MADE IN SEATTLE: JODY KUEHNER AKA CHERDONNA SHINATRA
MADE IN SEATTLE: OCTOBER 2014
JODY KUEHNER AKA CHERDONNA SHINATRA
World Premiere WORTH MY SALT
OCT 17-19 + OCT 24-26, 2014 / 8PM
ADDED PERFORMANCE DUE TO DEMAND: OCTOBER 24TH @ 10PM!
Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave
TICKETS $20 / $25 at the door / $15 student + senior / $17 MVP
Limited walk-up tickets will be available for all shows at the Velocity Box Office starting at 7pm for the 8pm shows.
“The inexplicable, fascinating Cherdonna Shinatra. . . She’s definitely a star.”
– The Stranger
“. . .a meditation on gender conflict and confusion, served up Dadaist style.”
– Michael Upchurch, The Seattle Times
Photo by Eugenie Frerichs
Jody Kuehner, aka “huge-haired, worship-worthy” Cherdonna Shinatra, creates her first evening length Cherdonna Show, Worth My Salt — a one-of-a-kind dance spectacular commissioned, produced and presented by Velocity’s Made In Seattle dance development program. Worth My Salt premieres at Velocity OCT 17-19 + OCT 24-26, 2014.
As a member of legendary Seattle companies Pat Graney, D9 Dance Collective and Mark Haim Dance + Theater Kuehner is recognized as a leading PNW contemporary dancer. As part of the groundbreaking dance duo The Cherdonna and Lou Show, from 2008-2013 Kuehner and Ricky Mason created 5 evening-works developing thousands of adoring, intergenerational fans.
Drawing on Carl Sagan’s series Cosmos and female icons Kate Bush, Diane Keaton, and Marie Antoinette – Worth My Salt looks at the timely theme of gender inequity through the lens of an existential crisis. How do we prove our worth? How do we feel worthy? Cherdonna’s unique vision brings together dance and drag with clowning’s ability to tug on heartstrings, cabaret’s warm intimacy, and performances’ ability shatter taboos to make sharp social commentary.
Featuring costumes by Mark Ferrin (chorus) and celebrated designer Mark Mitchell (Cherdonna), recently receiving acclaim for his exhibition Burial at The Frye Art Museum, visual design by award-winning performance and film-maker Corrie Befort of Salt Horse and choreographic mentorship by Guggenheim awardee Dayna Hanson.
SPECIAL EVENTS
SPEAKEASY SERIES: THE ART OF POLITICS AND THE POLITICS OF QUEER PART II
SUN OCT 5 / 6PM
Velocity Dance Center / 1621 12th Ave
FREE and open to all
Kuehner and designer Mark Mitchell share their work, discussing the queer politics of art-making. The audience is invited into the conversation over cocktails and canapés.
WATCH Short Documentary on Mark Mitchell
MASTER CLASS: JODY KUEHNER
WED OCT 15 / 9:30-11:15AM
Velocity Founders Studio 1621 12th Ave
Class will start with an easy warm up taken from Jody’s weekly class at Velocity. Once we are warm, everyone will make an “essence of you” solo using techniques from the Cherdonna process. The second part of class will be spent learning performance material from Worth My Salt. This class is for the intermediate or advanced dancer.
WORTH MY SALT POST SHOW CONVERSATION + COCKTAILS
SAT OCT 18 + 25 / settle in for drinks + conversation after the 8pm performance
Velocity Founders Theater 1621 12th Ave
FREE and open to all
Cherdonna sits down post show with Mark Haim OCT 18 + Seattle theater celeb David Schmader OCT 25 in an open exchange with the audience.
ABOUT THE ARTIST
JODY KUEHNER, 2010 Spotlight Award Winner, is part dance artist and part bio drag queen Cherdonna Shinatra. Jody’s choreography has been presented at On The Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Northwest Film Forum, Bumbershoot and the Joyce SoHo NYC. Cherdonna Shinatra performs regularly with DeLouRue Productions and periodically with paulanow productions and NARK Magazine. She and Lou Henry Hoover made work as “The Cherdonna and Lou Show” for five years, teaching, producing, performing. In her seventh year dancing for the Pat Graney Company and in her fifth year dancing with Mark Haim, Jody has also been Assistant to the Director for Dayna Hanson’s feature length film “Improvement Club” and Hanson’s Assistant Director for the most recent work “The Clay Duke”. She has performed with d9 Dance Collective, Wade Madsen, KT Niehoff, Laura Curry, and Amy O’Neal among others. She is Velocity’s Artist in Residence for 2014 and has been supported by the Seattle Mayor’s Office of Arts and Cultural Affairs and 4Culture.
LEARN MORE at cherdonna.com.
PRESS
READ PREVIEW – The Inexplicable, Fascinating Cherdonna Shinatra, the Drag Queen Who’s Not a Drag Queen Christopher Frizzelle, The Stranger, September 10, 2014
READ FEATURE – Seattle Leads the Way in Gender Blurring Wendy Perron, August 31, 2014
READ PREVIEW – Metaphysical Drag Leah Baltus, City Arts, August 25, 2014
PHOTOS — Cherdonna Was Not Photoshopped Falling into That Swimming Pool—She Really Fell In! Kelly O, The Stranger Slog, September 11, 2014
READ INTERVIEW – A Fiendish Conversation with Jody Keuhner (Cherdonna Shinatra) Seth Sommerfield, Seattle Met, October 13, 2014
READ REVIEW – Cherdonna Shinatra Shines in her New Solo Show, “Worth my Salt” Fletcher Sandbeck, Seattle Gay Scene, October 16, 2014
READ REVIEW – Opening Nights: Worth my Salt Sandra Kurtz, The Seattle Weekly, October 21, 2014
READ REVIEW – The Perverse, Psychedelic Vulnerability of Cherdonna Shinatra Brendan Kiley, The Stranger, October 22 2014
READ REVIEW – “Do You Think This is Easy for Me?” Asks Cherdonna Melody Datz Hanson, Seattle Dances, October 22, 2014
INSIGHTS
Drawing on Carl Sagan’s series Cosmos and female icons Kate Bush, Diane Keaton, and Marie Antoinette – Worth My Salt looks at the timely theme of gender inequity through the lens of an existential crisis. Read on and watch clips for more insights into Keuhner’s inspirations and influencers for her evening-length, world-premiere Worth my Salt.
Worth my Salt is commissioned and produced by Velocity Dance Center as a part of the Made in Seattle dance development program with major support from The Glenn H. Kawasaki Foundation and generous support from The Boeing Company, 4Culture, Artist Trust, ArtsFund, The Office of Arts & Culture, The Seattle Foundation, Pacific Continental Bank, The Pruzan Foundation and the Morris Clitherow Family Fund and Media Sponsor KUOW.
