Opentoe Peepshow #3: Dec 2, 2012

December 2012

Sunday December 2, 2012, 7-11pm
Branded Saloon, Vanderbilt Ave. and Bergen St., Brooklyn, $3-$10

Artists [performances start at 8pm *sharp*]

daniel rosza lang/levitsky is a cultural worker and agitator living in Brooklyn’s Glitter House.  Can’t stop picking things up on the street and making other things out of them – outfits, collectives, cabarets, barricades, meals…  Never figured out how to make art for art’s sake; rarely wants to work alone.  Third-generation radical; second-generation queer: just another oysterlish gendertreyf apikoyrus mischling fem who identifies with, not as.

Recent projects have included production midwifery and dancing for J Dellecave’s “Micro Mini Maxi Mystery Theater: En Total”; “The Tomb of the Unknown Pederast” installation in the 2012 Pop-Up Museum of Queer History exhibition; an evening-length toy theater production, “do not spare”; and co-editing the anthology “Dreaming In Public: Building the Occupy Movement”, with Amy Schrager Lang.  Ongoing work includes Just Like That (a Culture Push Practical Utopian Fellowship project); dancing with the Rude Mechanical Orchestra’s Tactical Spectacle; and an investigation of the queer scrapbooks of Carl Van Vechten.  Coming soon: http://meansof.org

Marci Blackman  is the author of two novels and several short works of fiction. Blackman’s first novel, Po Man’s Child, received the American Library Association’s Stonewall award for Best LBGT Fiction and the Firecracker Alternative Book Award for Best Fiction. In addition, Blackman co-edited the anthology, Beyond Definition: New Writing from Gay and Lesbian San Francisco, a Lambda Literary Award finalist and was one of the original members of Sister Spit, a touring queer spoken word troupe recently turned publishing company. An avid cyclist, Blackman’s first nonfiction title, Bike NYC: The Cyclist’s Guide to New York City was published in the summer of 2011 by Skyhorse Publishing. Blackman lives in Brooklyn.

 

The Kandake Dance Theatre for Social Change started in March 2011, The Kandake is a dance-theatre collective that combines social activism and philanthropy with folkloric, modern, theatrical and experimental movement. The original Kandake were the queens of ancient Ethiopia, Sudan, and parts of Egypt who were the political, military, and spiritual leaders of their societies. The women of The Kandake aim to continue the legacy of their predecessors with modern relevancy by generating active community leaders and joining the frontlines of diverse humanitarian efforts as part of their collective higher purpose. Thus, a percentage of Kandake-run productions is given to a humanitarian cause, project or 501c3.

The Kandake is also active in the community constantly hosting free shows, street art, and workshops.Interaction with the audience and storytelling is characteristic of our work. While some of what we do may be disturbing, absurdist, graphic, or “dark” our purpose is to rupture comfort zones, wake the unconscious, and inspire critical thinking. Just don’t fall into the habit of trying to find “meaning” in every show–sometimes we just want to dance!Our collective embraces talented performers of various ethnicities, religious (or non-religious) backgrounds, and sexual identities. If you are interested in working with The Kandake please visit us at www.TheKandake.com.

PHOTO by Stephen Freiheit

Mette Loulou von Kohl presents Grieving for the Undesirable. It is is a two-tiered exploration. On one level I open up the intersection within myself, of my identification as a queer woman and as a Palestinian/Arab. I investigate how these identities shape my body and the way I choose to wear these histories.

Simultaneously I use my body as a sight of resistance.  I examine how in this process of being read by others, one is either recognized as  “socially viable” or not, and thus denied the right of existence. I locate a fight for recognition in my queer and Palestinian identities through the process of grieving. Through the ritual act of grieving, I give respect and authority to aspects of myself that have been denied validation. The act of grieving simultaneously carves out a space where I demand the right to know my history and to grieve for its victims. As Judith Butler asked in an interview with Haaretz  in 2010 “under what conditions are certain lives grievable and certain lives not grievable, or ungrievable?” In the process of asking this question, I attempt to explore its answer.

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