Dance Mission Theater: KH FRESH FESTIVAL

KH FRESH FESTIVAL in association with Dance Mission Theater + CounterPulse Presents
SAN FRANCISCO’S 15TH ANNUAL
FRESH FESTIVAL 2024
Feb 9 – 17 2024

A FESTIVAL OF EXPERIMENTAL DANCE, MUSIC, DISCUSSION, PRACTICE PERFORMANCE, PARTY
** Featuring 1 week + 2 weekends of practices by artist: gizeh muñiz vengel + Albert Mathias, enNingúnlugar, mayfield brooks, Amber Julian, Rama Hall, Sonja Pregrad

** PLUS 2 weekends of Main Stage Performances by: Clarissa Rivera Dyas + ainsley elizabeth tharp, enNingúnlugar, Sara Shelton Mann, Jesse Zaritt, Niall Jones, mayfield brooks, Sonja Pregrad

KHFRESH Festival is 9 days of performances, immersive training in dance and related forms, and inclusive, interactive community events featuring an abundance of live, cutting-edge, risk-taking embodied art in different historic locations around San Francisco.

WEEKEND 1 PERFORMANCES: Feb 9-10, 2024

Tickets: $15-$45 sliding scale – Buy now

FEB 9-10 @8pm at Dance Mission Theater featuring:

forever failing (workinprogress#1)
Clarissa Rivera Dyas + ainsley elizabeth tharp

In our work forever failing((workinprogress#1)we are molting and reimagining our corporeality as failure, as explicit, as queer, as reverence for the past, and ways to uncover new futures in anti-colonial reimaginings. Together we highlight failure as a form of protest, as a way to negate capitalism’s obsession with the perfect product and uncover new mythologies of becoming. We are activating our identities then letting go of what is already perceived by the “audience.”

CINÉTICA
enNingúnlugar

In a world ravaged by injustice and violence, Cinética, an unbeatable superheroine emerges.
With unparalleled power and an innate sense of justice, Cinética has dedicated her life to fighting crime and protecting the innocent. However, as their consciousness awakens, Cinética is forced to question her own role in the cycles of violence that plagues the world. She finds herself at a moral crossroads: struggling to reconcile her desire to protect, with the need of finding a more compassionate and sustainable solution to combat “evil.” This work examines the complexities of justice, morality and personal responsibility in a world filled with seemingly insurmountable challenges. Can Cinética find a way to combat violence without becoming part of the problem?

En un mundo asolado por la injusticia y la violencia, surge una superheroína imbatible conocida como “Cinética”. Con un poder inigualable y un sentido innato de la justicia, ha dedicado su vida a combatir el crimen y proteger a los inocentes. Sin embargo, a medida que su consciencia se despierta, Cinética se ve obligada a cuestionar su propio papel en el ciclo de la violencia que azota al mundo. Se encuentra en una encrucijada moral, luchando por reconciliar su deseo de proteger con la necesidad de encontrar una solución más compasiva y sostenible para combatir “el mal”. Esta obra examina las complejidades de la justicia, la moralidad y la responsabilidad personal en un mundo lleno de desafíos aparentemente insuperables. ¿Puede Cinética encontrar una manera de combatir la violencia sin convertirse en parte del problema?

***FEB 9 KK’s Birthday BASH OPENING PARTYYYY!!
Immediately following the show on Feb 9.

Come celebrate our 15 years of FRESH while honoring the legacy of one of our dear Founders and mentors Kathleen Hermesdorf. We will be hosting our KK Birthday Bash after the Feb 9 2024 performance. Featuring Fresh co-founder DJ Albert Mathias.

Special Sunday performance, Feb 11, 2024

Tickets: $5-$10 sliding scale – Buy now

FEB 11 @6pm at Dance Mission Theater featuring:

International Artist Exchange
Object of Dance
featuring Sonja Pregrad
What could a drag persona called ‘Object of Dance’ talk to us about?
What is a drag of contemporary dance? In this solo I am trying to stretch the

concept of a drag from the body (identity) towards movement, speech and dance as a (theatre) performance. I am appropriating, estranging and modifying the way I perform – gender, body, presence, materiality, movement – by splitting the roles of an author, spectator and performer into fragments smaller than a singularity.

‘This work lays upon Pregrad’s strong performativity, and is structured as a wild poem in movement, made of a dog’s bark, a ballet jump, a gaze returned through a mirror, an apple bite, an ox’s horn, a postmodern glitchy and flowing body and a lip-synch of an inner voice.’

WEEKEND 2 PERFORMANCES, Feb 16-17, 2024

Tickets: $15-$45 sliding scale: Buy now

FEB 16-17 @8PM at Dance Mission featuring:

within the heart / you get lost
Sara Shelton Mann, Jesse Zaritt, Niall Jones

1. we take a trip
2. you get lost
3 we draw our way out

1. you have a dream
2. we get lost / it’s a dead end
3. the water is rising / you draw your way out

in collaboration: Sara Shelton Mann, Jesse Zaritt, Niall Jones

Whale Fall: lamentations
mayfield brooks

Whale Fall is an ever evolving interdisciplinary work of film, installation and dance that was born from the sonic dissidence of Black grief. Do we give ourselves time to grieve? How can grief be decomposed and transformed? Whale Fall is a scientific term describing the process of a whale’s decomposition after it dies and falls to the ocean floor while providing nutrients for thousands of sea creatures. For this project, the Whale Fall becomes the decomposed dance, the space of grief and regeneration, the lamentation, the ecstasy, the song and the sonic release. This excerpt is a live vocal and movement lament.

***FEB 17 CLOSING PARTY EXTRAVAGANZA!
Immediately following the show on Feb 17.

Come celebrate our last night on the mainstage!!! Join us for our closing party after the Feb 17 2024 performance.

PRACTICES at Dance Mission Theater:
Register today for practices at https://www.union.fit/orgs/kh-fresh-festival .

FEB 10 + 11: 11:30-1:30: gizeh muñiz vengel + Albert Mathias

FEB 12-16: 3 classes a day at 10am-12pm, 1pm-3pm, 4pm-6pm
10am-12pm: enNingúnlugar
1pm-3pm: mayfield brooks
4pm-6pm MWF: Rama Hall
4pm-6pm TTH: Amber Julian

Feb 17: Sonja Pregrad
11:30am–2:30pm

Check out freshfestival.org for more info on practices, exchanges, events, parties and other performances happening all over San Francisco February 9-18 2024!