TRY is a performance choreographed by Ishmael Houston-Jones created in deep collaboration with jose e. abad, Snowflake Calvert, Keith Hennessy, and Kevin O’Connor with music by Gabriel Nuñez de Arco and jose e. abad in an immersive installation by Monica Canilao & Kendra Dorman and lighting design by GG Torres.
* * * * *
the weirdest shit can come true
making difference differently together
beyond beyond beyond
body and land meet ancestry and futurity
opening me up
trying togethering centering relational
collaboration as laboratory during crises of togetherness
circles of overlap growing, circles of separation remaining
these are the questions that haunt me
it won’t be revealed until it’s there
* * * * *
TRY explores what Sadiya Hartman calls, “Acts of collaboration and improvisation that unfold within the space of enclosure.”
The TRY team’s collaborative work circles around the crises and potentials of land, healing, movement, consent, ownership and solidarity. We seek a soft experience where land acknowledgement and fascia can be woven into a single conversation. Where bodies are energies and powers at the same time, always entangled within the ecologies from which they emerge.
Physical or digital proof of vaccination or a negative COVID-19 test, taken within 48 hours, will be required for entry to workshops and performance. Masks will be required inside.
Tuesday, November 2nd, 11am-2pm
Workshop / lab led by jose abad, Snowflake Calvert, and Ishmael Houston-Jones
By and for BIPOC
Tickets $5-15 (discounted or free for members)
If you’re broke, let us know and the lab is free
Thursday, November 4th, 6-9pm
Workshop / lab led by Ishmael Houston-Jones, Keith Hennessy, and Kevin O’Connor
Open to all people
Tickets $5-15 (discounted or free for members)
If you’re broke, let us know and the lab is free
This lab will include playing with (nontoxic) foam that is a little soapy and magical. Consider bringing a towel to wash off.
Saturday, November 6, 7pm onwards
TRY in-process performance @ The Lab
dance + DJ + dreamscape visuals
Tickets $0-30 (discounted or free for members)
Following this residency at The Lab, TRY moves to Z Space for five performances. More info at: www.circozero.org
jose e. abad (they/them) is a multidisciplinary performance artist, DJ, and curator based in unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Territory. Born in Olongapo City, Philippines to a Filipina Mother and an Afro-Carribean U.S. Naval Soldier, their work explores the complexities of cultural identity at the crossroads of gender, sexuality, class, and race in the United States. Through dance theater, sonic and visual experimentation, they unearth lost histories that reside in the body, that the mind has forgotten and dominant culture has erased.
Snowflake Calvert (Yaqui, Raramuri, and Tzotzil Mayan heritage) is a Two-Spirit artist who serves as the President of QUIL - Queers United for Intersectional Liberation. She produces queer events throughout California and Oregon that allow her to curate a vehicle for political, social, and cultural activism through the artistry of her radical queerness. In addition, she is a professional dancer, teacher, and entrepreneur. She was a member of The Haus of Towers, is affiliated with the Bay Area American Indian Two-Spirit Powwow, teaches decolonization through movement workshops, is the former owner/director of The Dance Zone Studio, hosts Two-Spirit talking circles, and is currently expanding her BIPOC collaborative work of "Seeds and Sequins" with Europa Grace.
Keith Hennessy, is a frolicker, imperfectionist, and witch working in the fields of dance, performance, activism, affordable housing, and teaching. Raised on Atikameksheng Anishnawbek lands in Canada, living in Ramaytush Ohlone lands (San Francisco) since 1982, Keith tours internationally. Hennessy’s work is interdisciplinary and experimental, motivated by anti-racist, queer-feminist, and decolonial movements. He engages practices of improvisation, ritual, collaboration, play, and protest to respond to political crises and intense feelings. Hennessy directs Circo Zero, co-founded the dance/culture spaces 848 and CounterPulse, and was a member of Sara Mann’s Contraband, 1985-1994. Awards include Guggenheim, USArtist, NY Bessie, and Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and residencies at McDowell, Djerassi, Yaddo, MANCC, Kampnagel, Impulstanz, and Regards et Mouvements. Keith teaches experimental approaches to dance, performance, history, ritual, and healing at dance festivals, universities and independent studios internationally. 2021 gigs include Homo Novus Festival (Riga), ONCA Gallery (Brighton), Ponderosa (Germany), University of Hawaii, CORE (Atlanta), as well as BOFFO (NY) with TRY. With a focus on the politics of relationships, Keith has negotiated shared power with Ishmael Houston-Jones, Snowflake Calvert, Brontez Purnell, Nathaniel Moore, Peaches, Meg Stuart, jose e abad, J Jha, Annie Danger, Ryanaustin Dennis, Dohee Lee & Laterna, Sara Shelton Mann, and Gerald Casel.
Ishmael Houston-Jones’ improvised dance and text work has been performed in world-wide. Drawn to collaborations as a way to move beyond boundaries and the known, Houston-Jones celebrates the political aspect of cooperation. Houston-Jones and Fred Holland shared a 1984 New York Dance and Performance “Bessie” Award for Cowboys, Dreams and Ladders, which reintroduced the erased narrative of the Black cowboy back into the mythology of the American west. He was awarded his second “Bessie” Award for the 2010 revival of THEM, his 1985/86 collaboration with writer Dennis Cooper and composer Chris Cochrane. In 2017 he received a third “Bessie” for Variations on Themes from Lost and Found: Scenes from a Life and other Works by John Bernd. In 2020 he received a fourth “Bessie” for Service to the Field of Dance. Houston-Jones is the DraftWork curator for works-in-progress at Danspace Project in New York. Also at Danspace, he curated Platform 2012: Parallels which focused on choreographers from the African diaspora and postmodernism and co-curated with Will Rawls Platform 2016: Lost & Found, Dance, New York, HIV/AIDS, Then and Now. He has received awards from The Herb Alpert Foundation, The Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, The Foundation for Contemporary Arts, The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and United States Artists.
Kevin O’Connor is a multidisciplinary artist working as a dance improviser, circus artist, and installation artist from Ontario, Canada, and now based in the Bay area. He is involved in a decade-long artistic collective exploring participatory de-colonizing performances within polluted watersheds in Ontario. Their collaborative art-making explores practices of togethering across radically different sense-abilities. www.ecologicalbodying.com
Gabriel Nuñez de Arco is a visual artist, composer, sound engineer, lighting designer and DJ from Oakland, CA (Chochenyo Ohlone land) with roots in La Paz, Bolivia (Aymara territory). They have performed and provided technical support at events across Australia, Bolivia and the United States with a focus on queer DIY dance spaces. Their work explores questions of belonging as a queer diasporic person, the contradictions of ancestral reverence in a body with a colonized bloodline, and the (re)formation of decolonized histories as a pathways to a decolonized future.
Monica Canilao has deep investment in ideas surrounding home, community, and the passage of time. These themes are delicately interwoven into her daily life and throughout her art practice. Fascinated with the imprint people leave behind, Canilao creates a visual record from salvaged objects and weathered images. Her work spans from massive paper and fabric structures, site-specific installations, and murals to meticulous paintings, mixed media works, jewelry constructions, and sculptures. Through her practice and collaborations she attempts to create a visual vernacular that resonates beyond verbal and individual differences. Her vast body of diverse work compiles a living history, creating a narrative that weaves her experiences with physical remnants of past lives. Monica is a Bay Area native and is currently based in Oakland, California. She has played a vital role for over two decades in the San Francisco Bay Area DIY and mission school art scenes and beyond. www.monicacanilao.com
TRY is produced by Circo Zero and supported by the Hewlett Foundation 50 Arts Commission, The Kenneth Rainin Foundation, The California Arts Council, The San Francisco Arts Commission, MAP Fund, The Boffo Foundation, Danspace Project, and a co-commission as part of the Eureka Commissions program by the Onassis Foundation.
First two photos of TRY by An Pham, remaining photos by Robbie Sweeny