othervoicestheatre - Tumblr blog

othervoicestheatre · 7 years ago

Photo

(The Other Georgetown: A Dance Double-Feature @ Base & Yaw. Photo 1: BLEED! promo material, photo by Russel Daniels, design by Patrick Clark. Photo 2: This is your brain on insecurities. The carnage of Patrick Clark's performance in 12 Minutes Max at Base in May. Photo by R Barron.)

The Other Georgetown: A Dance Double-Feature @ Base & Yaw

By R Barron

Base and Yaw are two dance spaces located in the same arts-loaded building in a tucked-away part of Georgetown. This weekend, they present two shows centered on stretching boundaries: BLEED! from Malden Works, presenting performance artists Queen Shmooquan, Alisa Popova, and Patrick Clark (@ Base, 7:30 pm Friday 6/29 & Saturday 6/30, tickets here); and Double Vision: Duets in Dance, featuring four duets and one film reimagining style, form and gender norms (@ Yaw, 8 pm Friday 6/29, 5 & 8 pm Saturday 6/30, tickets here).

A half-mile over from the Newly Popular Georgetown (the one with the Fran’s Chocolates and Ellenos Greek Yogurt, with a million old-style bars and art galleries interspersed and a sexy Trailer Park Mall anchor) is the Still-Hidden Georgetown, the one past Tacoma Screw and Harbor Freight, by the I Luv Teriyaki place. Still surrounded mostly by working industrial buildings and among unmarked/questionable parking spots, here you won’t find much for taverns beyond the taproom of Counterbalance Brewery, a place I’ve been eyeing a while and hope to get to soon.

In this part of Georgetown, it feels much more “in the know” -- like when you see a crawl of people headed somewhere, it’s a party only the few of you know about. And where you all are headed is likely over to the maze of studios in the Equinox Arts complex, host to two relatively new dance spaces: Base and Yaw.

Base

“Base: Experimental Arts + Space” is, true to its name, a big, flexible rehearsal space that also, more and more, hosts performances too. All of them are short runs, usually two nights, of primarily modern dance infused with performance art vibes. Some of those are developed in-house and with resident artists, and others are brought in as space rentals.

In the most recent run at Base, Still Wonder Full (June 1-3), choreographer/dancer Britt Karhoff brought a meditation on things falling apart (as an actual table fell apart under her, that she struggled -- sometimes humorously, always shudder-inspiringly -- to keep aloft, before capitulating and letting it all collapse); battling with depression and grief while doing what needed to be done (hauling heavy/awkward materials around the room and forcing them into place); and contending with unwelcomed gestures from loved ones to invade and pull the sufferer out of it (again, told with both physicality and humor -- and giant paper flowers). Base’s stage is wide, and Karhoff’s solo command of it was stunning; a flexibility and power that shouldn’t have been surprising given Karhoff’s experience with Bandaloop (a group known for dancing on the sides of buildings), but also an intensity of emotion that felt both relatable and personal. I later learned that Karhoff’s piece came from specific grief: that following a medically necessitated abortion. (Read more about the show’s development here.)

Base is notable for presenting innovative, dynamic movement-driven works like that, and focusing on, as it describes it, “elevating risk and invention in dance, performance and multidisciplinary art.” Into that landscape arrives BLEED!, which sounds as though it will land decidedly on the performance-art end of things.

BLEED! brings together three artists -- performance art/comedy cult legend Queen Shmooquan, experimental performer Alisa Popova, and performer/visual artist Patrick Clark -- in what organizers describe as a “showcase of new solo experimental works from three dynamic Pacific Northwest performance artists.” The show is produced by Malden Works which, in somewhat circular fashion, was started exclusively to put on BLEED! -- and hopefully to do more shows in the future (per a post in their Facebook group).

The showcase concept looks like a good one, and the three artists will bring three very different-sounding pieces to the lineup:

Queen Shmooquan, Dark Wave: a solo performance art/comedy/music piece featuring Queen Shmooquan, the Modern Day Oracle. The Queen shape-shifts from her lucid “everyday hero” self into bizarre manifestations of the normalized, yet dissonant imagery of our current American political and social landscape, seamlessly transitioning from one costume, performance medium, to the next. An extension of a piece originally presented at the Risk/Reward Festival of New Performance (Portland, OR) in 2017.

Alisa Popova, Sidesmile: using her(self), the audience, and a few objects, Alisa grapples with reality, the infinity of choices within each moment, and the average human’s relationship with their mind, which has a mind of its own, pun intended. Through it all, Alisa showcases the body as absurd and/or beautiful, and contemplates necessity, especially in relation to performance.

Patrick Clark, Kingfisher: a multimedia solo work using printed words and images, light, and everyday objects to reveal inner states as archetypes: the self-loather, the unaware privileged man, the groveling servant, the angry loser, etc. Using contrapuntal devices related to music composition to layer humor and discomfort, it is up to the audience to decide which archetype to promote, and which layer to believe.

The variety in the lineup is one to look forward to, even if, as I mentioned in a quick bite on the show in an earlier piece, I have no idea what to expect with Shmooquan. To that end, some of my favorites among capsule reviews pulled from her website (from some of her earlier shows) are probably helpful, for context if not content: “[I]t was sort of like the heavens split open and a choir of angels began vomiting unicorns down on us all,” and “At one point, the audience applauded her for simply eating a Dorito.” Amen.

And I’m far from alone in that; it seems expect-the-unexpected is the theme for Shmooquan. Per the Stranger, “We don't know what will happen at Shmooquan's show, but we do know that Trent Moorman witnessed her feed Twinkies to rubber chickens in 2015.”

Of the three BLEED! performers, Patrick Clark’s is the only work I’m mildly familiar with. His work was seen at Base very recently, in the May showcase of 12 Minutes Max, where his piece was something of a music/comedy/performance mashup involving a distractible saxophonist unrolling his insecurities all over the floor. It was both strange and beautiful.

The series 12 Minutes Max continues due to a partnership between Base and On the Boards, for Base to revive the long-running, recently departed OTB series. That partnership is a good fit. The shows Base hosts tend toward a more in-development or experimental edge, but in decidedly the same family as those at OTB, and the original 12MM always had that feel about it. Between the two organizations there’s some direct overlap, too: recent members of Base’s in-residence artist cohorts, including Frank Boyd, Ilvs Strauss, and Markieth Wiley, were developing and rehearsing pieces headed for OTB, or have put up work there on an ongoing basis. (The latter category includes Wiley, who will be part of OTB’s inaugural Artists-in-Residence for the 2018-19 season.)

The first couple runs of 12MM at Base were overwhelmingly White, and felt stylistically homogeneous -- bordering on dull -- too. That changed with the latest round (held in May), which Florangela Davila and Tyisha Nedd curated. The curators and organization clearly put thought and effort into amassing, first, a high-quality body of developing works; but just as importantly, a diversity of creators, performers, and artistic forms; and those felt more interactive, relevant, and widely accessible as well.

In Davila and Nedd’s lineup for the May 12MM, the eight pieces selected were: a giant film projection by barry johnson with live dance from Randy Ford, who has appeared all over town recently, including in Dani Tirrell’s Black Bois at On the Boards; dance and performance pieces by Mother Tongue, Alia Swersky, Ariel Burke & Jessica Jobaris, Lavinia Vago, Alaji & Elijah, and Fernando Luna; and the aforementioned Patrick Clark. And, a rarity for such variety shows: all of them were really good. Base hasn’t announced the next dates for 12MM yet; but keeping Davila and Nedd on as curators would be a wise move -- or at least, I hope, figuring out how to carry forward the high bar those two have set for the series.

Overall, Base aspires to be a home base for artists in a time that space is particularly hard to find in Seattle, as well as a performance platform for performers to show and audiences to see new, exciting work. A most welcome addition.

BLEED! runs 6/29-6/30 (7:30 pm Friday & Saturday), at Base in Georgetown (6520 5th Ave S.). Tickets $20, available here or at the door.

Yaw

Yaw’s space is just on the other side of Base’s, a white-walled mirror image of Base’s, and follows a similar idea: a wide-open space for developing and showing new dance and performance. Yaw, however, is more class- and studio-focused -- most of its time is slated for either dance classes (especially Monday nights; see schedule here) or for rehearsals.

Yaw’s public show this weekend is the first event there I’ve seen promoted (though apparently their first production was in fact in March). Double Vision: Duets in Dance features pieces by four choreographers -- Seattle locals Alyza DelPan-Monley and Cameo Lethem, plus Sean Thomas Boyt (Philadelphia), and Melinda Jean Myers (Iowa City) -- and a dance film short by Ella Mahler and Liz Houlton. The performances seek to “reimagine the dance duet outside of the limiting norms of the traditional ballet/contemporary duet,” through works that “aim to subvert the heteronormative, patriarchal power struggle and explore a performance of solutions.”

Later this year, look out for Yaw’s dance film festival, Fuselage, scheduled for August 11; entries accepted until this Sunday, July 1. (It doesn’t specify a festival time, but inquiring minds want to know if it conflicts with another Georgetown dance favorite, Trailer Park Drag Strip, also on August 11. Hope not!)

Double Vision: Duets in Dance runs 6/29-6/30 (8 pm Friday, 5 & 8 Saturday), at Yaw Theater in Georgetown (6520 5th Ave S.). Tickets $15, available here or at the door.

#base #yaw #dance #ovt

2 notes · View notes

othervoicestheatre · 7 years ago

Photo

NWNW @ OTB: 16 Short Pieces Capture America in a Nutshell

By R Barron

Devoting a night to watching new work from artists you’re unfamiliar with, especially in the modern dance and performance art areas, is always a questionable proposition. With On the Boards’ Northwest New Works (NWNW) Festival, however, you can entrust yourself in their care.

Now in its 35th year (!!!), NWNW is an annual showcase that allows, as the name suggests, local artists to present segments of new pieces or works in development. It serves audiences and performers alike, in a few ways: for audiences, an opportunity to view works in early stages, find artists they may otherwise not hear about, or experience formats they might normally not find themselves drawn to; and for performers, a way to reach those audiences, showcase their work, or test their pieces in development on an established stage, in a lower-stakes way.

Whether intentionally or not, this season of NWNW seems poised to capture America in a nutshell: its present-day struggles, including those that have existed since the founding and those that are relatively new; and its diversity of modern art forms, from dance to film to theatre to storytelling and song. That breadth is a nice fit conceptually with next week’s Spotlight on Seattle Now showcase (co-curated by OTB Executive Director Betsey Brock), at the Seattle International Dance Festival, which promises to capture “Seattle in a nutshell” specific to its world of dance.

And great news: this year’s NWNW lineup seems better, more diverse, and more queer-ified than ever.

In last week’s assortment, the curation was exceptional: the lineup featured diversity of styles, narratives, and performers; relevance and urgency of topics; and accessibility of art forms and messages. Individual pieces were alternatively humorous, wrenching, and many feelings in between; and in a world full of too-long art, the brevity and tightness of the segments was refreshing like a summer ale.

Here’s what you missed (or caught) last weekend:

Studio (more intimate, smaller-stage) showcase:

The Most Popular Unpopular, performance/narrative by Smitty Buckler. A one-person show, where the performer has several costume changes from a suitcase they carry, and their face is never seen. A recorded narrative runs throughout: contending with bodies, trans and queerness, sex, and learning consent when forced is all one has known.

140 Lbs, multimedia/storytelling by Susan Lieu. Lieu is on a personal mission to uncover the details of her mother’s death (by a plastic surgeon). Her story (told through spoken narrative, film, and photos) is both warm and chilling, as she honors her mother, grapples with questions of blame and forgiveness, and raises issues of her own self-acceptance. Hers is the story that has followed me around all week.

Invisible Touch, performance art/dance by Allie Hankins. A solo performance involving several old tape recorders, an iPhone providing countdowns between each sequence, and several shimmies, one of which looked like she was using a “Shake Weight” (of awkward infomercial fame). Where the other pieces had defined themes, this one was more choose-your-own-adventure. I decided it looked most like moving out of depression, and the maintenance steps required to keep yourself there.

Your Thoughts, My Reality, dance/narrative by Majinn (Michael O’Neal Jr.). This solo crossed over between different dance styles, as a recording narrated the performer contending with expectations of blackness and masculinity as a queer man, dancer, nerd. An exploration of facts vs. uninformed opinions (and the entitlement to express them at will).

Mainstage (larger scale) showcase:

AJE IJO: Rivers of Nine, film segment by Kiana Harris. Two contrasting settings and styles were interwoven in film sequences exploring gender, resilience and joy in the African diaspora, featuring all Black performers, vivid colors, dance and music. The film, part of which was also featured in this year’s Translations Film Festival, was beautiful and created a rich sensory experience, though the fast hops between scenes in certain parts made me dizzy in both screenings. (Also, who knew OTB had such great film projection equipment? That may have shown better than in an actual movie theater.)

The Great Noise, a short play with music by The Horse in Motion. Fresh off its sold-out run of Hamlet at the Stimson-Green Mansion, the Seattle theatre group presented a fresh take on The Witch Hunt -- this one questioning how little men have to do, and the sense of entitlement to forgiveness, for the harm they do through sexual assault and other manifestations of toxic masculinity. A surprising, funny, and thought-provoking take on gender power dynamics and just deserts. (Note: if you’re like me and always thought it’s spelled desserts -- it’s not, though that’s apparently becoming an accepted alternate.)

Falling Short, a modern dance piece by Elby Brosch. The piece explored differences, real and perceived, between trans and non-trans men, their bodies, and the interplay between the two. The title could refer to the enormous height disparity between the two dancers, or that nagging feeling or fear that a trans body will fail to measure up. A poignant piece, with plenty of humor too.

In the White Frame, a modern dance/performance piece by Moonyeka (Angel Alviar-Langley). The performance contended with expectations placed on multiracial people, and featured dancers on a dark stage, dancing in white-light frames that resembled white boxes while, in the foreground, a multiracial woman and multiracial child together go through their ABCs. The elements complement each other, bringing the personal very close, in this beautiful piece.

This weekend, the Festival’s second and final of the year, you can see eight total pieces in two different showcases (Studio thrice, Friday through Sunday, and Mainstage twice, Saturday/Sunday only). Like last weekend, performers and art forms are diverse, and the lineup looks excellent. View schedule and performances here.

While the mainstage performances might be the most well-known, the studios are often my favorites -- they’re more intimate, often more in-development/raw, and equally talented. Since they’re intimate, they’re also limited-seating -- a few tickets remain! Or show up early to get on the wait list if, against advice, you’re not buying ahead of time and would prefer to stand around waiting to luck out.

Northwest New Works runs through 6/17 at On the Boards, in Lower Queen Anne (Studio Showcase 5 pm, Mainstage Showcase 8 pm, Saturday & Sunday). Tickets $16 for one showcase or $22 for both, available here.

0 notes