavin Worth • Invertigo Dance Theatre • Kinetic Theory • LA Contemporary Dance Co • Monday Night Tease! • Poor Dog Group • Ryan Harrison • Soup Greens • The Follies Sisters • The Original L.A. Breakers • The Petrojvic Blasting Co • Vox Dance Theatre You can get in for free if you show a copy of Theory of the Leisure Class. I guess Das Capital weighed too much...Get tickets here.

HIGHWAYS, directions
1651 18th Street, Santa Monica, CA 90404
The Nutcracker Suite Electronique
Thursday - Saturday, December 18 - 21 8:30 PM, Sunday 2 PM; $25/$15
Santa Monica Contemporary Ballet teams up with Earthwalk Dance Company. This could be a big mistake, or a delight. I just remember going to see Quebra Noz while in Brasil once and being distraught at the discovery that I was watching the NUtcracker...in Portuguese. WIll this have the same effect? Well, you could at least do a comparison, the Kirov will be in town doing the original. Thus far in my life, The Nutcracker, Sweetie by the San Francisco Mime Co. is by far the best redux of this enduring "classic. So let's see what they got for us at Highways.

DOROTHY CHANDLER PAVILLION, directions
135 N. Grand Avenue, Los ANgeles, CA 90012
The Kirov Ballet presents The Nutcracker
Wednesday - Saturday, December 17th - 20th; 2 pm and 7:30 pm except wed & fri; $30 - $130
If you are one of those ballet freaks that MUST know the casting for each night, you must check the website this week and pray for no more changes! Tickets are likely mostly gone--they went on sale before the big collapse--but see what you can dig up at a broker. I actually hate nutcrakers (creepy toothy soldiers) but love this ballet for its sheer lack of political correctness, even though its the one ballet where the brown girls are guaranteed a chance to be in the front. Oh irony. I'm guessing though, that people in this cast will need to "brown up."


coming up...
Kingsley Iron will blow your mind Jan 8th - 18th, 2009 at the Unknown Theater, get tickets now!
"Street Cred 101" at Highways on January 10th, 11th out hip hop artists bring da noise


"Now, where was that other thingamabob I wanted to see last week?" Check the Archives, search by location or artist, or just re-live the bright moments by reading older entries!



HOLIDAY FAIRS/BAZAARS
THE GOOD SPACE
6824 Melrose Ave, Los Angeles, CA 90038
Volunteer Day & Field Trips & Community Monday
Saturday December 13th @ 9AM - 2PM & Sunday December 14th @ 9 AM- 1 PM, Monday 11:30 AM - 5 PM
GOOD Magazine/Foundation has been in ton for a weeks spreading green, good fun. The Good Space is still open and taking it higher. The things listed above are excellent ways to bring in the holidays, gifting to get. Special RSVP's are required and you have to become a member on the site to RSVP. Saturday will take you to volunteer at Watts House, sponsored by Jet Blue. Sunday the TreePeople take you on a tour 9 AM - 1 PM then artist J. Michael Walker guides an All the Saints of the City of angels 2PM - 6PM. On Monday you can take in new ways to make community and be communal learning to plant and bake. Later in the day the kiddies get to hang out with puppets.

LOCAL ELEMENTARY SCHOOL
Near you! It is likely that your neighborhood elementary school is having a winter fair or art bazaar this weekend. So go and check the fence for the poster and support your local schools!

ABBOT KINNEY WINTER FAIR
Friday, December 12 all day; FREE
Downtown Venice hosts Santa and all his "architectural" elves. Kiddies are the focus so it should be a stroller haven, but the street itself is not closed to traffic. There should be some green Christmas ideas floating around, so check it out if you are here on the West Side.

MICRO- FAIR, FINANCE = MACRO LOVE
Great gift idea/ongoing lovefest/fair: KIVA.org!! In keeping with the "teach a man to fish..." idea, Kiva gives micro loans, mostly to women I might add, to start up their own businesses in the Global South (developing world, as opposed to the decaying world, where we now reside). Your money is invested and you get to follow the progress of the business. This is an awesome way to give a great gift with a little bit of cash that will do a lot of good.

STOP H8TE
Here is a bit of a sneaky "gift:" send a $10 donation to any of the orgnizations working to repeal Proposition 8 and the other anti-gay measures in Florida and Arkansas in the name of famous h8ter or better yet, someone in your family who has shut down communicaiton lines around the issue. Support your cause and elevate the vibe! Jointheimpact.wetpaint.com should have some links.



ONGOING CLASSES AND WORKSHOPS
Don't miss DANCEbank @ Metabolic Studio/FarmLab with Simone Forti on Staurday at 10:30 AM.

Hey, if you have an ongoing class, give me an update please. It's time to do a relisting of all the afrologically stimulating classes in the mix right now.

Speaking of which, got some visitors to town you don't want to misss.
Visitng Kimberly Mullen's class is SILFREDO, former dancer with CUTUMBA BALLET
FOLKLORICO de SANTIAGO de CUBA, and SAN FRANCISCO's modern dance company, ODC. You will find them Saturday @ 10 AM at the Electric Lodge, 1416 Electric Ave. Venice, CA. 90291. $15/class. For more information on SIFLREDO, visit www.silfredolao.com

KATI HERNÁNDEZ, graduate of CUBA's NATIONAL SCHOOL of the ARTS (ENA) in La
Habana begins her month-long series of classes in AFRO CUBAN FOLKLORIC DANCE & YORUBA MOVEMENT @ DEBBIE ALLEN DANCE ACADEMY, 3623 Hayden Ave., Culver City 90232. $15/class. For more info, happykati@hotmail. com.

All class locations can be found on the dance map.


ACTION
Master drummer Abdoulaye Diakite, who resides in Oakland, needs help to get out of the hospital and on his way home to Senegal. He has been in for one month, making phenomenal recovery, but he has a long way to go. If you would like to help me put together a fundraiser here in LA to compliment the one scheduled in Oakland, please contact me (afrologic@gmail.com) and let me know what you can pledge. Wouldn't it be great to have a show of all the African dance companies in town, one piece each with donated space so we could charge on a sliding scale? Find more information on Abdoulaye's status at this update blog. All donations are appreciated and handled by an established and managed fund.
Initiative contact: 510-464-3025 for procurement info or
email: vivaARTS1@yahoo.com
more info concerning Abdoulaye Diakite and associated efforts:
http://abdoulayeupdateweebly.com
Any Ceedo alums out there? There will be a reuion performance for the show at La Peña in January. Contact vivaARts for more info.


LOVELY!
Well, it is the end of the day and I am still glowing with the possibilities! Even though the kiddies are a wee cranky. Every week I continue to be thrilled by the artistic spark, the determination to not give into The Bleak. I hope you can go out to some of these events--I know cash is getting tight right about now--and if you can't afford it, maybe you can create a salon in your home, or put together a block party and invite some fo the artists you have come to know through the newsletter and offer them a bit of cash and some groceries. it's gonna get that deep, so you may as well start practicing on DIY Culture. Here we are, the Obama generation (he is only a few years older than me!) and we THRIVE on putting together the unusual, making friends with enemies, and learning how not to fear because we know: math is power, the world is a big blue marble, you can rock int he school house, and in 123 we can make contact. I know you feel me! Enjoy the full moon on Friday with friends who have the audacity to bring their dreams into reality. Be brilliant and share that smile!

in love,
-Anna

NEWSLETTER: focused reps

Hey hey hey!

Things are toning up and taking shape all over the place. Our once flabby electorate stepped out and found some new muscle, now we got the O. Then our wobbly-kneed civil rights movement figured out how to stand tall and walk the talk. Now we are watching the incoming administration take shape, slack-jawed. It's all a bit surreal, but I think the O is one fancy dancer (have you checked out the Obama Hustle or the Obama Slide, don't sleep), and we will soon come to know him in a way we have always wanted to know a president. (Watch those empty senate seats fill up with Obama supporters and the Hilraisers in the administration tow their new bosses party line, heh heh heh). Or will we? You know, this newsletter is all about the intersection of arts and politics, and though he is bringing much light, the arts, and their cost-saving, job-creating impact are not quite up on the O's list. Like initiating a green economy, this could be a missed opportunity. Any historian of the US Great Depression will tell you all about the WPA Project which not only built infrastructure, but employed hundreds of artists of all types to do a vast array of applied, civic art making. The google-enabled prez-elect is already defragging his netroots to figure out what to do with his private social network of one million. If you used my.barak.com, please respond to the questionnaire and put the arts up there as a human right and economic opportunity. For now, let me advise you to get ALL your car repairs done NOW, cause parts is gonna get scarce in a month or two. It is a great time to finally join that car pool or get that monthly transit pass.


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


BLOWIN' BACK DA FRO right now is a gentle breeze, thankfully, a welcome respite from the soot-filled gusts of last week. Last week was also action packed, and though I looked for stuff to pad the newsletter with (hence this hour), I'm very excited, with afro pick in hand, to recommend these choice events for this weekend.


DIAVOLO DANCE SPACE, directions
616 Moulton, Los Angeles, CA 90031
California Touring Project
Friday and Saturday, November 21 – 22 at 8pm Sunday, November 23 at 6pm
$20 general; $16 student/seniors/dance professionals, advance purchase here. Cash at door
WOOO! This one is stirring up the precious remnants of the dance critics: LA WEEKLY & LA TIMES & FLAVOR PILL all say GO! This is definitely a show that you must see. Casebolt & Smith have put together an intense evening of works that you don't want to miss, especially rare in its generational sweep. Get your tickets and I'll see you there on Saturday night.



GLORIA KAUFMAN DANCE THEATER, directions
120 Westwood Plaza, Los Angeles, CA
Sheetal Gandhi and Krenly Guzman in Concert
Friday & Saturday, November 21 & 22, 8:00 - 9:30 PM;$15/$8; Parking is $9 in Structure 4
This will be a memorable evening as well. Furious refashionings of contemporary and heritage, this program will challenge you to see movement for the luxurious, cross-cultural language it is. I'll see you there tomorrow.


FREUD PLAYHOUSE, UCLA, directions
The Blue Dragon, presented by Robert Lepage/Ex Machina
Wed-Sat, Nov 12-15 at 8pm; Sun, Nov 16 at 7pm; Tue-Fri, Nov 18-21 at 8pm; Sat, Nov 22 at 2 & 8pm; $60/$40/$15 UCLA students
Okay, so for most of this week, I have not felt the urge to put this on the afrologics list, but the work sounds intriguing. Unfortunately, that means I have to figure out how to get there for the matinee on Saturday. From the website:
One of the true visionaries of modern theater, Québécois director, actor and storyteller Robert Lepage creates emotionally vivid and visually enthralling works that ponder the mystery and wonder of life. The Blue Dragon follows the lives of three characters in modern China, including the ambitious young artist Pierre Lamontagne, a character first introduced in Lepage’s 1985 masterpiece The Dragons’ Trilogy. The resulting intersection of their lives and the underlying collision of Eastern and Western, modern and ancient, and establishment and subversive values brings about fundamental changes for each.


SHAKESPEARE FESTIVAL/LA
1238 W. 1st St., Los Angeles, CA 90026 (between Glendale Blvd and the 110 fwy)
For All Time
Oct 30 - Nov 23, 2008, Thursdays - Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 3PM; come early and pay what you can, order on line for $20
The fearless Pat Payne joins Cornerstone Theater on a community production as a thespian--watch out now--to present this highly charged play about violence, incarceration and forgiveness. The play is about to close and has gotten a decent review in the LA Times. Worth the freeway time to go and see how art is a tool for policy change.



CENTER FOR PERFORMANCE STUDIES, UCLA, directions
Royce Hall and The Broad Center, campus map
Actions of Transfer: Women's Performance in the Americas
Thursday - Sunday November 20-23
This conference kicked off on Thursday and will go through Sunday. Packed with some of the more edgy female artists from South and Central America, the conference will also present a number of US scholar-practitioners. Tonight, Friday, go check out "Open_borders: Improvisation Across Networks, Distance, Timezones," coordinated by Adriene Jenik and Charley Ten, this performance is actually a collection of presenters who are waaay off-site. Should be interesting to see! I'm going to scoot over to this in a bit! Bumming that I could not respond to this call for papers when it circulated...But this means that if you are headed up to see Krenly & Sheetal, you should go early enough to see this performance as well, because parking will be awful, not to mention traffic.


"Now, where was that other thingamabob I wanted to see last week?" Check the Archives, search by location or artist, or just re-live the bright moments by reading older entries!


ECHOPLEX
1154 Glendale BLVD, Los Angeles CA 90026
Underground Dance Masters: Final History of a Forgotten Era, film by GS Media Group
November 22, Doors @ 8 PM, all ages; $15
This film will likely shake you up if you think you know hip hop. I've seen a few versions, and Thomas Gùzman-Sanchez is adamant about undoing our reliance on easy, sloppy terms and quickly shifting memory. The last bit has gotten him into a whole bunch of trouble. People have the right to forget; does not necessarily make them liars. That said, his reliance on television variety shows to help set a time line for the evolution of "break dancing" is just sheer genius. The battle for truth still rages on though, so you can expect a lot more films on the topic from a number of "OGs" round the globe. Go check this one out and you will get to see many of the masters in the film, throw down live. Kenny Ortega hosts the jam after the film.

ACTION
Self Help Graphics, an amazing community arts centro in East LA, has been forced into a crisis by their landlord, no surprise there, but it is SHOCKING because their landlord was...the Archdiocese of Los Angeles of the Catholic Church. This is literally insult to injury as the church sold off the building to cover legal expenses from sexual abuse cases that could have been avoided had they not tried to hide unstable and mentally ill priests among the pobre and brown (read, "folks who don't count but who's money we'll take anyway"). BASTA! Here's the link to Self Help Graphics, which houses Home Boys T's among other things. They were not notified of the sale, have been in the spot for 35 years, and now..well aren't we tired of hearing this story in LA? So, donate some funds, go to the holiday sale, and make your voice heard: projects that work, we want to protect. www.myspace.com/selfhelpgraphics



ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
I hope to drop a dispatch a bit later to invite you out to dance with me in a studio! YAY!
DANCEBank is going on a super short break for Turkey Day as is Kinky Stretch at The Open Space. I am still working to have the masterminds behind Funkamentals and Groundcore bring you some classes. Ahem, fellas, done called you out!




LOVELY!
I hope you made it out to LACMA for the Machine Project takeover. We had a blast for the first four hours of the day. Check out their photo feed on Flickr. Also, we made it to the Against H8te rally and protest: yeah! I'm happy to hear the supreme court of California taking up the case so quickly, but please continue to bring the love on this issue. The Holy Daze is upon us right when massive layoffs are predicted and food banks are already running out of food. If you've got a yard, donate the space to a garden effort. If you know someone sitting on an empty lot waiting for the value to go up, convince them to allow a community garden to go in. We must keep ahead of the collapse with open hearts, active minds, and engaged hands. There is precious little city governments will be able to do for us--they are laying off too--so let's put our efforts to good use. Time to meet up. Stay tuned...

in love,
-Anna

ps: today i am transferring the e-mail newsletter to gmail. if you get the newsletter twice, many apologies, but i beleive that only a portion of the list actually gets the newsletter regularly. the new address is afrologic@gmail.com. look out for more reviews and pictures in afrologica.