2020 FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL
reFRESH Program #2 – Friday June 19
Program Credits
(artist bios at bottom)
MAIKAZE DAIKO WITH GUEST ARTISTS RAYRAY EBORA & KRISTY OSHIRO
Takarabune (Treasure Ship)
Composed by: Bruce “Mui” Ghent (Artistic Director)
Performed by: Bruce “Mui” Ghent, Rachel Ebora, Kristy Oshiro, Maikaze Daiko – Molly Coogan Tyson, Marybeth Maclennan, Diana Johan, Mirna Jiron del Llano, Jenn Findlay, Sue Barnett, Sharon Anderson, Isabell Ortega-Lockwood, Dana Bienenfeld
JAHAIRA AND ANGELICA
Queer Bachata
Music by: Frente a frente by DJ Ricky Campanelli and La Gallareta by Ruben del Rio
Choreography by: directors of In Inessence Dance Company – Bryon Stroud and Sammantha Arias
AXIS DANCE COMPANY
The Narrowing
Choreographed by: Sebastian Grubb in collaboration with Rodney Bell
Performed by: Joel Brown and Sebastian Grubb
Music by: Michael Wall
ELENA ROSE
Written and performed by: Elena Rose
EMBODIMENT PROJECT
Excerpts of Ancient Children (preview)
Performed by: Amber Julian, George Cheng, Sammay Dizon, Johnny Nguyen, Poco Devis, Dante “Animal” Rose
SHAWNA VIRAGO
Orpheus Says Hello
Original songs written and performed by: Shawna Virago
TOBY MACNUTT
(It Takes) Two
Choreographed and performed by: Toby MacNutt
TAJAH J
Up to You
Music written and performed by: Tajah J
COHDI HARRELL
in the seduction of solitude
Choreographed and performed by: Cohdi Harrell
Music by: Ludovico Einaudi
MIND OVER MATTER
Bring it to the Runway
Choreographed by: Allan Frias and the Mind Over Matter dancers
Music by: Jay Karan
Performed by: Mind Over Matter
ARTIST BIOS
MAIKAZE DAIKO is a San Francisco-based performance ensemble and taiko school. Their name, “Dancing Wind”, reflects our focus on innovative arrangements, precision taiko playing and creative use of movement and space. Founded in 2007 by Bruce “Mui” Ghent, Maikaze Daiko is in residence at Dance Mission Theater and performs throughout the Bay Area. The group offers ongoing Taiko classes and workshops to the public.
ANGELICA MEDINA AND JAHAIRA FAJARDO are the Directors of In Lak’ech Dance Academy, in Oakland CA. They both share an immense passion for dance, and in 2014 they met and fell in love on the dance floor. They soon after decided to grow as dance partners while training for competition. In December 2015 they placed 1st in the Latin Ladies Same Gender Division, at the World Latin Dance Cup. Jahaira made history as the first Bachata female leader to become a World Champion. In 2018, they returned to to WLDC as pros and placed first in the Bachata Couple Pro Cabaret division.
In 2018, In Lak’ech Dance Academy produced the first ever Queer Latin Dance Festival, where Queer and Trans Latinx dancers are highlighted and celebrated. This event continues on an annual basis.
In Lak’ech Dance Academy is the direct result of the passion Angelica & Jahaira share for Latin Dance and for their community. To learn more about In Lak’ech Dance Academy, please visit their website: inlakechdance.com & queerlatindancefestival.com
AXIS DANCE COMPANY – Founded in 1987, AXIS Dance Company is the nation’s most acclaimed ensemble of disabled and non-disabled performers based in Oakland, CA. AXIS creates virtuosic productions that challenge perceptions and redefine dance and disability. Alongside our artistic programming, the Company provides unparalleled integrated dance education and outreach programs that remove barriers and showcase the beauty of difference. www.axisdance.org/
ELENA ROSE – Sweet-talking trans mestiza monster queen Elena Rose rode stories out of rural Oregon and hasn’t stopped burning since. An internationally-recognized preacher, poet, and educator, she has performed with the Fresh Meat Festival, Writers Resist, Mangos With Chili, Queer Rebels, Brouhaha, the Speak! Radical Women of Color Media Collective, and Girl Talk: A Trans and Cis Women’s Dialogue, which she co-curated; co-edited the book Queer and Trans Artists of Color, Volume 2, with Nia Levy King; and organizes community care as Executive Director at Trans Lifeline. She lives in the East Bay, and can be found on Twitter at @burnlittlelight.
EMBODIMENT PROJECT – Since EP’s inception in 2008 we have been committed to offering up stories of healing and triumph to disrupt the shame and silence that allows systemic sexualized and racialized harm to flourish. Bringing hip hop and street dance to the concert dance stage, EP expands upon the legacy and visibility of these social dance traditions, as acts of healing, resistance, and liberation, while preserving their cultural roots. www.embodimentproject.org/
SHAWNA VIRAGO is a songwriter celebrated for her lyric-based songs. She is one of the nation’s first openly transgender women to perform and tour nationally, and has performed as an out transwoman since the early 1990’s. She has been profiled online, in print and on radio including Bitch, the Advocate, Huffington Post Louder ThanWar, No Depression, Paste magazine, on NPR and PBS. POP DOSE Magazine wrote “In these turbulent times, you may often wonder, ‘Where’s our Bob Dylan? Where’s the bard of the 2010s translating the dicey political and social climate into musical stanzas?’… Enter Shawna Virago.” Virago is also a published writer and her work appears in several anthologies. She is also the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. www.shawnavirago.com
Toby MacNutt is a queer, nonbinary trans, disabled dancer/choreographer from Burlington, VT. Their current work in progress, “A Singular They”, is a solo work showcasing fluidity and changing embodiment. Past works include “Enter the Void” and “One, Two”. They have also danced for Murmurations Dance (“Bone Hooks”, “When Women Were Birds”), Tiffany Rhynard’s Big APE, and Heidi Latsky’s “GIMP”, among others locally and internationally. Toby was an AXIS Dance Choreo-Lab choreographer in 2018 and 2019, and a 2019 recipient of the Rebecca Blunk Fund Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Find out more about Toby’s work at www.tobymacnutt.com, on twitter @tobywm, or instagram @tobymacnutt.
TAJAH J is a Contemporary R&B, Soul, EDM, and Pop artist. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and currently lives in the S.F Bay Area. As a black transgender multi-media artist and activist, Tajah J puts forth her experiences being formerly incarcerated, her love life, and her passion for trans empowerment as the essence of her music. www.tajahj.com/
COHDI HARRELL is a New Mexico-born performance maker. Coming from a backwoods history of training in circus and martial arts, he has spent the past 20 years crafting, improvising, producing and examining the articulation and potential of the human body. A primarily self-taught trapeze artist and an untrained dancer, his unique approach to acrobatic performance art has brought him international acclaim. A 2013 recipient of the Makers Muse Award from the Kindle Foundation, his work has been featured in the New York Times, National Geographic, BBC and CNN amongst others. He is one half of the circus of two, The Ricochet Project, whose work has toured the world over with their award-winning show, Smoke and Mirrors. Outside of Ricochet, he works on his solo projects and often collaborates with Nature, Brian Mayhall, Dnumbers, and Coco Rosie. http://cohdiharrell.com/
MIND OVER MATTER – M.O.M. *MIND OVER MATTER*, one of San Francisco’s longest running hip hop dance companies was created in 1993 by So You Think You Can Dance season one top 20 contestant Allan Frias. Mind Over Matter quickly became an unstoppable force in the SF Bay Area dance scene with their intricate, hard hitting, unique style of choreography, formations, stage shows, sensuality and stage presence. www.facebook.com/mindovermatter415/