INTRODUCING DISCO RIOT’S
We movers and shakers know that the art of making dances requires SPACE, and while there seems to be plenty of it out there, it doesn’t always feel accessible. DISCO RIOT’s S P A C E Alliance program is a studio residency program promoting the cooperation of local spaces and movement-artists. This unique program not only connects dance makers to rehearsal space, but also offers an organized and mindful experience for creative inquiry, artistic development, networking, creative and cultural exchange, and a platform to share work.
DISCO RIOT’s community partners Art Produce, Cori-ography, and The Little Yoga Studio will provide 40 hours of rehearsal space over a 10-week period to selected resident artists from August 25 – November 3, 2019. In the spirit of community, collaboration and exchange, the residency program also includes master classes taught by the resident artists for their home studio communities, showings of each artist’s work-in-progress, and culminates in a final presentation of artists’ work on November 7-9, 2019.
S P A C E Alliance Showcase
November 7-9, 2019
Queen Bee’s Arts and Cultural Center
3925 Ohio st. North Park, CA 92104
Meet the Artists
Artist
Evan Hart Marsh
In residence at
About the Work
THREAD
Thread, the english translation of the sanskrit word guna, is a live dance performance that explores the intricacies and energies of the three states of mind in yogic philosophy: Sattva (contentment and peace), Rajas (restlessness and passion), and Tamas (inertia and depression). These mental states are intrinsically linked and are in a constant ebb and flow in relation to our internal and external environments. How we react to these environments is directly dependent upon the state of mind we are presently expressing.
Thread explores the fluctuations of the conscious mind and its relationship to decision making. My intention behind the work is to inspire my fellow collaborators and audience members by shedding light on these mental states so that we as individuals can become more aware of why we make the decisions we do. I believe that it is through recognition, identification, and practice that we may become a master of our selves.
Artists
Krista Kaye + Aubrhe Yruretagoyena
In residence at
About the Work
Contact improvisation is a form of movement that practices listening or seeing through touch and learning to communicate through the point of contact (with your dancing partner/s). This dance requires slowing down to speed up. With the potential to fly or physically support the weight of each other, contact improvisers focus on physical communication skills rather than steps or choreography. Contact improvisation is a lovely way to open yourself to discovery within relationship.
In the making of this work, we consider how being witnessed influences our dancing bodies and our decision making. Rather than creating a traditional performance, we investigate how our somatic dancing is influenced by viewing while simultaneously discovering the possibilities of our bodies in contact with each other. Other, more fundamental research would include horizontal and vertical weight sharing, falling and the effects of gravity, core to core contact, systems and strategies for communicating via touch, and somatic listening and awareness. The piece is anticipated to emerge as a durational score that loops and weaves, with consistency derived from a shared vocabulary among participants.
Artist
Zoya Sardashti
In residence at
About the Work
HOW DO WE DRESS FOR THE WEATHER?
The climate is changing. Regimes are changing. Borders are changing, and so must modes of self-expression and perception. How do we express agency in a world where one’s body has been framed in a particular racial discourse? How Do We Dress for the Weather? is an opportunity to inhabit one’s body through the interplay between learning new movement and language, so through alterity we might sense sameness.
How Do We Dress for the Weather? is the sixth installment in the Waking Up Iranian American series, a life project that includes 5 one-to-one performances, a dance, and performance lecture. The performances are autoethnographic works and a series of performative interventions focused on the ways cultural exchange develops between a performer and a participant. In Waking Up Iranian American, intimacy is used as a strategy to counteract the positioning that cultures of fear intend to create. The intention is to create a space where people are invited to participate in discussions and actions about being between cultures, nationalism and Islamophobia, so that we might move beyond antiquated notions of free and oppressed.