Admission to MOCA: A discussion with The Phantom Street Artist

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

ACTION: missing summer school in Los Angeles

Peace & Prosperity to you all,

Over on Face Book, I have a Cause up known as Summer Arts Simple & Easy (S.A.S.E). to help facilitate parents and kids finding affordable if not free summer school alternatives in the Los Angeles area. Included in that is also the offer to provide a series of my own and help other artists I know in setting up their own. Hit me up if you are down.

Below is the recent news item I posted in the Cause. There are two other projects that I know of working to fill this summer gap and they can use your PARTICIPATION. I am also urging members of S.A.S.E. to donate $25. If you've got $25 and want to help out, we are right now fundraising for the Boys & Girls Club of Venice. They are maxxed out. More details below. If you are on Face Book, please join the Cause and donate the cash!

1) PAPEL (People's Assembly for Popular Education & Liberation), an alternative summer school set-up by LAUSD teachers and parents launched last week offering classes @ 100 N Toluca St, Los Angeles, CA 90026. Click on their name and you will be taken to their blog. if you live out that way and want to support with a course of your own, please contact them directly.

2) USC has chimed in with an on-line resource for classes. SOS Classroom . They have a site with kids showing up, making use of the computers there. Please check out their site to see how you can help. The curriculum is free and open to everyone and is "crowdsourced." Very exciting.

3) We have a beneficiary! After reading an article in the Argonaut, I decided to call the Boys and Girls Club of Venice to see how we could be of help. In case you have not heard, this one facility alone is currently seeing 400+ kids per DAY due to the cancellation of summer school. Aileen Martinez explained to me the dire situation they are in: 10 student positions were cut due to budget issues prior to the closing, so they are short-handed, while servicing their community at record breaking levels. It is time to raise some funds and if you are out this way, sign up to volunteer. It is simple to give to them. Just click that you want to donate on our Causes page and walk through the steps! It would be great if you could each give $25, but every bit helps.

Now, right after I decided that we should raise funds for an existing organization and offer volunteer support, I got word that 826LA is also struggling under the weight of closed summer school. While Boys & Girls Clubs charge a very modest fee per week for their summer program ($25 - $35 per week), 826LA is free. They need us, too. So here's the deal:

826LA is having their Paddle Boat Regatta next weekend in Echo Park. Fundraising has already begun, but they are over $1000 short of their target. You can help them out by going directly to their website page for the regatta and donating to any team the tickles your fancy. You can also help them at their two sites in LA, here in Venice and in Echo Park by volunteering to help a child with their writing and reading. I will contact them directly to see if they would be up for a movement theatre-based writing project at either site.

There is so much undone here; it boggles the mind. This weekend I finally made it out to the boardwalk only to see a bunch of kids being arrested by a bunch of police. In fact, the police presence has been significantly increased here in Venice, no doubt, in response to the closure of summer school. This is the only response we can expect from the police. They are doing the job they know how to do. Therefore, it is up to all of us who know how to engage kids with excitement, art, and yes, love, to make ourselves available and PARTICIPATE in saving the kids. This is not metaphorical. The five kids I saw getting carted off can vouch for that.

Let's get the membership up on the Cause! Invite your friends and don't be 'shame to ask them for $25 for the Boys & Girls Club of Venice. If you have a B&GC in your neighborhood, ask them if they need help and let us all know. If you are participating in a project that needs volunteers, please post it to the board. It is my hope that we can rotate beneficiaries every two weeks. More than that, it is my hope that you will give a class of your own. Read the recommendations on how to go about that on the Causes page.

be the love and light,
-Anna

NEWSLETTER: get on up and jam y'all

Oi!
Head out to the River or to the Hammer Museum today! Great things await you. In the interim, get yourself ready to give the children of LA a community summer school they will NEVER forget. LAUSD officially canceled summer school for all elementary, middle and some high school kids. Now we can either sit back and await the riots (cause LA Community College canceled its summer classes as well) or we can prepare one or two weeks worth of experience for them. There are parents and educators across the city actively fighting to save classes and teachers, but this summer school thing kinda went under the radar. Rather be caught flat footed, I am working with K.A.I.P.S.(Keep Arts In Public Schools) to create a loosely organized group of folks offering classes for the kids. I've decided to name it S.A.S.E.: Summer Arts Simple & Easy. If you are running a summer program of ANY kind for kids, please consider donating some spots for local kids in your neighborhood who now have limited summer options. More details to come via Causes. I'm just about halfway grading my last class work for a while (wooohooo) and prepping for this great summer school adventure as well as a dancer's soup kitchen (look for your invite). There are festivals to attend and trips to take and kids to send away for the summer (wooooohoooo!) so look out y'all, the wind is rising. Time to get on up.


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



BLOWIN BACK DA 'FRO right now are just two things, well three: river, museum, summer school (not for fools). Actually, throw on one more: dance classes worth every dime (even when they're free)...and PRIDE, cause everybody should get to be proud of who they are. FEEL IT!

THE HAMMER MUSEUM

Billy Wilder Theatre, 10899 Wilshire Blvd., Los Angeles, CA 90024 310-443-7000
DANCE ICONOCLASTS @ Akram Khan, the EMPAC films

TODAY 2:00PM Sunday, June 14th; FREE
Documenting the Creative Process;
Sunday, June 14, 6:00pm; FREE
MUST GO. I've seen the film Nora; it was simply gorgeous and very inspiring. The rest, have to be just as good, otherwise Lynette would not have them on the same bill!


RIO DE LOS ANGELES STATE PARK - BOWTIE PARCEL
entrance at 2800 Casitas Ave, Los Angeles 90039, map
Cornerstone Theater presents, Touch the River
Today, Sunday June 14 - Sunday June 21st, 8 PM; PAY WHAT YOU CAN, reservations required
This is getting RAVE reviews from all print media outlets I have to say that my girl Pat Payne's description of the work (she plays Crow) has me double intrigued. We hope to make it out tonight. Bring some oranges and honey as a gift to the water if you feel so inclined, or donate to the Friends of the LA River. The play runs Wednesdays - Sundays. Last week is next week, so don't be too slow to go. MUST GO. Ora Ye Ye O!



ONGOING CLASSES & WORKSHOPS
Sunday June 14 RIGHT NOW 2 PM: Juan Carlos (Omo Aché Afro-Cuban Dance Co.) will be back to teach two classes covering a variety of Cuban dances. 2:00-3:20 p.m. will focus on Afro-Cuban folklore (Congo & Yoruba traditions) and the second class 3:30-4:50 p.m. will explore the connections between the Cuban popular dance "Son" and it's roots in Rumba. Cost of a single class $15, both classes $25. Arte Flamenco's Center for World Dance, 230 West Main St., Alhambra, CA

Viver Brasil is at the Ford in its J.A.M. Session on Monday, June 15. How this works: get yourself up to the Ford Amphithetre by 6:45 at the latest and at 7 PM Linda Yudin and Badaró are gonna take you higher...for FREE! Don't forget to sign up on their email list. Great stuff!

My wonder twin Arianne Hoffmann has one more weekend of classes in the DANCBank next Saturday 11 AM, Farm Lab +Under Spring, $12. Go get your score on!

Rae Blum is closing out her class at the Dance Arts Academy this Thursday @ 7:30. Go give her some love.

DANCEBank has announced its summer line-up (mostly set, changes possible):
Sat/Sun Aug 1 & 2 Simone Forti
Sat/Sun Aug 8 & 9 Taisha Paggett?
Sat/Sun Aug 15 & 16 Mira Kingsley
Sat/Sun Aug 22 & 23 Sabela Grimes
Sat/Sun Aug 28 & 29 Anna B. Scott
Please come check us out! If you're on Face Book, join the DANCEBank group to be in the loop!

In a few weeks, I'm hosting/leading a marathon West African Dance class at Carol Bristol-Henry's Studio in Compton that I will record for a little bit of research/adventure on the internet. Stay tuned for dates time and location. Fee will be a nominal $5/1.5 hrs. Yes, I did say marathon. ;->

Check the Afrologics Investigation Center Dance Map for locations of classes.

FESTIVALS
Dance CameraWEST is in full effect, as I mentioned above, but there is OH SO MUCH MORE!! Check out their website for all the details.

Gand Performances is rolling it out as usual:
COLA Performing Arts Fellows anchor the month of June. In particular you'll want to check out June 19th, 8:30 PM, with Lionel Popkin, Bruce Bauman & Cheng-Chieh Yu. All events are free and seating is first come first served.


Upcoming...
Oakland and the Bay Area are throwin it down with "Cake in my Face," Rara Tout L'Mwon and Congo Square West boogie to the universal One. Plus, African Dance Camp season has begun with Atlanta delivering a tribute to Ms. Dunham! Viver Brasil takes the stage on July 4 @ The Ford and I am sure I'll find something really h o t for you to go out and do that weekend.


Lovely!
Just hung out at the Ford the last weekend and had a truly lovely time. Not only is it a really unusual space, but it a space dedicated to you! If you are an LA-based arts maker, please consider applying into the Ford's upcoming seasons! I'll have some video posted as soon as my grades are in (help ....me) but they are very informative and you will learn all about a great location. Anatomy Riot #32 was a real hoot! We had a great time. Ari Hoffman is an amazing stage manager, if ever you are looking for someone. We are looking forward to the return of the AR in September. Continue to support your local artists-wherever you may be--because they are likely the folks that are helping make this moment in time worth living through. Don't let go of the arts as divine inspiration. Yes, the arts are incredible social devices/healers/creators, but they are also messages that together we are far more than we ever imagined. It is my hope that you will recall this and join me and others around the city to send a S.A.S.E. into the near future addressed to ourselves full of love, hope, joy and understanding.

in love,
-Anna

ps: follow me on Twitter @doctoradancer for live arts info, updates on my artbiz, Vita Vibrare, and an ongoing flash fiction series, Melanin Patch.

NEWSLETTER: burning sensation

Greetings!
New moon, Mercury soon to go direct and all California's woes could be solved by legalizing the Holy Herb, WOOOO! Now THIS is how you start off the summer! Kids here in LA would also have to agree: summer school was just canceled for elementary and middle schoolers. Holy shitake mushrooms, Batman! Luckily, the summer arts season is upon us and rather than shrink the season in order to support a few large ticket companies, it seems that we will get to revel in local arts and small indie groups from afar! The paradigm is shifting, but you should still call your local reps no matter what state you live in, to make sure that any and all budget adjustments are made with people and social harmony as the center piece, not industry or real estate or finances. When people are taken care of, at least here int he US, we have a tendency to create new business models, industries and financial markets. These tired-ass vampires that are sucking the life out of our here and now must be released into the past if we are to survive for a future. Though fear has of late driven just about every major policy decision in the last 9 years, we can no longer assume that it is normal nor prudent. Only 12% of us registered to vote went out and voted on May 19th in California Special Election. From that paltry showing, Sacramento is claiming that they heard us loud and clear and are now cutting services that will cost us far more than they will save us. Now, why did only 12% turn out and how is it posasible for legislators to know what to cut when folks don't participate? but how can those same legislators claim to know what we want from a paltry 12% showing? If you want them to hear you loud and clear, get involved with the Constitutional Convention, but also give some real thought to legalizing marijuana. The math works, the medicine works, the statistics of crime shift, the possibility for prevention increases, the protection of our national forests is strengthened (yeah y'all, fools is growin weed on massive plots in the woods, armed to the teeth) and several new legitimate industries will be born. Remember, Prohibition preceded the Great Depression. I'm not advocating that we all get high, just that we get real.



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


Highways Performance Space
1651 18th Street @ Olympic, Santa Monica, CA
Oh My Tiger + Ocean/Flight
Friday, May 29 - Saturday May 30 @ 8:30 PM & Sun May 31 @ 7:30 PM



Luckman Fine Arts Complex
5151 State University Drive
Los Angeles, CA 90032-8116
Tribute to Rudy Perez: Premiering "Enough Rope"
Saturday, June 6, 2009, 8:30 pm, $30
Celebrating three decades in Los Angeles and the birthing of 50 different dance works, postmodern master Rudy Perez, who is turning 80, refuses to rest on his laurels. One of the co-founders of New York's experimental Judson Dance Theatre, a coterie of artists who would define boundary-breaking "downtown" aesthetics in 1962, Perez continues to chart an unwavering course where pedestrian moves transcend the mundane to reveal bold, deep ideas.
Buy Tickets: Through Ticketmaster or call the Luckman Box Office at 323.343.6600

A lovely little fragment of a newsletter. Catching the wind to get justice by my side and Anatomy Riot's produced...stay tuned. We are taking flight shortly.
in love,
-Anna

NEWSLETTER: slippin & trippin

OI!
My goodness gracious! We are almost done with 2008! So I "should" put together a list of tops and bottoms for the year. Whoops! Did I say that? I meant "best" and "worst" but as you can likely guess, that is so not my style. Maybe "expansive" and "contractive" (or would that be regressive). Anywhoo, I don't want to do that just cause I got some love from each and every event/performance/museum/gallery opening I went to in 2008. I also learned soooo much! I want to thank each of you for being the teacher when it was your turn. I likely will venture a "10 things I would do if I were _________" list everyday on the blog for the last 10 days of 2008. Item #100: If were sane, I would not make such propositions. But I ain't, so check out the blog to see what I'm up to and post your own lists! Remember my insane analogy of mold, Blogo and Obama? Well it appears that Emmanuel is likely going to have to do that hustle "hisself" to get out of the skank. We shall see. I foresee a bizarre collapse of a good poriton of Obama's cabinet in the early days during appointments, forcing him to look to more liberal minded folks for a hand. With that in mind, who are the frenemies on the Inauguration Committee?! Rick Warren?! Alright, I can tell you exactly who they are and will do so in the action section of the newsletter. You've got some e-mails to send. This is OUR inauguration, not the Democratic Party's. A place at the table?! Maybe they are afriad of all those guns that got purchased right after the O made history? Additonally, the axe has begun to fall locally in LA on the lovely neck of the Arts. Aside from MOCA mucking up its own budget (oooh, I just thought about the Madoff runoff, omigawd), LAUSD just stopped all payments to all arts providers in the schools. Wham. Just like that. Er uh, I thought when you got fired, you got 2 weeks notice? Time to bake some cookies, host a video watchin party, dj for free to raise those funds, or just send some cash directly to your local artist; by the look of things, aside from the dudes sweeping out all the abandoned personal property after foreclosures, the other growth industry is performance art. Check it.

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 this week is the massive potential of the incremental. Check dat! We might very well have to change that phrase "go big or don't go at all." It's more like what Muhammad Ali said "float like a butterfly and sting like a bee," except now, you got to be a whole swarm with a DIY portable cocoon that you slip into ever so often for the costume change. Fractally fabulous.

TONIGHT
THE UNKNOWN THEATER
1110 North Seward Street, Hollywood 90038
Killing Game by Eugene Ionesco, directed & designed by Chris Covics
Fridays and Saturdays at 8PM, Sundays at 6PM CLOSING DECEMBER 21ST; $18 advance, $24 @ the door
If you have not noticed, I've got a big streak of the absurdist a-runnin through my brain. Ionesco is a favorite absurdist, though after 8 years of dubbya capped off with a pair of size ten shoes (still giggling!), will you really think the play all that absurd? All the more reason to go.


MUSEUM OF LATIN AMERICAN ART, directions&info
628 Alamitos AV, Long Beach, CA 90802
En La Noche @ MOLAA
Friday, December 19th 6 - 10 PM
Contra Tiempo is in da house for this, the last event in what looks to have been a hot series. Hopefully this is the last of the year and not, well, ever. Salsa class with CTD, then a DJ Saoco spins Latin grooves and finally the night concludes with a performance by Esprit Afrique. Long Beach aka Strong Beach doin it to ya Afrodiaspora stylee. Now, where did I leave my helicopter?


MACHINE PROJECT
1200 D North Alvarado, Los Angeles, CA 90026, map a location
Poetry Delivery Day
Sunday, December 21, Dawn till Dusk Call the Poetry Hotline (213 448 7668)
This is for all of you folks out in Echo Park/Silver Lake: If you live within a one-mile block of Machine Project Headquarters, you can dial up and have a poem deliverd to your doorstep. Now, I think if you look around on the map link I have provided and find a comfy place in which to hang, you are within your rights to dial up a poem for delivery. I'm just sayin'. That's what I would do if my kids would cooperate. Joshua Beckman and Anthony McCann are your bards to order.


IN THE AFRIVERSE
OAKLAND/BAY AREA
DANCE MISSION THEATRE
3316 24th ST, San Francisco, CA at Mission
AQUI E AGORA & SEMPRE, concept, choreography and direction by Isaura Oliveira
Saturday, December 20th 4 PM; $10 - $15, sliding scale, children are free.
My first instructor in Brazil is pouring honey all over the bay and invites you to come and have a taste. This is the culmination of a month long workshop held at The Dance Brigade's Dance Mission Theater. If you are headed to the Bay, or were looking for a reason to go up, here is a good one.
"This creation vividly evokes the rites of Orisha and Caboclo traditions through dance, theater and music in an experimental Brazilian piece."
-Isaura Oliveira, Artistic Director and Choreographer

coming up...Dance 4 LIfe, Fundraising concert for Djembefolla Abdoulaye Diakite, Jan 21st @ La Peña

NYC
coming up...Alexandria Yalje at JCCM premiering "TOV," Jan 15th


"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!


coming up back in LA area
"Dance As Civic Duty" a lecture series @ UCR organized by yours truly, FREE, Jan - March
Joe Goode's "Wonderboy" Wednesday, Jan 21st @ UCR 8 PM, tickets now
Kingsley Irons' Rupture @ Unknown Theater,Jan 8th- 18th, tix now
Street Cred 101 @ HIGHWAYS Jan 10 -11, tix on sale now
Any One Home - The Reunion Tour at WAC UCLA, Jan 16 -17
Booty LA with R.A.I.D. will be back with commanding performances for all
i.e. Dance is cooking up some all-ages dance fun, stay tuned
Raphael Xavier is bringin b-boy pain and power moves in workshops and shows
Michael Sakamoto will magically appear
Marcus Quiland-Nazario will already be there when he shows, really


ONGOING CLASSES/WORKSHOPS
While the performance community catches its breath before the mamma jamma of all events, New Year's Eve, dancers can rest easy that they can still get a class or two before the year is out.

Linda Yudin has live drummers for the last class of the year at the Dance Garden! Friday @ 6:30 PM, $15

Simone Forti is setting your kinetic kite loose on the wind of language as part of DANCEBank this Saturday @ 10:30 AM, $12
All class locations can be found on the dance map.

In Oakland, Regina Calloway is bringing to a close her month long celebration-fundraiser of/for Abdoulaye Diakite, our master drummer and former co-artistic director of Ceedo Senegalese Dance Company. He is still in the hospital(!), so if you will be in Oakland, go take class at Malonga Casquelorde Center for the Arts @ Alice & 14th Streets, 4:30 - 6 PM on Sun, 21st, $12 with Regina, Renée Puckett & Bontlé Willis, all my Ceedo homegirls! Then Regine Ndounda will give a smokin Congolese class on the 22nd @ 7:30-9 PM, $12. The Kongo class will be drum fire for sure! For updates on Abdoulaye: www.abdoulayeupdate.com



HOLYDAZE FAIRS & BAZAARS
Well...if you ain't got gifts yet, bettah make them little cute cupon booklets like you did in middle school: "this cupon good for one breakfast in bed" etc.
Really, end of year donations have a LOT of power this year. Seek out a beloved performance space/group/artist and make a pledge for a monthly donation of $10 - $15. That's the incremental I was talking about. Or be a badass and give a monthly amount equivalent to the founding year of the company: 1985= 19.85/mo. Get it? You can make these donations in the name of someone you love, or love to try to convince to behave the way you want them to!



ACTION
Now, I know this is rude. I is from da Souf and I does have hometrainin, but you don't let no snake up in yo house an' expect da party to go right. Unnerstan?! With that said, y'all need to call and e-mail the members of the Inauguration Committee and let them know that you think Rick Warren should be asked to step aside as the celebrant of the invocation and in his place...a praise dance piece should go in. If I had ALL my druthers, I would say Rev. Dr. Michael Beckwith should deliver the invocation, but I am biased. Bruh can LIFT IT UP! So the folks:
Sen. Dianne Feinstein
http://feinstein.senate.gov/public/index.cfm?FuseAction=ContactUs.EmailMe

Sen. Harry Reid
http://reid.senate.gov/contact/index.cfm

Sen. Bob Bennett
http://bennett.senate.gov/contact/email_form.cfm

Rep. Nancy Pelosi
http://speaker.house.gov/contact/

Rep. Steny Hoyer
http://hoyer.house.gov/contact/email.asp

Rep. John Boehner
http://johnboehner.house.gov/Contact/

5. Post your letters on the discussion board. Let the whole world know why are you disappointed and outraged!
If you are on Face Book, join: No Rick Warren at Obama Inauguration
Why am I feeling this? Though he is doing much needed work against AIDS/HIV in Africa, he is only there to support "the innocent." This reverberates back in his "holocaust" of abortions. So, to be clear, Rev. Rick Warren is very vocal about his support of Prop 8, by his own admission ignored HIV/AIDS pandemic until the innocent were involved (?!), and does not support a woman's right to choose. Is this the change you voted for?

LAUSD stops payments to artists and art providing organizations.
If the admiral, or whatever his rank was, can get half a million to walk, I KNOW the folks who actually did their jobs can get their checks on time. Call, e-mail, and write to LA Times, Weekly and City Beat.
"Arts for LA has initiated an advocacy campaign urging LAUSD to release the district-wide budget freeze that has halted the delivery of arts education to thousands of students and is crippling arts organizations who provide services as part of the Arts Community Partners Network.

Take Action
Sign the Petition
Get Involved"
Arts for LA is a nonprofit 501(c)(3) arts advocacy organization. Our mission is to foster a healthy environment in which the arts and culture may thrive and be accessible to all in our region.

LOVELY!
My goodness. This past weekend we did a marathon of dance madness. I finally got to meet Mecca Vazie Andrews, YAY! Her paddle boat dance as part of Thank Tank 2008 was most inspiring. Later that evneing I went to check out Lula Washington's show at the Broad in Santa Monica. Fierce dancers as always, but dang it, they were not working with much material. I'm hoping for better repertory shows in the future as Ms. Washington makes space for her in-house choreographers. I wrote a l o n g blog about the experience of the day on Face Book. It will migrate to Afrologica presently. Well, the day today was full of obstacles that pulled out moves so graceful, I did not recognize them as my own. I wish you the same as you get into the driver's seat of these momentous changes, cause honey, it is dangerous down there by the tires. Get up! get focused, and drive to your destiny!

in love,
-Anna