// GUEST ARTIST SERIES: SEAN DORSEY (SF) //
GUEST ARTIST SERIES: SEAN DORSEY (SF)
THE MISSING GENERATION
In partnership with Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival
MAY 3–6, 2018 / 7:30PM
Velocity 1621 12th Ave
$20 ($25 at the door) / $17 Velocity + TDBC Members /$15 under 25 (w/ ID) / $50 Patron
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Post-show conversations with Sean Dorsey and company dancers each evening.
PHOTO LYDIA DANILLER
In partnership with Three Dollar Bill Cinema’s Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival, Velocity presents Sean Dorsey Dance’s THE MISSING GENERATION. THE MISSING GENERATION is a dance-theater work giving voice to longtime survivors of the early AIDS epidemic. It is “a love letter to a forgotten generation of survivors—those who witnessed and experienced the loss of part of an entire generation of gay and transgender people to AIDS in the 1980s and 1990s.”
“Heartbreakingly beautiful—a dance portrait of contemporary LGBT history that is profoundly relevant to all generations.”—SF Bay Times
“gut-wrenching, heart-breaking, and spirit-lifting”—Portland Sun Journal
Dorsey traveled to six US cities over two years, where he recorded oral history interviews with longtime survivors of the early epidemic, hosted community residencies and conducted archival research. With a team of composers, he then created a lush multi-layered soundscore featuring the voices and remarkable real-life stories recorded in these interviews. THE MISSING GENERATION features full-throttle dancing, luscious partnering, intimate storytelling and theater, performed by a multi-generational ensemble of dancers.
Special Events
Always wanted to dance but didn’t feel comfortable because you are trans / transgender / nonbinary / gender fabulous / queer?
DANCE YOUR STORY: MOVEMENT + SELF-EXPRESSION WORKSHOP
with transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey
WED MAY 2 / 4PM–6PM
Velocity 1621 12th Ave
FREE
This free, all-levels dance and self-expression workshop for trans/nonbinary/LGBTQ people and friends will be led by award-winning transgender dancer/choreographer Sean Dorsey. They will lead us through mindful breathing, meditation, a gentle warmup, and movement exercises, culminating with creative self-expression through movement. This workshop is especially welcoming to beginners, but open to creators of all skill levels. / Photo by Lydia Daniller
TRANS + ALLY DANCE CLASS…TERRIFIED BEGINNERS WELCOME!
with transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey and dancers from their company
SAT MAY 5 / 2PM–3:30PM
Velocity 1621 12th Ave
Drop-in $15 ($12 Velocity MVP Member)
This welcoming, super-friendly dance class—led by award-winning transgender dancer/choreographer Sean Dorsey and dancers from their company—will include breathing and relaxation, simple stretches, beginner movement exercises, and space for conversation. Everyone, especially terrified beginners, is welcome. Please arrive early to register, change clothes, etc. / Photo by Kegan Marling
Questions about these events? Read below, and if you still have questions, email erinjohnson@velocitydancecenter.org.
What should I expect?
Sean will open with some breathing and relaxation, then will lead the group through some basic stretching, dance movements and simple dance phrases. We’ll finish with some more breathing and relaxation. No experience necessary! This will be super-friendly, non-judgmental, and for ALL levels, including TOTAL beginners! This is about loving up our unique bodies and creating safe space for us all to express ourselves.
Yikes! I’m afraid to dance in public!
We know that transgender and nonbinary and LGBTQ people often don’t feel welcome, safe or comfortable in dance studios or classes … so please know this is truly going to be a super-friendly environment!
What should I wear?
Wear clothing that you’re comfortable in – and that you can move freely around in (including laying on the floor). Please wear sweatpants, loose shorts, loose pants, leggings or any other comfortable bottoms and a comfortable shirt.
Where can I pee? Where can I change?
We will provide access to an all-gender bathroom and changing room.
Will we wear shoes?
We will be dancing barefoot.
Will be there any touch involved?
There will be no touch involved.
Do I have to talk?
We will open and close with a circle that involves speaking a few words out loud, but you can choose not to talk or say your name if you prefer!
Can I wear legwarmers and a sparkly headband?
Heck yeah! Let’s make our workshop space as playful and fun as you want it!
Wait a second: I’m not “in shape” … can I still come?
Heck yeah! This is for all levels, all bodies, all heart rates! You can sit down or rest or cheer from the sidelines at any time you need to!
No really, I’m super terrified … should I still come?
Heck yeah! This is a super supportive, loving environment that is super supportive and welcoming of the super terrified! Being really nervous or scared is a really common and normal feeling, and we understand what it feels like. Please come and join us!
ABOUT THE ARTIST
Sean Dorsey is an award-winning San Francisco-based choreographer, dancer, and writer. Recognized as the first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer in the US, Dorsey has toured his work to 26 US cities.
Dorsey has been awarded four Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and the Goldie Award for Performance. He has been named in Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch and named “San Francisco’s Best Dance Company” (SF Weekly). Most recently, Dorsey was named in American Theater Magazine as a Top Theater Artist To Watch.
Dorsey’s dances are powerful explorations of human experience. His works are a fusion of full-throttle dance, luscious partnering, intimate storytelling, and theater. Highly physical, accessible, rooted in story, and danced with precision and guts and deep humanity, Dorsey’s works have been praised as “exquisite…poignant and important” (BalletTanz), “trailblazing” (San Francisco Chronicle), and “evocative, compelling, elegant” (LA Weekly).
Dorsey has been awarded major support by the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, Creative Work Fund, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, and commissions from Bates Dance Festival, Dance Place (Washington DC), Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), The Theater Offensive (Boston), 7 Stages (Atlanta), Maui Arts & Cultural Center (Maui), Links Hall (Chicago), and Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles), Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation, William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, and James Irvine Foundation.
Dorsey’s most recent evening-length dances are a trilogy of works exploring our contemporary relationships to censored, buried or forgotten parts of LGBT history: THE MISSING GENERATION (2015), The Secret History Of Love (2013), and Uncovered: The Diary Project (2010).
Dorsey has collaborated with artists including Lana and Lilli Wachowski (Directors, The Matrix, Cloud Atlas), and Anohni (formerly Antony and the Johnsons). Dorsey danced with Lizz Roman and Dancers from 2000-2006.
Dorsey is the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions, the nation’s first organization to create, present and tour year-round multidisciplinary transgender arts programs. Fresh Meat’s award-winning programs include the popular annual Fresh Meat Festival of transgender and queer performance (June), Sean Dorsey Dance’s home season concerts and touring performances, national community residencies, internships and mentoring, and arts programs for emerging transgender artists and arts organizations.
INSIGHTS
READ – Feature – ” I Choreograph Because My Own Story is Untold; I Need to Dance it Into Being”—Dance Magazine
READ – Review – “Sean Dorsey’s ‘Missing Generation’ a powerful look at AIDS”—SF Gate
READ – Interview – “Choreographer Sean Dorsey on the Depths of the Missing Generation”—SF Weekly
READ – Review – “This Emotional Dance Showcase Remembers the Generation We Lost to AIDS”—Huffington Post
READ – “What Does It Take to Challenge Dance’s Gender Norms?”—Dance Magazine
The Missing Generation was created with support from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, New England Foundation for the Arts, National Performance Network, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, San Francisco Arts Commission, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston), Dance Place (Washington DC), 7 Stages (Atlanta), The Theater Offensive (Boston), and generous individual donors.
Thank you to our partner Three Dollar Bill Cinema and their Translations: Seattle Transgender Film Festival.
