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Abstract or Project Description

Abstract or Project Description

A performance ritual film by artist Sammay Dizon that seeks to de-stigmatize and elevate mental health in the Filipinx diasporic community. Memorya will use a multi-modal approach of movement, song and spoken word to explore ancestral remembering and intergenerational healing.

Abstract or Project Description

A multi-media performance piece by jose e. abad and co-choreographers Styles Alexander, Gabriel Christian, Clarissa Dyas and Stephanie Hewet that explores the potentialities of Black life in the Diaspora. The work will be presented at Berkeley Art Museum and Pacific Film Archives.

Abstract or Project Description

A series of short films and theatre show that re-envisions Shakespeare’s The Merchant of Venice, placing Shylock at the center as a reflection of the immigrant, working class citizens of our port cities. Using direct address monologues and rap songs, Currency visits the marketplaces of West Oakland, Hong Kong, Managua, Downtown LA, and Venice to connect those “othered” by society with the larger issues of place, race, privilege, ownership, violence and revolution.

Abstract or Project Description

A new dance piece by Ramón Ramos Alayo for Alayo Dance Company that incorporates dance, music, video and spoken word. Mouth of a Shark will reflect the dual life of immigrants and the struggle of those who create a new life in a new world, but carry their homeland, however dire, in their heart forever.

Abstract or Project Description

A roving, site-specific play in downtown Oakland that explores, questions and breaks down the nuances of intimacy in queer communities. un•rest, written by CurbAlert artists J Shelley Harrison and Emji Saint Spero in collaboration with queer and trans artists of color, imagines a more just and equitable future on a larger scale, one in which queer and trans people can not only survive, but thrive.

Abstract or Project Description

A reconstructionist companion play to a forgotten 1868 verse play about the Greek poet of Lesbos, offering renewed relevance to a scarcely-produced classic, penned by a woman about one of history’s first queer icons. Playwright Aimee Suzara’s Sappho investigates the evolution of queer identities across generations and the inheritance of queer narratives across centuries.

Abstract or Project Description

A dance-based exploration of the concept of mixed identity as adaptation in the age of climate crisis. Re-Mix will look beyond the binary to cultivate an alternative to the dehumanizing, essentializing and compartmentalizing of identity.

Abstract or Project Description

An hourlong interdisciplinary media project by artist Kevin Seaman exploring queer vulnerability, gentleness and soft power.

Abstract or Project Description

A multi-year collaborative project produced by Dohee Lee Puri Arts in collaboration with Corrina Gould (Lisjan Ohlone) and the Sogorea Te’ Land Trust. When the Land Stands Alone will engage refugee and immigrant communities residing in Oakland and Oakland Indigenous peoples in a collaborative ritual-making process, exchanging knowledge on ritualism, activism and healing.

Abstract or Project Description

A collaboration between Afro-Cuban choreographer Susana Arenas Pedroso and Guinean arts organization, Duniya Dance and Drum Company, illuminating the cultural and political

Abstract or Project Description

A series of site-specific works presented and produced by Epiphany Dance Theater and Deaf Choreographer Antoine Hunter and directed by Kim Epifano, inspired by Hunter’s Blackfoot heritage. Native Land, Native Hands will feature ASL-choreography, Hand Talk (the first language of Deaf Native Americans), text, original music and other forms of dance to illuminate narratives surrounding displacement and the erasure of Deaf history following the American Revolution.

Abstract or Project Description

A series of live, theatrical, site specific rituals by performance collective For You (Erika Chong Shuch, Ryan Tacata and Rowena Richie), in collaboration with elders from Little Brothers—Friends of the Elderly. The Welcoming will serve as a historic reentry into a distant world in the wake of COVID-19.

Abstract or Project Description

A dance and multidisciplinary storytelling project exploring the continuum of slavery into the post-Civil War convict lease system, and convict labor into modern day mass incarceration.

Abstract or Project Description

A performance project created by inkBoat, interdisciplinary artist Ann Carlson and The Oakland Zoo. Ones focuses on the relationship between humans and nonhuman species to help us consider our own humanity and collectiv

Abstract or Project Description

A multimedia performance created and performed with and for the community of Oakland, which weaves together storytelling with theater, dance and music. Placing real-life stories of local residents at the heart of the project, SPACES stands opposite the notion of “us vs. them,” bringing focus back to our communities, one story at a time.

Abstract or Project Description

Centers stories by people who have survived incarceration. Actors from Returned Citizens Theatre Troupe will spark deep community dialogue about some of the most pressing issues of our time such as systemic racism, the injustice of the carceral system and the challenges of COVID with audiences that include the general public, other people who have survived incarceration and system-impacted youth.

Abstract or Project Description

A performance by Megan Lowe and Brenton Cheng that challenges traditional ideas of male/female duets and deconstructs tropes often associated with Chinese heritage. Tangram lifts up the leadership and innovation of Chinese descendent artists in contemporary Bay Area dance and improvisation.

Abstract or Project Description

A new evening-length performance piece by My-Linh Le and Mud Water Theatre, an Oakland-based dance collective that centers turfing. Mud Water will explore cross-racial and cultural solidarity, focusing on themes such as belonging in the face of gentrification, deportation and police brutality as well as our individual relationship to land, space and our physical bodies.

Abstract or Project Description

A process-based dance-form by artist Dia Dear. ∑nake (unlearning) dance centers lived experience with chronic illness and disability and mindfulness practices for trauma healing while exploring the adaptability and intelligence of the physical body. It seeks to develop models of crafting accessibility into the artistic process for chronically ill artists with changing abilities.