By Jez Lee
The year was 2004. I was just out of college and hungry for dance. My BA from Mills College was complete with a 25 page thesis on the absense of masculine and lesbian signifiers in contemporary American modern dance. I had just taken on the job as Executive Director of Asian American Dance Performances and damnit, I was hell-bent on starting a performance festival for dance makers like me.
That following year, “Translations” was born. I almost titled it “persuasians”… so glad my good friend Jen advised against that! Translations: dancing the intersection of race, gender, and sexuality” is an annual queer Asian American festival with artists from across the nation. It provides a stage for artists taking risks by examining gen
der and sexuality, and inadvertantly or not, how those topics intersect with thier cultural heritage. It’s a broad assortment of American dance makers and performance artists from pan-asian backgrounds, and even broader sexual orientations and gender identifications, and even broader ideas about how their identity performs through thier art.
This year, as I am no longer Directing the organization, curator and new Executive Director Kara Yoon Frame has compiled a stunning group of performers. I am so proud of her work and her enthusiasm for continuing this performance series!
I asked a couple of the artists about their prior experiences… to give you all a sneak peak at what’s in store this weekend. Here’s a compilation of their responses.
[Please note that Word Press is giving me issues with their photo tool at the moment; please come back soon for *beautiful* images and their photographer credits!]
Julia Graham – Japanese Contemporary Hybrid
Julia, who identifies as a half Japanese-American woman researches and choreographs themes in her performance that are influenced by Japanese culture in an effort to develop her own understanding of her Japanese side.When asked what performance experiences she’s had that have celebrated or challenged her as a marginalized artist, she responds that she feels dance itself is a marginalized art form because it is not exposed to broad audiences. Dancing in Kuala Lumpur, she recounts the very positive reactions from the audience who were new to watching live dance. “I was amazed by how touched and excited some of the audience members were,” she said. By presenting works that are influenced by traditional forms, she stirs up curiosity in mainstream audiences, offering the viewer “a chance to ponder the nature of the movement and my relationship to it as well as what their own understanding of the
piece is.”John Medina, Eric Lorico of DanceParadigm – Movement Communication and Air Traffic Control (http://www.danceparadigm.com)
John Medina and Eric Lorico of DanceParadigm were both born in the Philippines, and moved to the United States when they were youths. Having grown up until the age of ten in the Phillippines, they were very rooted in Filipino culture, and still are. They welcome and appreciate integrating with the greater cultural experiences in the US, particularly in their identities as gay men.
John says, “it is this integration that has made us who were are today, appreciating one and the other, seeing the limitations and possibilities of one and the other, using the privileges afforded by one and the other, but more importantly embracing all of our identities.”
When asked about their performance experiences, he says “all of our performance experiences has celebrated and challenged our unique experience as marginalized artists at some level. By merely showing
our work celebrates our unique experiences as marginalized artists, to those who are similarly
situated and do not see such representation in the media in general, and in dance specifically.” Dance presenters, like Fresh Meat Productions, are becoming forced to expand their own definitions and open their doors to marginalized artists as John’s work “challenges the dance communities/presenters to become aware of artists that are on the fringe of mainstream, who are working in new ways, cutting new edges, pushing the envelope, creating new language, creating new vocabulary, and creating new paradigms. “
What I particularly admire about John and Eric’s work, is their consciousness about their male bodies on tage. Their choreography is such that “the display of sexuality is not an overt act, but only comes as a result of the choreographic intent, structure or form, which is first and foremost in our choreographic construction and development.”
Ishika Seth & Co. – South Asian Contemporary.
Having a very strong sense as of being an Indian woman is what has given Ishika her sense of identity about her gender. She speaks of her dance education as an enlightening time where she became aware of how racial differences can be viewed in choreographic studies. Ishika says:
“I believe that people have been genuinely interested in my background and how it feeds into my movement and choreography. My teachers here have encouraged me to find my own voice rather than merely fit ito a western mold.
However, being here has also made me conscious of my identity as a colored person. Once in a choreography class at a summer festival a teacher commented how my piece was too literal as it was about race. He saw me and my friend (two women of color) and one white man and that was the strongest image for him. Since then I have been very aware of it.
In fact, I spoke in jest about how I have never been conscious of race as its not an issue in India. He spoke about my friend as being a woman of color making it sound as if we were friends merely because we are both brown. It was a humiliating experience and I will never forget it.”
Despite this experience, she continues to make work for herself to be shared with others. She acknowledges that what they draw from the work will depend on their backgrounds, experiences, and expectations.
Janessa Clark/KILTERBOX – Intermedia Dialogue about Gender.
KILTERBOX (www.kilterbox.org) is run by Janessa Clark, who identifies as Latino and English. This multicultural (and mulit-national) assortment of artists take mixed media as a message for queer voice and enthic diversity and use their dance troupe as a vessel for change. Janessa acknowledges that being mixed has afforded her the ability to exist on many planes and seeing through each the need for tolerance and acceptance has fostered the focus of her work. She says, “As a queer woman of color I feel that I have the ability to fuse many facets of existence into a vessel for change.”
This intellegent choreographer is one of the many artists in this program making work that is invocative, concious, and heartfelt. (Other performers include Black Cactus Choir, Iu-Hui Chua, and Laurie Buenafe Krsmanovic). I’m truly excited to see all the performers on this bill (particularly as I didn’t have to stress about the planning this year – Ha!) Joking aside, though, please join me at this event. I’ll be in attendance on Friday, June 29th at 8pm. There’s a post-performance reception I hear, where you’ll be able to meet the artists and continue the conversations they began on stage.
Translations is Friday June 29th and Saturday June 30th at 8pm
CounterPULSE Theater (where AADP has its office) is on Mission at 9th Street.
(1310 Mission Street, SF 94103)
You can RSVP (and you should!) by calling 415-435-7552 or emailing info@counterpulse.org.
The price of this show is a cheap $10-20 sliding scale, with no one turned away for lack of funds. And no one turned away for an excess of funds either. ; )
About the Contributor → Jez Lee is a performance artist and from 2003-2007 was the Director of Asian American Dance Performances. Look forward to commentaries and announcements from Jez in AADP’s blog, part of Unboundspirit.org.
