Time: tba Location: Riverfront Park Price: tba Tickets: tba
"The Invisibility Project" is an exploration of how current residents of Wilmington, NC see and experience each other when interacting across race lines in the wake of the Coup d'etat of 1898.
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Choreography: Brittany Patterson in collaboration with the dancers.
Poetry and sound: Khalisa Rae Williams Dancers: Cedric Turner, Qaadir Hicks, Kylah Thorpe, Amanda Cordova, McCall White, Brittany Patterson
>>> more about 'The Invisibility Project': The piece will take place at Riverfront park in downtown Wilmington. The choreography relates to the historical significance of the river throughout the piece. The Cape Fear River is the unofficial burial ground of many victims of the Coup d'état of 1898 and this piece is in part about the current population of Wilmington contending with this shameful history. The accompaniment for the dance is a combination of narration, music, and original poetry performed by a local poet. The audience will be seated or standing within Riverfront park (so as not to block water St) and/or seated on the steps of the federal building if needed and plausible. Therefore the audience is facing the river and the dance occurs in front of the river. Since all participants in the project are local and the Riverfront is open to the public rehearsals in the space will occur several times throughout the month of August for spacing concerns.
>>> Biography: Brittany Patterson has been dancing since the age of 5 and began choreographing as a teenager. She danced as an apprentice for Demetrius Klein Dance Company in Lake Worth, FL and has presented her own work in New York, NY in conjunction with DKDC. Brittany studied dance at SUNY Purchase for two years before changing career paths. Brittany has a BA in Literature from SUNY Purchase and a Masters in Social Work from Simmons College. She moved to Wilmington in May, 2011 from Boston, MA and has enjoyed reentering the dance scene in Wilmington with performances and choreography in North Carolina Dance Festival tours, Dance-a-Lorus, Wilmington Dance Festival, and SARUS festival since 2012.
>>> Artist Statement: I always create from a deep psychological place. I am often inspired by my experiences in my work as a clinical social worker and so I focus on intimate relational issues as well as social action challenges with my choreography. My intent in every project is to affect the audience in some way; to cause them to think or feel differently than when they arrived. This project is no different. "The Invisibility Project" started with a screening of Chris Everett's film "Wilmington on Fire" which sent me on a journey of exploration of the history of racism and its legacy in the Port City. I was most interested in exploring how these historical events shape our race relations now, how the horrors of 1898 still affect how we interact with each other across race lines in Wilmington, NC. It explores the thoughts and feelings that arise between people when they are faced with interacting with someone of a different race: bringing to light through movement the invisible processes that occur in these relationships. The creative process has been focused on both building the finished product and on forging new paths of authenticity in race relations within the cast. In some sense the cast of "The Invisibility Project" has been used as a microcosm of the greater community and my hope is that this project will jump start many more deep, authentic, and important conversations about the nature of race relations in Wilmington, NC
ANNA EDWARDS
Shadows of Injustice
Time: tba Location: Riverwalk between Market and Princess Price: tba Tickets: tba
Drawing from events that took place during the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898, Anna Edwards focuses on the visible violence against African Americans and the justice that is still ...
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... unseen for many African American communities
Choreographer: Anna Edwards 5 dancers
Anna Edwards is a choreographer, performing artist, and researcher. She is interested in movement analysis and creating dances that insight awareness or positive change in American society through collaboration and community engagement. Edwards is currently a senior studying Dance Performance at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte. Edwards intends to complete a master’s degree in choreography following her studies at UNCC. In 2010, she refined her skills at University of North Carolina School of the Arts summer intensive and continued at the American Dance Festival in 2016.
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More about the piece: Shadows of Injustice was created to articulate to audience members the historic and current violence against African Americans in the United States, drawing inspiration from the Wilmington Race Riot of 1896. This work is intended to make an impression on participants and audience members that will inspire awareness and positive change in each individual’s surrounding community.
The inspiration I received for this project originated from the research I had been doing on the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. This particular event was an attack led by former confederate officer Alfred Moore Waddell against high profile African Americans in order to gain political power in the city of Wilmington, NC. The tragedy of that event and the distinct image of one versus another without the solace of justice mirrored the violence seen today in police brutality specifically against African Americans. I am creating a piece that brings awareness to the historical facts of the Wilmington Race Riot and informs audience members about the racial violence and injustice still seen today. The goal that I have as a choreographer is to insight positive change in race relations in the Wilmington community to encourage justice for those who have still not yet experienced this freedom. This work is closely connected with the theme of this years festival which is based around the seen and the unseen; what is in darkness being brought to light. My choreography focuses on the seen violence in the events that took place in 1896 and in today’s society through police brutality to leave the audience asking “where is the justice?” The unseen aspect of this work lies in the lack of justice for the African American community of Wilmington. Shadows of Injustice is a new work that has developed out of my research on the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. Through this work, my dancers and I are continually staying informed about recent cases of police brutality and the events of the Wilmington Race Riot of 1898. Using this information, we are collaborating to create a meaningful work for the Wilmington community. This work will move down the boardwalk along the Cape Fear River from Market Street to Princess Street drawing on Alfred Moore Waddell’s infamous proposal to “choke the Cape Fear with carcasses.” Throughout the work, dancers will verbalize the names of the known victims of the riot, and as the work progresses, they will verbalize the names of victims of police brutality in recent times. This verbalization is intended to honor victims of racial brutality. In the process of creating this work I am working with 5 to 7 dancers from The University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC) and the surrounding community utilizing UNC Charlotte facilities. Through this process I am presenting my research and current events with the dancers; the dancers and I collaborate through improvisational studies, writing prompts, and discussions pertaining to the relevant issues of violence and police brutality against African American communities. The information that I am gathering from these exercises are being shaped and molded into a final, impactful product specific to the Cape Fear Boardwalk. This work is significant due to the climate of race relations nationwide. Journalist, Heather Cronk once stated, “systems of oppression rely on silence in order to exist.” Voices have to be heard and change has to be made. Income gaps, under representation in City Council and police department, lack of investment in inner-city neighborhoods, and more are all evidence of racial tensions that still exist in Wilmington today. I hope that my choreography can be a catalyst for this change in Wilmington, NC. I have visited the boardwalk from Market to Princess Street to take photographs and measurements that are being utilized in the creation of the project here in Charlotte. Once the dancers and I arrive in Wilmington, we will rehearse our work in the designated area. There will be no preparation or strike needed because there is no equipment or music needed for this piece; although we will need access to a location to change clothes. On the day of the performance, we will need to run the piece at least once. I would like to request 45 minutes for the dancers to warm up before the performance in the open area around the flagpole at the end of Market street right along the boardwalk.
More about the artist: While at UNCC, Edwards performed in the 2017 Spring Dance Concert as an understudy for Esplanade choreographed by world renowned Paul Taylor. Her choreography has been selected for the M.O.V.E. showcases at UNCC to present with her peers. In 2016, Edwards performed with Breanne Horne, Ashley Williams, Reba Bowens, Hannah Blackwell, Megan Payne, Danielle Corbin, and Alexandria Nunweiler in the Triptych Collective at the McColl Center for Art and Innovation. Anna has pursued research in reconstructing Ring Shout movement alongside her professor, Tamara Williams during a course in the Spring where she traveled to Charleston to conduct research at various plantations and historical sites as well as a praise house that is still in operation. She is continuing this research over the summer through the Charlotte Research Scholars program.
Artist Statement: Anna Edwards is a senior at the University of North Carolina at Charlotte (UNCC), majoring in dance performance. She aspires to earn her MFA in choreography to create work around the subjects of social justice. In her time at UNCC, she has collaboratively created work around the topic of police brutality in relation to African American communities. Edwards is continuing this work into her senior year and after graduation. Through her choreography, Anna Edwards intends to inspire intellectual conversations among participants and audience members in order to bring about positive, meaningful change in and around her community. She draws upon historical and current events to make statements about injustices in today’s society to inspire progress. As an artist and activist, she is passionate about dance in the community rather than on a traditional stage. Edwards feels that her work is more accessible to underprivileged communities this way and that there is an added opportunity to engage with the community on a more personal level off of a stage. She has performed in churches, parks, and museums in her community and is working to performing in other private and public community spaces. When engaging with a new community, research and communication are major components of her creative process. She feels that the more people are involved in the collaborative or creative process, the more people will be directly affected by the intent of the choreography. During her time at UNCC, Edwards has been working closely with Professor Tamara Williams on reconstructing Ring Shout movement and researching dance as social justice. Last Spring, Edwards took a course entitled Re-thinking the Civil Rights Movement taught by Dr. Cheryl Hicks which sparked her interest in researching historical events to create dances for social justice. The information that she has gathered and learned from these experiences has helped shape her perspective on dance as social justice and has helped her to create work that is more influential and effective.
AVALON MURPHY
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'Timeline'
Time: tba Location: tba Price: tba Tickets: tba
Timeline started as a reflection on being a woman at this point in the timeline and how time is not always necessarily linear. There are three dancers-representing the ...
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... past, present, and future, and who plays what is fluid throughout the piece. The movement represents the relationship time has with itself as well as women in relation to time and women with each other. Often times feminine history is underplayed or wiped out all together, which leaves a gap in our known lineage and limits our capacity to understand the past, the present, and how to make amends for the future. The continuity of the piece aims to shine some light on these gaps and show that women are always a part of (history, time, reality, existence, etc.), even when their participation goes undocumented. The work will be performed on a loop and highlight the perceived flexibility of the timeline.
“Timeline” intersects with the topics of “light, water, and darkness” both thematically and in movement. The rhythmic quality of the ocean as well as the fluidity of water was a choreographic inspiration for the piece. Often times women in history have been underplayed or darkened from the record which leaves a gap in our known lineage and limits our capacity to understand the past, the present, and how to make amends for the future. The continuity of the piece aims to shine some light on these gaps and show that women are inherently a part of (history, time, reality, existence, etc.), even when their participation goes undocumented. "
>>> credits Choreography: Avalon Murphy
Dancers: Nicole Holmes, Avalon Murphy, Amanda Young
Music: Hans Zimmer
>>> artist biography: Avalon, new to the Wilmington area from the west coast, has been connected to dance in some capacity all her life and has a collective ten years of formal training in the usual suspects: jazz, ballet/pointe, contemporary, and hip-hop.
Since moving to the area, she has performed in the Wilmington Dance Festival, Arts Sensation, Lumina Festival of the Arts, a site-specific immersive theatre/dance production, and is rehearsing for the upcoming Dance-a-Lorus show as well as the dance portion of a multi-media project that will premiere next winter.
Avalon sees the arts as having the potential to be very healing both for the creators and the audience members. Experiencing art that shows a new way of thinking or moving can be powerful, affecting, and beneficial for everybody involved. Because of this, she has spent time teaching creative movement and modern to at-risk youth and continues to work with kids and dance upon moving to the area as a volunteer in the dance departments at GLOW and DREAMS of Wilmington.
>>> Artist Statement: “Timeline” started as a reflection on being a woman at this point in the timeline and how time is not always necessarily linear.
The dancers represent the concepts of (and women from) the past, present, and future. The work will be performed on a loop and who plays what will be fluid throughout the piece.
We tend think of the past as fixed/stationary and yet choices and perspectives in the present impact how we view the past, and this impacts the future. The movement correlates with this idea of reality versus perception and examines the connections and differences between women across the timeline.
Arts, sustainability and social ecology workshop. What role do artists play in the ecosystem? How does culture influence ...
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... our social ecology?
Laura Carisa Gardea (MAMA), Moderator
Laura Carisa Gardea, holds her BM in Opera from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts where in her senior year she founded the campus’s first community garden in addition to serving as resident manager of Garden's 52 in 2015-2016, a research artist cooperative and DIY venue located in one of Winston-Salem's prominent food deserts. At the cooperative, Laura incubated with other friends a band, MAMA. Taken from the South American term Pachamama, the mother of the planet, the band seeks to promote concepts of sustainability and connection to nature. Today, Laura still plays under the stage-name MAMA and looks forward to the release of her first solo album, this fall titled Proxevita. She is pursuing her Master of Arts in Sustainability at Wake Forest University and is a recent grant awardee for her project, Articulture, which combines creative place-making and agriculture.
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>>> more about the piece: To begin, we will create natural percussive instruments from local bio-littler sticks, rocks, leaves etc)and find a natural shape and or circle to see everyone facing each other if possible. This should take anywhere from 3-5 minutes, just long enough to start to get lost in the sounds. Then we may disband from the circles depending on the vibe/culture, whatever provides more freedom. There will be a series of questions for participants/observers to answer and conversations to follow on... Anthropocentric (human activities) contribute to variability withing that system. How can we re-approach nature? American philosopher, transcendentalist, farmer and naturalist Wendell Berry argues that good farming is a cultural development and spiritual discipline. Where are the intersections for the arts and ritual and sustainability. Are artists the indicator species and keystone species in their ecosystem?
>>> Artist Statement: My musical approach is informed through a life-long fascination with ecology. Mama seeks to occupy sonically the current socio-political realm with honest perseverance and compassion with elements of Dream Pop, Electronic Looped Polyrythms, Ambient Grooves to highlight the dialectical relationship of being an individual in the modern anthropocenic world.
The Arts, sustainability and social ecology workshop is the infusion of my own studies and interests in sustainable development alongside and within the exploration of society and intersections within the arts.
VERGE BLISS/ DENDERA BLOODBATH
http://www.denderabloodbath.com/
'Gates of Ereshkigal'
Time: tbd Location: TBD Price: tbd Tickets: tbd
Sumerian ritual magick
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Verge Bliss -- orchestration
Alice Rodriguez, Alice Lilitu, Margaret Cameron, Jack Parsons, and L.
Ron Hubbard -- concepts Traditional arrangement from the Sumerian
Dendera Bloodbath explores the world of ritual and neurolinguistic programming to affect paradigm shift. This particular ritual, the Gates of Ereshkigal, is an ancient Sumerian rite of the goddess Inanna which is performed as part of the Babalon working as imagined by Jack Parsons et al.
>>> Biography: Dendera Bloodbath began as a creative conducting rod for Atlanta musician Virginia Bliss. As she wrote rock songs for Verge of Bliss, material accumulated which did not fit into the band’s style and thus became a completely separate project. Gleaning heavy influences from the Victorian era playwright and poet Oscar Wilde she constructed a concept album around his one act Salome to be performed on autoharp. Shortly after this she began experimenting with synthesizers and sequenced beats to supplement acoustic instruments. Her 2011 album [wr wr wr], inspired by political upheaval in Egypt, featured synthetic beats and noises supplemented by augmented harp and drehleier sounds. Currently she performs both experimental darkwave sets with autoharp and noise sets with electronics of her own design.
>>> Artist Statement: Dendera Bloodbath explores the world of ritual and neurolinguistic programming to affect paradigm shift. This particular ritual, the Gates of Ereshkigal, is an ancient Sumerian rite of the goddess Inanna which is performed as part of the Babalon working as imagined by Jack Parsons et al.
Outside the Cannon: Poetry as Protest is Kelly Rae's graduate thesis manuscript centered around the notion that words, more specifically the spoken word, can be used to shift the racial ans political climate in a community, but also can start a revolution...
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...Panel, Reading and Workshop on Poetry as Protest featuring author and spoken word activist, Kelly Rae Williams. What are today’s poets writing about at a time when many citizens feel their lives and livelihoods are endangered by politics and inequalities in law enforcement, hiring practices, and wage parity? How have grass roots movements like Black Lives Matter reinvigorated and inspired the spoken word? How do voices get heard above the screaming matches of today’s America, and how do those voices transform pain and rage into art? Join us for a reading, a Q&A, and a book-signing. Afterwards, the poets will talk to students about craft in breakaway sessions. The workshop will be a 20-35 minute talk, with discussion and poetry reading. Audience is encouraged to listen to the talk and then engage/participate. Participants should have seats facing the front of the room and a possible area to write on. The speaker will need a podium. Location suggestions are UNCW, CFCC Wilson Center, outside the library, or community center.
>>> credits Project director: Khalisa Rae Williams
>>> biography: Kelly Rae believes that starting Poet.she Performing Arts is truly her greatest achievement. Her work with Poet.she has led to countless awards and recognition for her writing. Kelly Rae's published her first book in 2012, Real Girls Have Real Problems. Her recent work has been seen in Requiem Magazine, Dirty Chai, Tishman Review, Obsidian Magazine, She is a finalist in the Furious Flower Gwendolyn Brooks Prize, she was recently selected as a winner of the Fem Lit Magazine Contest, and was a winner of the online Voicemail Poetry contest. Her work hangs in the Cameron Arts Museum exhibit, She Tells a Story. She a staff-editor of the QU Lit Mag is a recent graduate of the Queens University MFA low-residency program in Charlotte NC. She currently submitting her full length poetry book and thesis project, entitled Outside the Canon: Poetry as Protest for publication. She is the newest writer for Cape Fear Living Magazine.
>>> Artist statement: Outside the Canon is my thesis project and full-length manuscript. I entitled it Outside the Canon because for so long women of color, their stories, their truth,and their beauty have been silenced and pushed to the margins of the canon. In my experience as an academic and a writer, often times my narrative is not accepted in the literary canon. My stories, my jargon, my paid is not socially acceptable. Audrey Lorde says, “Poetry is not only a dream and vision; it is the skeleton architecture of our lives. It lays the foundations for a future of change, a bridge across our fears of what has never been before.”
Poetry, indeed, has always been one of humanity’s sharpest tools for puncturing the shrink-wrap of silence and oppression, and although it may appear to be galaxies apart from science, these two channels of truth have something essential in common: nature, the raw material for both. The intent of Poetry of Protest is to expose the sheer power that poetry and the written word has to be an agent for change and shift. Shifting not only the political climate, but stigmas about what is taboo and what is appropriate. Poetry has the potential to change common misconceptions about people of color, queer people, transpeople and more. My hope is that through the workshop and through my thesis, the lens in which we view the world will be expanded.
Bitter, Inc. is an opera in 9 parts. Each album unfolds a story told in archetypes set to a backround of current events. Hermetic principles guide a psychological journey, as metaphor ...
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... for an overarching story related to political and religious events not yet manifested.
God-Emperor Ryan O'Doud; Sound engineering/programming, lyrics, videography, Synthesis, visual &design editor, program facilitator.
JC MEYERS; Live sound manipulation, religious presentation, performance art, synthesis. Chung Groar; Live performance art, body work, theater.
The God-Emperor is a manifestation of American consumer capitalism in conjunction with ancient mystery school ideas of alchemical self-transformation. He is a Pharaoh, a prophet, and a salesman In short, the apotheosis of perfect American manhood. JC Meyers is the Messiah, the sole leader of the Order of Celestial Integration, the master of all selves, the No master above all masters. He/they/she is the living embodiment of perfected religion and revolution. Bitter, Inc. is the vehicle through which they make profits and indoctrinate the masses, respectively.
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If you can imagine Industrial, Punk, Prog, Harsh Noise, Jazz-Fusion, Avant-Garde, and Pop music thrown together into 2-5 minute song formats with theater, BDSM, video, performance art and live audience interaction you still couldn’t be prepared for our opera.
Bitter, Inc. is a multimedia presentation built around a 9 part opera composed from electronic music. Our live performance features synthesizer music, noise, avant-garde sound, live digital sound manipulation, performance art, video, and the creation of a temporary "stage installation."The audience is generally in front of us as we perform, but Chung will often move through the audience as well. We encourage the audience to participate in the performance art act which can include anything as simple as singing along to unconventional acts such as stapling money to Chung's body. We will most likely hand members of the audience "commodity fetish bank notes," rewarding them financially for behaving. We also give the audience receipts.We often build a barrier between ourselves and the audience that we forbid them to break or move through. We conduct pseudo-religious allegorical ceremonies, hermetic rituals, live corporate seminars and other theatrical performances during our set.This is all in addition to the main portion of our set which is essentially electro-industrial song writing and live performance.
Musical performance. 'The Waking Life' is the creation of Wilmington based multi instrumentalist and visual artist Luis Adorno. Drawing inspiration from multiple styles and genres to create sprawling instrumental pieces. Inference Engine is an extension of this project but incorporates ensemble groups of ever changing artists performing improvised durational musical performances and sound installations.
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>>> credits Luis Adorno- musician, producer, band leader, visual artist Various artists - tbd
>>> biography The Waking Life is a Wilmington, NC based experimental music project created by Luis Adorno in 2014 after some previous musical projects had dissolved. Since then The Waking Life has evolved to become a full on one man show mixing visual art, composition, noise music, synthesized sound and performance art. The Waking Life has recorded and released albums prolifically while also playing shows and festivals in various locations on the East Coast including SARUS Festivals 2016 event.
Installation. Audiences are invited to enter the installation space, listen, rest, meditate, look around or contribute to the installation by writing and leaving messages in the bottles. For all ages.
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>>> credits Karola Luettringhaus- artist, designer, producer, founder of SARUS Festival -
