#Lark Detweiler

[nugothrhythms]

In honor of Mental Health Awareness month, here is the music video to 2024 single "Stay" by Athens, Georgia-based pop-goth act Vision Video. This song is heavily inspired by singer Dusty's struggles with PTSD and this video features dancing by Lark Detweiler, a Deaf dancer who incorporates ASL into their choreography.

[void-flesh]

How do I exist as a Deaf person in music spaces?

How is it possible that I can interact with people, interact with music, create in a medium that presumes hearing?

By Lark Detweiler

[larkstudies]

Marked

At night she comes, her body red and dried.

Upon my heart, a spell she would brand.

Do you know how hard I’ve tried

To shake her off? Her cold pale hand

Upon my waist, she will propose:

“Beautiful you shall be when I am with you.”

Her whisper hoarse in my ear, verbose.

She’s disingenuous, I know, but her words hold true.

But I can’t be alone with my thoughts, I accept

For tis worse ​alone​ than with her hands on my neck.

She marked me and leaves proof as I slept,

And yet. She knows, without her, I’m a wreck.

Her grasp on me is stronger by the night;

I’m afraid it’s my time now to turn to the light.

-lark detweiler

[demolitionrats]

wrote a very short short story for class tonight. it's a time event story that takes place at a punk show. features a nonbinary Deaf character.

if interested! it's four pages:

[cascadiadeafnation]

An Upcoming Virtual Event:

Do you enjoy watching dances by Deaf community members?

Check out Bay Area International Dance Festival 2020!

Urban Jazz Dance Company presents:

The 8th Annual Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival VIRTUAL!

August 14-16, 2020: Fri-Sat 6:00 PM (PST), Sun, 5:00 PM (PST)

Workshops Fri-Sat 10:00 AM-12:00 PM (PST)

Sun 10:00 AM-1:00 PM (PST)Location: 100% VIRTUAL

https://www.realurbanjazzdance.com/bay-area-international-deaf-dance-festival-virtual.html 

Suggested Donation: $5-25

(San Francisco) The Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival is back for its eighth year and 100% virtual!  

Highlighting the important contributions that Deaf and Hard of Hearing (HoH) artists make to our community, the Festival features three days of performances and workshops. 

Sunday’s performance is family-friendly. In addition to the Bay Area, this year the Festival welcomes Deaf artists from California specifically, San Diego and Los Angeles, across the USA and Internationally from India, Colombia, Venezuela, Canada and Mexico. 

The Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival is a fiscally sponsored project of Intersection for the Arts, San Francisco’s oldest alternative arts space, presenting groundbreaking works in the literary, performing, visual and interdisciplinary arts. www.theintersection.org.

In addition to performances, the festival will feature workshops in Classical Indian Dance, Cumbia Dance, Jazz, Contemporary Ballet, Flamenco and more different types of dance classes taught by International, National and Local Deaf, Hoh artists. These workshops will be taught for both Youth and Adult participants in VIRTUAL. 

For more detailed information on workshops, please visit our website.  All workshops and performances are open to both Deaf and Hearing community members in ANY location around the world.

Accessibility Details

All events will have ASL and English voice interpretations, International Sign interpretation and CART captioning. Saturday’s performance will have Spanish voice interpretation. 

Sunday’s 5 PM event will have Audio Descriptions by Gabriel Christian of Gravity Access Services (www.jesscurtisgravity.org/access) supported by a generous grant from the Haas Fund, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation and the National Arts and Disability Center at the University of California Los Angeles and Ability Central.

ABOUT URBAN JAZZ DANCE COMPANY:

Urban Jazz Dance Company is a convergence of artistic forces, where raw energy is rooted in an athletic expression of freedom and passion, featuring the syncopation of urban jazz rhythms.  These dancers are a mix of trained deaf and hearing dancers from all over the world.  The mission of Urban Jazz Dance is to provide opportunities for Deaf and disabled artists to contribute to the arts and the larger society and to promote the educational awareness of Deaf issues through the performing arts. The company values the importance of play and performance to connect cultures of all races, ages, disability and backgrounds to live their dreams.

About Antoine Hunter, Director

Bay Area native, Antoine Hunter also known Purple Fire Crow is an award-winning Internationally-known African-American, Indigenous, Deaf, Disable, choreographer, dancer, actor, instructor, speaker, Producer and Deaf advocate. He creates opportunities for Disable, Deaf and hearing artists and produces Deaf-friendly events, and founded the Urban Jazz Dance Company and Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival.Antoine has received numerous grants and awards including the inaugural Jeanette Lomujo Bremond Award for Humanity, Isadora Duncan (Izzie) for Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival, and SF King of Carnaval. Antoine’s work has been performed globally, most recently in Turkey, UK and Russia. He has lectured across the U.S. including at Kennedy Center’s VSA, Harvard and Duke University, and the National Assembly of State Arts. In 2019 alone, his company Urban Jazz Dance Company, an ensemble of professional Deaf and Hearing dancers, performed for and engaged more than 4,200 schoolchildren. His shoe company DropLabs and Susan Paley just released an innovative product to help people feel music through their shoes. He is Vice President of Deaf Counseling, Advocacy and Referral Agency (DCARA's) Board. DCARA is a non-profit, community-based social service agency serving the deaf community. Established in 1962 as one of the first deaf-run agencies in the country. 

www.RealUrbanJazzDance.com

Image Description for the flyer:

[IMAGE DESCRIPTION:

Image of a poster with Purple background strip across the top with the bottom ¾ of the poster with a white background and various pictures and text.In the top purple strip white bold text as follows"BAY AREA INTERNATIONALDEAF DANCEFESTIVAL”

Picture overlayed across the banner of Zahna Simon leaping through air with her front leg reaching out into the white background below. She is wearing black shorts and sportsbra, long blonde hair is down and looks in action

On the left bottom of the picture in white bold text "AUGUST 14-16, 2020" To the right bottom of the picture "A VIRTUAL SHOWCASE"On the right is text in black "PRESENTED BY ANTOINE HUNTER’SURBAN JAZZ DANCE COMPANY"In purple bold text “WITH PERFORMANCES BY”

In black text a list of performers “Urban Jazz Dance Company (Bay Area)

Samantha Figgins (New York)Deaf Pride Dance Company (Bay Area)

Danzaluz (Venezuela)

Natasha Bacchus (Canada)

Irit Specktor (Los Angeles, California)

Carlos Javier Ortega Opisno (Colombia)

Matthew J Posh Schwartz (New York)

Proyecto Paz (Mexico/Bay Area)

Fusion in Motion (San Diego, California)

Lark Detweiler (Los Angeles, California)

Fusion in Motion (San Diego, California)

Shruti Neelesh Kelkar (India)

Visceral Roots Dance Company (Bay Area)

Listen With Your Eyes Dance Troupe (Arkansas)

And MORE local, national and international artists!

FRIDAY AUGUST 14 | 6 PM PST

SATURDAY AUGUST 15 | 6 PM PST

”In purple text: “RECOMMENDED DONATIONS: $5-25”

3 purple background logos in with white inside of sign language interpreter, closed captioning and audio descriptions.Below is a collage of 15 different pictures of the performers in the shape of a “D”. 

Going from left to right, descriptions are as follows:An artist portrait of a single dreadlock visible across his cheek and the rest of his hair in a low braid. Antoine has a full beard and is bare chested with his left hand raised artistically near his face. His right hand is gently supporting his left forearm.

Picture of a Young Black Woman smiles and poses with her hand on her hip with her left leg lifted to her side. Wearing a pink floral jumpsuit.

Lark, a young nonbinary person wearing a red sequined long sleeve crop top posing at a beachstands against the sky. Lark looks up and while extending their left elbow artistically toward the sky.

Blue-eyed woman looking directly at the camera, her face is partially hidden by a red flamenco abanico (fan). She is wearing an embroidered silk shawl.Two Dancers posed in black dark background. They pose in a modern stylistic way connected to each other, one in a ponche, the other with their head back.

----Next Line-----

Picture of 5 UJDC dancers reaching to the camera upwards. Background is on a stage with green strips of hanging fabric behind. They are wearing black leotards with wraps, from the left the colors of the wraps are purple, blue, green, blue and purple. 

Deynis, a Latinx presenting person wearing a black tank top, dancing barefoot crouched down on a stage wearing a dark sequined jacket and black pants.Black and white photo of headshots of all the dancers with bare shoulders. From left to right is one male and four females. 

----Next Line-----

Jewish male with brown pompadour hairstyle with blended blue green yellow blonde on sides of head, wearing black top, cape, and tights. Silver tree branch necklace while signing sign name: JPosh with right hand using the ILY 

Handshape Headshot of a Black presenting female with short hair wearing a green long shirt crossing their arms smiling directly at the camera.Three females and one male, looking straight into the camera, standing closely together, horizontally with right shoulders visibly and standing in front of a board full of multi-art decors that were glued on, and overlapping in some areas and some photos pasted on as well like a Betty Boop character photo, and a Marilyn Monroe photo. 

Starting from left to right: (far left side) 

A male, with dark brown thin cut beard and mustache, wearing a baseball hat with letterings of a baseball team, and wearing a burgundy colored polo shirt. (next left) 

A female with dark brown long thick curly hair pulled up in back, with bright red lipstick, wearing a yellow sleeveless turtleneck shirt and mixed brown and tan colored earrings. (in the middle) 

A female with light brown curly hair pulled back with long bangs pulled to the right side of face, wearing a blue tank top with a black tank top layered underneath, and soft mauve colored lipstick. (far right side) 

A female, with long blond braided hair hanging over left shoulder, wearing a black fedora style hat, silver hoop earrings and a cheetah-print short sleeve shirt. 

Professional portrait of Noelle taken from above. Noelle has long, curly brown hair and is smiling at the camera. They are wearing a black dance top with a mesh pattern of small rectangles over their chest.

----Next Line-----

Picture of 2 latinx presenting humans sitting in crossed legs position facing profile towards the camera in between folded up red and white striped lawn chairs. Background is outside. They are facing away from each other. On the left is a male wearing black shirt and black cap. On the right is wearing a red shirt, blue long skirt and dark hair half pulled back.

Carlos, a Latinx presenting person is leaning against a wall made of colorful flattened rocks. He is wearing a white sweater with a blue banana around his neck as he holds a wide brimmed straw and brown colored hat. 

Picture of an indian presenting female with dark hair smiling. She is wearing a white sari with yellow wrap and arms are in a dance pose.

[END IMAGE DESCRIPTION]