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 ARTIST
Evan Hart Marsh has been training, performing, and teaching in dance and yoga for over fifteen years. Evan holds a B.A. in Dance from Loyola Marymount University and a 500hr certification in Advanced Yoga Therapy from Asheville Yoga Center. He has performed and toured both locally and internationally with various artistic directors around the U.S. including John Pennington (Pennington Performance Group), Damon Rago (Palindrome Performance Group), Chad Michael Hall (Multiplex), Mike Esperanza (BARE Dance), and Charles Slender-White (FACT/SF.)
As an educator in both dance and yoga, Evan has shared his teachings across the country and most recently as an adjunct professor at his alma mater LMU. Here he was able to dive deeper into his research in yoga philosophy and Ayurveda and cultivate his wellness program for athletes. In 2018 he was invited to present his research at the Health Wellness & Society Research Network conference at the Imperial College in London, England. This experience and his ongoing research in the field has informed his latest performance work, titled Thread.
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 ARTISTS
Krista Kaye and Aubrhe Yruretagoyena met during their studies at San Diego State University. As their interests coalesced, Krista and Aubrhe began an improvisational practice which eventually led to the birth of if. Dance Theater, in collaboration with Chloe Chenoa Freeman. In addition to their work with if. Dance Theater, Krista and Aubrhe have worked on many collaborative projects including Make It, GLEAM, After Nauman and LIVE.
As Krista and Aubrhe mature into an experienced duet of collaborators, they are excited to create a new project, inviting more folks into the experiment and defining their roles differently. They are humbled and energized by the amazing opportunity of DISCO RIOT’s S P A C E Alliance Studio Residency with Cori-ography Studio.
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 ARTIST
I grew up in the theatre. It was where I learned to activate body and voice in ways that contribute to humanity. Born in Denver, Colorado to an American mother and an Iranian father, I spent most of my childhood in the southern part of the United States. In school, raising a hand to declare my family name, Sardashti, evoked an invisible mark of displacement. Estrangement was normal. However, theatre offred community. In this place a person’s ability to create dynamic movement and play with words held more significance than a name.
Currently I am pursuing a PhD in Philosophy, Art and Social Thought at The European Graduate School under the supervision of professor Judith Butler. Across the last nine years I have created performances in Seoul, London, Los Angeles, Glorenza, Venice, Florence, Bolzano, Milan and San Diego. I am concerned with how intersections of live art, performance ethnography and socially engaged art mediate cultural transformation. My artistic practice has moved through several mediums since starting actor training 23 years ago, but using art to pose questions, connect with others and shift perception has remained consistent. Theatre is an obsession that keeps me from pursuing a career in politics.
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.