One of the highlights of Pride Month is always the Fresh Meat Festival, an annual performance fest developed by local trans-choreographer Sean Dorsey. Fresh Meat is celebrating its sixth season and continues to capture a lot of what's new in both Bay Area and national contemporary performance. In recent years, there's been a real challenge to identify how contemporary performance is evolving, and projects like Fresh Meat are helping push the cultural envelope.
This year's festival continues to feature underrepresented communities, creating a cultural melting pot that includes spoken word, glam rock, aerial dance, hip hop, taiko, hula, and Afro-Colombian dance. Says Fresh Meat director Sean Dorsey, "This year's artists were all selected because each of them inspires me personally. There's going to be this amazing confluence of traditional and new performance."
Both the trans and queer performance communities have developed significantly in recent years, and the new work being produced is more sophisticated and skilled. Says Dorsey, "I am so excited to witness the burgeoning trans performance communities that are growing now across the country. There is an amazing confidence and dynamism there. Our community has endured and suffered so much, being able to celebrate ourselves now is a blessing."
The focus of the festival this year has been on world premieres, including new work by Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu, Julia Serano, Colombian Soul, Freeplay Dance Crew and a new dance-theatre piece by Dorsey titled Bully. "The Fresh Meat Festival has really become recognized as a leader and on the cutting edge of what's hot in trans and queer performance. We scour the Bay Area and the nation, this year with an eye for trans and queer folks performing traditional and new forms," says Dorsey.
June 14-15 (Thurs., Fri. at 8 p.m.): Sean Dorsey (contemporary dance), Colombian Soul, Triple Threat Taiko, Freeplay Dance Crew, Shawna Virago (glam rock), Miguel Chernus-Goldstein (aerial dance), Julia Serano, Imani Henry and Ryka Aoki de la Cruz (spoken word).
June 16 (Sat. at 7 & 10 p.m.): Dorsey, Colombian Soul, Taiko Ren, Na Lei Hulu I Ka Wekiu, Virago, Chernus-Goldstein, Serano, Henry and Aoki de la Cruz.
Oakland Dance Fest
Contemporary dance (as well as ballet) has always had a tenuous relationship with the East Bay. Oakland Ballet closed a couple of years ago, Diablo Ballet is experiencing funding challenges, and modern dance has never gained a high profile east of the Bay Bridge. Luckily for Oakland, Charles Anderson of Company C Contemporary Ballet continues to present his company as part of the Oakland Dance Festival. This will be the festival's fourth year, and Anderson has invited Flyaway Productions and ODC/Dance to help celebrate.
Says Company C director Charles Anderson, "One of the founding principles of the Oakland Dance Festival is to present three complete and differing visions of dance on one stage in one night. Instead of presenting many companies doing only smaller selections, the Oakland Dance Festival offers the companies longer performances, so the audience gains a complete picture of each company's particular vision of dance."
Both ODC and Flyaway Productions are known for vigorous and virtuosic work, with Flyaway focusing on apparatus-based dances, and ODC featuring their sleek, muscular choreography. Says Anderson, "The Oakland Dance Festival was in part created to offer differing dance performance viewpoints, and to foster dance audiences in the East Bay. In the future, Oakland Dance Festival hopes to bring in a wide range of companies from around the United States."
Fresh Meat Festival at ODC Theater (3153 17th St., SF), June 14-16. Tickets ($15, advance purchase recommended): (415) 863-9834 or odctheater.org. Info: www.freshmeatproductions.org.
Oakland Dance Festival at Malonga Casquelourd Center for the Arts (1428 Alice St., Oakland), June 16-24 (Sat., 8 p.m.; Sun., 2 p.m.) Tickets ($25): (925) 708-0752. Info: companycballet.org