Welcome to Yerba Buena Center for the Arts
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Here at YBCA we are thinking a lot about A NOTE FROM We are keenly aware that the San Francisco WELCOME TO the role of institutions in our increasingly THE CURATOR Bay Area is a hyper-current petri dish for YERBA BUENA anxious democracy. Amidst volatility and market-centered innovations. In this 50th division, we believe arts institutions in MARC BAMUTHI JOSEPH anniversary of the “Summer of Love,” the particular have a vital and unique role CHIEF OF PROGRAM AND PEDAGOGY Bay Area is also this country’s longstanding CENTER FOR ground zero for socially progressive radical to play in delivering on the democratic performance. Transform adopts the city’s THE ARTS promise by restoring the importance of the soulful history and adapts its big thinking public sphere in society. These are, after present within a two week, dance and design all, the institutions that were founded to festival that challenges us all to consider a cultivate creativity and to fuel individual singular thematic question: Why Citizenship? and collective inquiry and imagination. These are institutions that have the Over the course of two weekends, YBCA invites capacity to lead culture. 7 choreographers and their respective dance companies each to create world premiere works in response to the question “Why Through the visual and performing arts, Citizenship?” Additionally, each choreographic film, and arts-driven civic engagement, team will also be contending with the YBCA embraces its mission to be a cultural challenge of locating these new works within catalyst and a citizen institution. In a site specific built environment as imagined addition to the making and sharing of by renowned MIT-trained designer Giacomo leading edge contemporary art, YBCA is Castagnola. Beyond the scope of these diverse committed to being a place of convening movement based meditations, a select group and coalition and an incubator for game of YBCA Fellows will populate our lobby with changing creative ideas. We invite you pre and post performance programming based on their own critical responses to our to participate as audience members, as festival’s foundational point of inquiry. The fellow instigators, and as co-provocateurs. result is a platform that exercises some of YBCA isn’t at liberty to YBCA’s primary strategies for cultural shift: Through powerful art experiences, deep disconnect art from innovative art, serious inquiry, new models and challenging content, and genuine of audience centered convening, and the opportunities to engage in public life, we impact. Aesthetic display of long incubated projects by a curated are committed to kindling inclusive culture group of Fellows. Transform is not a festival that cultivates empathy, awakens personal excellence is our legacy, for passive observation. The curation of the and societal transformation, and reaches but cultural movement festival is intended to reveal our artists as for a world fueled not by hate and fear but accountable agents in service of civic impact. is our mission, and as The question at the center of this work by inspiration. This is the urgent now and appears to be rhetorical, but the stakes of our YBCA is prepared. such our programs should social landscape don’t afford us the luxury of suggest both the speed witness without personal implication. YBCA is We are so glad that you are here, we are in the midst of a programming evolution, one grateful for your cultural participation, and of the urban fray and the where the curatorial lens of the performing we hope you will come back and enjoy all arts is newly foregrounded as a true leader at that YBCA has to offer. time stopping courage the intersection of Bay Area arts and activism. of inspired creativity. Transform is the opening salvo of an extended, aggressive attack on prior conventions. It re- Warmly, Transform is a deliberate orients familiar tropes within a future facing context, demanding participants and content response to these makers to wrestle with the urgent question of DEBORAH CULLINAN impulses. More than a citizenship, aspiring to beauty, and embracing CEO of YERBA BUENA the complex journey it takes to get there. CENTER FOR THE ARTS festival length showcase of local artists, it is a surge forward among YBCA’s curators in our attempt to locate art as a strategic asset within our civic design. 2 3 EMBODIMENT PROJECT & JESSE HEWIT THU, SEP 14 & FRI, SEP 22 RAWDANCE & FAUXNIQUE FRI, SEP 15 & SAT, SEP 23 Photo: David DeSilva AMY SEIWERT’S IMAGERY, LARRY ARRINGTON/ SANDRA LAWSON NDU/MINOOSH ZOMORODINIA, & FOGBEAST SAT, SEP 16 & THU, SEP 21 4 5 director of the Embodiment Project. The San TIGRE BAILANDO is a multidisciplinary artist Francisco Chronicle has called her work “a born and raised in Philadelphia, now based bit like taking a defibrillator jolt to the soul.” out of Oakland. Bailando performs interactive Klaymoon is currently a resident artist at ODC mask theater on city streets across the world Theater, and a recipient of the Headlands and teaches mask making and performance Center for the Arts residency and the Gerbode techniques to students from preschool to and Hewlett Foundation’s Commissioning adulthood. Bailando is a core member of the Choreographers Award. Klaymoon currently butoh-inspired performance company Bad Unkl teaches a company class at Dance Mission and Sista. is a dance professor at the University of San Francisco. embodimentproject.org TERRENCE PASCHAL is a Stockton native who discovered his love of dance as a turf dancer Thank you YBCA, MAP Fund, California Arts eight years ago. He believes in the medicine Council, Zellerbach Foundation, CA$H Grant, inherent in dance and hopes to share it in an San Francisco Arts Commission, ODC, honest way with others. Intersection for the Arts, Destiny Arts Center, Dance Mission Theater, Shakti Butler, Ericka AMBER JULIAN is a native of the San Francisco Huggins, Rick Butler, Brenda Way, James Bay Area. She was blessed to have discovered Bell, Julie Potter, Svea Soll, Doug Hill, Cindy her passions at a very young age. She believes Shearer, Stella Adelman, Jennifer Norris, Dr. that art is all about exchanging deep-rooted Nadine Burke Harris, Nayo Bradbury, and Aaron energy in order to make change. Ashé. Thornton for your incredible contributions to EMBODIMENT PROJECT the development of this work. XOA is best known for her deep, earthy cosmic Photo: David Wilson rhythms and experimental twists on classic ARTIST BIOS and contemporary styles. In the Spring of 2015, she recorded and produced two EPs, Fire SABELA GRIMES, a 2014 United States Artists and Water, a follow up project from her debut ANCIENT CHILDREN color, adverse experiences at home are then Rockefeller Fellow, is a transmedia storyteller, album, Amble (2013). Shortly after, she began compounded by the cumulative effects of sonic ARKivist, and movement composer. On focusing on collaborative projects that use Artistic Director and Choreographer: systemic racism. faculty at USC’s Glorya Kaufman School of performance art and music to heal, inspire and Dance, he continues to cultivate Funkamental empower others. Nicole Klaymoon in collaboration with “The truth about our childhood is stored up performers MediKinetics, a movement system he created in our body, and although we can repress that focuses on the methodical dance training DRE “POKO SOUL” DEVIS is a born-and-raised Collaborating Director: d. Sabela grimes it, we can never alter it. Our intellect can and community-building elements evident in hip- SF Pinay, emerging from matriarchal roots. be deceived, our feelings manipulated, and hop, black vernacular, and street dance forms. Poko moves with the foundation of competitive Collaborators: Shakti Butler, Rick Butler conceptions confused, and our body tricked gymnastics, martial arts, aerial dance, and with medication. But someday our body will MEENA MURUGESAN is a choreographer, hard-hitting animalistic synergy. Video Art: Meena Murugesan present its bill, for it is as incorruptible as a dancer, video artist, and arts educator based child, who, still whole in spirit, will accept no in Los Angeles. She creates experimental, GEORGE “WUKONG” began his dance career Costume Design: Kyo Yohena, Mira Blackman compromises or excuses, and it will not stop nonlinear narratives with moving images at in Taipei, Taiwan. In addition to his work at UC tormenting us until we stop evading the truth.” the intersection of live performance, video Berkeley, where he received a BA focused on Poetry written by: Nicole Klaymoon - Alice Miller art, and activism. She is currently designing art and social change, he has judged battles, taught, performed, and battled internationally. Sound Edits: XOA and Valentino Pelizzar multichannel video installations for live Ancient Children investigates the school- performance with choreographers Marjani JOHNNY HUY NGUYEN AKA “JOHNNY RAWKIT” Live Sound Design: XOA to-prison pipeline in which children of color Forte-Saunders, Sita Frederick, d. Sabela are funneled from schools into juvenile grimes, and D’Lo. is originally from Canada and now based in San Music Credit: Pacifika by DJ Cecil Feat. Tama incarceration, jails, and prisons. This pipeline Francisco. In addition to Embodiment Project, Waipara and the state collude to strip these individuals Medicine Woman GINA BREEDLOVE is a singer, he is a member of Bay Area vogue crew House of their citizenry; rather than living as free, songwriter, and sound healer from Brooklyn. of Prolific and Lenora Lee Dance Company. As Mask Art: Tigre Bailando participating members of their communities, She tours the world with her music that well, he is involved with the Global Street Dance they become citizens of the prison industrial she calls folkSoul, and holds sound healing Masquerade. Sound Healing Ritual: complex, which is inherently dehumanizing. circles in every city she visits. She will be Medicine Woman gina Breedlove releasing her third CD, The Star, this year, with SAMMAY is a choreographer, producer, This work draws on Shakti Butler’s new film a release party at Yoshi’s in December 2017.