SPRING 2021 inDISCOURSE +dance DIALOGUE TO UNIFY, STRENGTHEN + AMPLIFY P.06 Fresh Meat Productions P.32 Sharing with Strength P.44 Ad Infinitum Identities MEMBERSHIP Dancers’ Group – publisher of In Dance – provides resources to artists, the dance community, and audiences through programs and services that are as collaborative and WELCOME innovative as the creative process. CONTENTS Dancers’ Group has extended all memberships through June 2021. If you’re interested in becoming a new member, consider joining at I'VE BEEN READING, READING, READING. our free Community level. It’s a lovely part of my job. I get to read grant pro- Visit dancersgroup.org for more information and resources. posals, budgets (numbers tell a story, too), research studies, emails and numerous articles featured in In Dance —finding comfort and inspiration as I read JOIN in my spare time. dancersgroup.org My post-work reading is eclectic and is made up of consuming features in various online publica- tions. Also I love fiction books —like Bryan Washing- ton’s beautiful novel called Memorial. And I’ve been SUBMIT reading lots of NY Times features on artists. Through Performances to the these pieces I’m being introduced to live-treasures. Community Calendar They’ve become my weekly, sometimes daily, inspire-pleasure. Dancers’ Group promotes performance Here’s a highlight of those I’ve been learning about. I’ve fallen for the artist listings in our online performance calendar, and emailed to over Lorraine O’Grady whose newspaper poems from 1977 are stunning visual dances. 1,700 members. The artist Roni Horn has led me to appreciate the word “acclimatize”—I want to figure out how to use it in a sentence. And Horn states: “Since I know what I want, Resources and Opportunities Dancers’ Group sends its members a variety but not what it looks like, it takes time to focus it and arrive at some form of clarity.” of emails that include recent community I needed to hear that “it takes time to focus.” And then there’s the brilliant notices, artistic opportunities, grant Kyohei Sakaguchi. “I do what I do in order to keep living.” The matter of factness of deadlines, local news, and more Dancers’ Group gratefully acknowledges Sakaguchi’s statement slays. That they do what they do to live, resonates so deeply 6 / IN PRACTICE: Sean Dorsey, 40/ slow, sticky, sustainable Fresh Meat Productions the support of Bernard Osher Foundation, during a pandemic. I feel such a kinship within their words. Connecting with artists The continuous, ongoing, neverending California Arts Council, Fleishhacker and Trans Joy work of liberation —even abstractly through interviews—comforts and is simply wondrous. Foundation, Grants for the Arts, JB by Sima Belmar by Bhumi Patel Berland Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Wondrous words from dance artists is a way to ensure their voices and ideas are Foundation, Koret Foundation, National 14 DANCERS’ GROUP documented and visible. Highlighting how they maneuver complex relationships / Burn Scars 44/Ad Infinitum Identities Endowment for the Arts, Phyllis C. with their community, with their collaborators and especially how they connect Examining scarred lands, callused The work of Pseuda & Kim Ip Wattis Foundation, San Francisco Arts Artist Administrator feet and racialized climates By Justin Ebrahemi Commission, Wallace Alexander Gerbode with artists that motivate their own work and thinking. Foundation, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, Wayne Hazzard by Gerald Casel Are you ready? Within these pages are the most amazing writings Dancers’ Group 50/In Community William & Flora Hewlett Foundation, Artist Resource Manager 18 Zellerbach Family Foundation and Andréa Spearman has put out. I think this each time we publish, it really is true now and it will be true / It's Hard to Say Highlights and resources, activities generous individuals. next time too—wink, wink. The featured writers in the Spring issue address how we Validating care partners and their and celebrations for our community— Administrative Assistant acclimatize over time. They boldly speak to long known injustices like colonialism, loved ones living with dementia. find more on dancersgroup.org Shellie Jew by Rowena Richie with Joyce Calvert white supremacy, racism and patriarchy. 56 Bookkeeper /Ăn gì chua? Michele Simon They speak to adapting and prompt us towards new combinations of insights, 22/ Anchor Us The nourishing love of a mother through intuition, by taking time to be. We present writing by Yayoi Kambara, Gerald Finding ways to connect through By Hien Huynh Design the distance Sharon Anderson Casel, Marvin K. White, Bhumi Patel, Usha Srivinisan and Priya Das, Aura Fischbeck by Aura Fischbeck and Christy Funsch 58/ From Containment to Expansion: and Christy Funsch, Hien Hyunh, Rowena Richie, Farah Yasmeen Shaikh, Sima A Tenderloin Meditation Belmar and Justin Ebrahemi. The themes are deep and personal. 28/ Mosaic America Radical community-centered Cover: NAKA Dance Theater, Acto de Memoria Photo by Scott Tsuchitani As you savor each word I hope you share these Spring articles and join me in Creating belonging for all who live, art making asking questions like: How am I feeling? How can I evolve? work, play, and pray in community by Minister Marvin K. White by Priya Das and Usha Srinvivasan 62/ Finding a Flow Be well, 32/ Soft Power Through Heartistry —Wayne Hazzard, Artist Administrator Addressing the discomfort of Conversations with artists with heart confronting equity issues by Farah Yasmeen Shaikh by Yayoi Kambara JOIN DANCERS’ GROUP LEARN ABOUT • Free events • Featured artists and news • Discounts • Jobs • Grants dancersgroup BECOME A MEMBER! dancersgroup.org PHOTO BY PAK HAN 4 indance SPRING 2021 4 In Dance | May 2014 | dancersgroup.org SPRING 2021 indance 5 unify strengthen amplify 44 Gough Street, Suite 201 San Francisco, CA 94103 www.dancersgroup.org INPRACTICE SEAN DORSEY, FRESH MEAT PRODUCTIONS, AND TRANS JOY by SIMA BELMAR ribbons attached to it, so I’m pretty sure it wasn’t classical ballet. SB: I too remember having a tambou- rine with ribbons attached to it among other things with ribbons attached to them. I remember being around four and dancing with these wire things with flowers attached to them to the song “Thank Heaven for Little Girls.” SD: I had no other formal dance training until right after I graduated from high school when I did a sum- mer session largely based on the cho- reography of Janet Jackson—it was amazing. And then I started taking classes, mostly modern dance, some jazz, in college [University of Brit- ish Columbia], but community level, drop-in stuff. I remember loving it so, so much, but my career and my heart’s trajectory was on the commu- nity organizing, social justice path. I felt clear that my calling was to be of service and do justice-seeking work. KnowShade Vogue SB: So that’s why you’re able to make work and organize so many events and programs! What was s he looks back on 20 increased visibility in popular cul- season of “Stay Fresh At Home,” of four commissioned visual artists, Belmar: Have you always been your major? years of making and pro- ture, continue to struggle to find their a free online series of videos dedi- and The Dictionary of Joy and Plea- a dancer? SD: I did a double major in Political ducing performance by voices amplified, uplifted, and repre- cated to creative wellness; the 20th sure, a free, interactive online A-to-Z Sean Dorsey: Yes! But I always say Science and Women’s Studies. After trans, gender-nonconform- sented in theatrical contexts. Anniversary Fresh Meat Festival with contributions by ten commis- that I did not grow up at the ballet that, I started a graduate program ing (GNC), two-spirit, To mark the milestone, FMP has (June 17-19, online), showcasing an sioned artists. There’s even a “Futur- barre. I loved dance with every cell in community economic develop- Aand queer artists in the Bay Area and launched The Lost Art of Dream- incredible lineup including the work ist Pledge” that folks can download, in my body. I spent all my time in my ment, and also started taking classes across the country, Sean Dorsey, Artis- ing Project, a constellation of online of commissioned artists, Antoine print, and sign. leotard, dancing around to records. I in the dance department. When I was tic Director of Sean Dorsey Dance events spread out over the course of Hunter/Purple Fire Crow, J Mase The Lost Art of Dreaming is a proj- was always making up dances. I did 25, I started thinking about getting (SDD) and founder of Fresh Meat Pro- 2021, a Spring 2022 premiere, and III, Jahaira & Angelica, Lady Dane ect with a singular yet expansive mis- have a lot of early training and per- more training. I couldn’t dance often ductions (FMP), is positively glowing. a 10+-city tour through 2024. This Figueroa Edidi, Mark Travis Rivera, sion: “to explore and create expansive forming in theater and music, mostly enough! I was taking ballet with this Founded in 2001, Fresh Meat Pro- year, The Lost Art of Dreaming will and Randy Ford, supported by KEGAN MARLING BY PHOTOS futures” for trans, GNC, two-spirit, piano, choral stuff, youth theater. But one teacher who one day asked me to ductions is a trans-led-and-serving, feature SDD’s AT-HOME Season FMP’s FRESH WORKS! program; and queer communities. Dorsey and I most of my dancing was in my liv- stay after class. When she asked me if history-making organization commit- (April 16-18) that includes a series and a monthly release of free activ- had two lengthy conversations about ing room. I took a “ballet” class series I’d ever thought about being a pro- ted to shining a light on and reflect- of gorgeous site-specific dance films ities, including Postcards from the what it looks like to center joy and when I was 5 and remember having fessional dancer, my mind exploded.