FLACC 2024: El Grito por Thawra الثورة (A CRY FOR REVOLUCIÓN)
Solidaridad Internacionál con Palestina | Arte y Resisténcia | Comunidad, Cultura y Academia
In its 11th revolution around the sun, the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers (FLACC) is calling for “Revolution” (the only solution), with a transnational solidarity approach to art and resistance. El Grito por Thawra الثورة showcases eleven performances throughout the weekend of Nov. 8, 9, & 10, representing social justice issues that center local immigrant, queer, feminist and indigenous perspectives that extend to Palestine.
Its curatorial theme, El Grito Por Thawra الثورة (A Cry for Revolution) reflects the purpose of the festival and who is involved. “El Grito” (meaning "the scream, or cry" in Spanish) is referencing both a vocal call, commonly expressed by Mexican Ranchero singers, as well as the Historic speech given in 1810 by Miguel Hidalgo, a priest from Dolores, Guanajuato who sparked an indigenous-led Mexican revolution against the Spanish colonizers shouting “¡Viva Mexico!”. FLACC is reviving its 2020 El Grito curatorial theme which was also held during the previous U.S. election season four years ago.
The word “Thawra” translated in Arabic as “Revolution,” is a term and concept which gained momentum during the protests of the Arab Spring throughout the Middle East in the 2010’s. It was generated in a curatorial meeting with our Palestinian comrades at a local cafe last June.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, where diasporic communities live together and find solidarity in similar political struggles, the artists in FLACC 2024: El Grito por Thawra الثورة are sharing their stories, sorrows, dreams and hopes for communities impacted by the oppression of border walls, militarism, ecocide, loss of homelands, settler colonial agendas. With media censorship and police violence silencing victims of genocide and their supporters, it’s important for artists, academics and cultural workers from all backgrounds to come together for Palestine right now. Let your voice be heard with El grito por justicia, libertad y revolución! ¡Viva Palestina! ¡Viva Democracia! ¡Viva Los Bellas Artes!
Its curatorial theme, El Grito Por Thawra الثورة (A Cry for Revolution) reflects the purpose of the festival and who is involved. “El Grito” (meaning "the scream, or cry" in Spanish) is referencing both a vocal call, commonly expressed by Mexican Ranchero singers, as well as the Historic speech given in 1810 by Miguel Hidalgo, a priest from Dolores, Guanajuato who sparked an indigenous-led Mexican revolution against the Spanish colonizers shouting “¡Viva Mexico!”. FLACC is reviving its 2020 El Grito curatorial theme which was also held during the previous U.S. election season four years ago.
The word “Thawra” translated in Arabic as “Revolution,” is a term and concept which gained momentum during the protests of the Arab Spring throughout the Middle East in the 2010’s. It was generated in a curatorial meeting with our Palestinian comrades at a local cafe last June.
In the San Francisco Bay Area, where diasporic communities live together and find solidarity in similar political struggles, the artists in FLACC 2024: El Grito por Thawra الثورة are sharing their stories, sorrows, dreams and hopes for communities impacted by the oppression of border walls, militarism, ecocide, loss of homelands, settler colonial agendas. With media censorship and police violence silencing victims of genocide and their supporters, it’s important for artists, academics and cultural workers from all backgrounds to come together for Palestine right now. Let your voice be heard with El grito por justicia, libertad y revolución! ¡Viva Palestina! ¡Viva Democracia! ¡Viva Los Bellas Artes!
Fri. 7:30pm-9:30pmEvelyn Donají & Camellia Boutros
j Ome Mazatl (NAKA) Nefertiti Altán Leila Mire Davalos Dance Company Mattheus Coura/PDC Taja Will |
Sat. 7:30pm-9:30pmAntiFaSon
j Ome Mazatl (NAKA) Nefertiti Altán Leila Mire Davalos Dance Company Piñata Dance Collective Mattheus Coura |
Sun. All Day 12-3pm- workshop with amara-tabor-smith
4pm-6pm- food, art sale, discussion 4:30- Discussion with Mary Hazboun and collaborating artists on art and resistance 6pm-8pm Performances Al-Juthoor Dabke Dancers Arnoldo Garcia (Raza Con Gaza) Nefertiti Altán Leila Mire Piñata Dance Collective Mattheus Coura Taja Will |
Community Care:
(Workshops, El Grito Podcast, Community, Comida, Ofrendas + Art Sale for Gaza)
"Detached" by Mary Hazboun
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In addition to the performances, FLACC is hosting events led by local BIPOC artists meant to build and care for our community, learn from artists and scholars involved in revolutionary practices and engage in generative workshops that bridge activism with performance works. The final day of the festival will include a workshop with amara-tabor smith, Cuban-Palestinian food by Asukár, an Art Sale for Gaza (10% of artists procedes will go to Gaza) and an in-person discussion on art and resistance with Mary Hazboun and collaborating artists.
Check out our Community Care page for details and find out who our guests are on the El Grito Podcast! |
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MEET THE FLACC 2024 ARTISTS...
Dancing the Art of Weeping
Woven into each evening of performances in El Grito por Thawra الثورة , is a projected intermedia installation by renowned, Palestinian visual artist, Mary Hazboun (AKA Mary from Bethlehem). Based in Chicago, Mary’s work highlights the nuanced traumas of women and their resistance against different forms of oppression that is manifested in the military machine, patriarchal societies, and forced migrations. As part of the Latinx-Palestinian solidarity project, Bay Area Dance choreographers, Leila Mire, Nefertiti Altán and FLACC’s Artistic Director, Liz Duran Boubion will be setting works to the images and vocal narrations by Hazboun. Hazboun will be discussing her collaboration with the FLACC choreographers at the festival and prints will be on sale during the shows.
Mary Hazboun/ Photo Credit: Tamara Hijazi
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Mary Hazboun is a multidisciplinary Chicago-based Palestinian artist who practices “ The Art of Weeping” as an act of processing grief and somatic healing of bodies through drawing and singing. Mary’s work highlights the nuanced traumas of women and their resistance against different forms of oppression that is manifested in the military machine, patriarchal societies, and forced migrations. She uses art, ceremonies, and performance for emptying blocked emotions, opening internal space, and pouring in trauma-informed introspections as a form of healing. Mary was born and raised in the city of Bethlehem and moved to the U.S in 2004.
Visual Art |
"Uprising" Black marker on paper. Mary Hazboun
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Leila Mire
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Leila Mire (she/her) is a Lebanese-American researcher, performer, choreographer, community organizer, and educator. She is a current PhD candidate at UC Berkeley in the Theatre, Dance, Performance Studies Program and is an alumni of New York University and George Mason University. Her research looks at how dance is co-opted, appropriated, and performed for state and anti-imperial interests, particularly as it pertains to Palestine and its occupation. Leila writes for ThINKingDance and is part of the Decolonizing Dance Writing Project. She continues to perform as a freelancer and is a member of Al-Juthoor dabke troupe.
Contemporary Dance & Dabke |
Nefertiti ALTÁn
Nefertiti Altán/ Photo Credit: Taylla De Paula
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Nefertiti Charlene Altán is a native-black queer interdisciplinary performance artist who has created work at the intersection of the body, sound, rhythm, and place with artists from the Americas, Africa, and Europe for over a decade. Of Guatemalan roots born and raised in the bay area, California, she has lived in Salvador, Bahia, Brazil since 2013, where she has studied, created, and practiced contemporary and folk performing arts within a Latin-American context as an extension of her Afro-indigneous latinidad. She received her BA in anthropology and community studies from UC Santa Cruz in 2006, a technical degree in dance from the Bahia State Cultural Foundation (FUNCEB) in 2016, and has studied and performed with esteemed mestres and pioneers of Afro-Brazilian dance and music in Bahia and Pernambuco. She received her MFA in dance practice from Saint Mary’s College of California in 2024.
Contemporary Dance |
PIÑATA DANCE COLLECTIVE
Liz Duran Boubion/ Photo credit: Eva Soltes
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Liz Duran Boubion, MFA, RSMT (she/her/ella) is the Founding Artistic Director of the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers (FLACC), Piñata Dance Collective and the El Grito Podcast. She is a second generation Chicana and queer choreographer, educator, presenter, activist and writer making a bridge between several communities by placing value on social justice, ecology and radical aesthetics. Her work ranges from personal narrative, embodied land acknowledgement, multimedia performance and political art intervention. She holds a BA in Dance, an MFA in Interdisciplinary Art and is a Registered Somatic Movement Therapist. Her writing can be found at Somatic Responder on Substack and published in InDance Magazine, Stance on Dance and Life as a Modern Dancer.
Contemporary Dance |
Davalos dance company
Davalos Dance Company/ Photo Credit: David Gaylord
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CatherineMarie Davalos-FLACC 2024 Artist and Organizer. I am a Chicana choreographer of Davalos Dance Company. My work emerges from my Mexican voice using a feminist, Latina, and Chicana perspective. My dances uncover the coalescence and contradictions of identity, question heteronormativity and patriarchy, and challenge the current political climate of hatred, fear and violence toward the “other.” Growing up in California with brown skin rendered me invisible at times and the target of hatred and oppression at other times. Her work has been praised in the Richmond Times-Dispatch, DanceViewTimes.com, the Los Angeles Times, and the Washington Post. Davalos is a Professor of Dance at Saint Mary’s College of California.
Contemporary Dance |
Taja Will
Taja Will in "Soft Sediment" Photo Credit: Isabel Fajardo
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Taja Will (they/them) is a non-binary, chronically ill, queer, indigenous Latine (Chilean) adoptee. They are a performer, choreographer, somatic therapist, consultant and Healing Justice practitioner based in Mni Sota Makoce. Taja’s approach integrates improvisation, somatic modalities, text and vocals in contemporary performance.
Taja leads a project based company Taja Will Ensemble and initiates solo projects and teaching ventures. Taja is a recent recipient of the Jerome Hill Artist Fellowship, in the dance field, awarded in 2021. Their work has been presented throughout the Twin Cities and across the United States and has received support from the National Association of Latinx Arts & Culture, the Minnesota State Arts Board, and Metropolitan Regional Arts Council. They ground their work in indigenous solidarity and decolonization as a means to undo white and able body supremacy and its pervasive relationship to capitalism. Contemporary Dance & Vocals |
j ome Mazatl
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j Ome Mazatl is a native of México City where he was first exposed to theater and dance, choreographing and performing in parks, hospitals, and children's parties as a clown and dancer. He studied dance at the National Institute of Fine Arts in México, and has a B.A. in Anthropology from UC Berkeley and M.F.A in Dance from Mills College. In 2004, José Ome was the recipient of a Bessie Schönberg residency at The Yard, and a Djerassi residency. José is the recipient of a CHIME Across Borders fellowship with Ralph Lemon. He has taught dance and performance to youth and adults in Mexico, and in the San Francisco Bay Area at Berkeley High School, Marin Academy, Cal State East Bay, and Yerba Buena Center for the Arts. José Ome was a 2018 U.S.-Japan Creative Artists Fellow, a 2019 Dance/USA Artist Fellow and a 2021 Guggenheim Fellow. José Ome’s curatorial practice can be seen at the FRESH Festival and at Eastside Arts Alliance’s Live Arts in Resistance (LAIR) initiative, which provides residencies and performing opportunities for artists of color in East Oakland.
Experimental Dance Theater |
Evelyn Donají and Camellia Boutros
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Evelyn Donají and Camellia Boutros, folk musicians in the diasporic musical traditions of Veracruz and Palestine respectively, come together to offer a modern and Mission-based interpretation of Son Jarocho. In performing with the Arabic oud and the jarana Jarocha, the duo highlight a double-resonance: Son Jarocho musical tradition carries Arab musical roots while Arabic and Mexican culture find modern collaboration in the San Francisco Bay Area, where diasporic communities live together, influence each other, and find solidarity in similar political struggles. The full sound of this exploration, which includes zapateado, can be heard with their band Corazón de Cedro.
Music & Dance/ Son Jarocho |
MATHEUS COURA
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Mattheus Coura Brazilian-American countertenor and stage director Matheus Luduwig Coura (he/she/they) is a passionate performer of baroque and contemporary repertoires. They produce original productions which fuse performance art, ballet, drag, shamanic ritual, and baroque music in non-conventional spaces, with the goal of bringing world-class historically informed performances of baroque opera to Queer and BIPOC audiences. Performance highlights include his portrayal of Narcissus as Countertenor Soloist in "…two united in a single soul..." with the San Francisco Ballet, and the role of Giuliano in Cavalli’s L’Eliogabalo with West Edge Opera, Alto soloist in J.S. Bach’s Actus Tragicus and Cantata 150 with I Cantori di Carmel, Rameau Masterclass Performances with Les Arts Florissants. Teucro in the Modern World Premiere of Giovanni Porta's Ifigenia in Aulide with Ars Minerva and many more. Coura’s accolades include prizes from the Cooper-Bing, Couperin International, Biennial Bethlehem Bach, James Toland Vocal Arts, and St. Petersburg Opera Guild Competitions. A versatile artist, Matheus Luduwig Coura finds inspiration in weightlifting, the study of gnostic scriptures, analog photography, fashion, figure modeling, and the unconscious.
Queer Opera |
ARNOLDO GARCIA
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Arnoldo García hails from the deep south of Texas. He is the curator of Raza Con Gaza for over a decade inviting poets and musicians to come together everytime the IOF bombed Gaza. He lives in the San Francisco Bay Area and combines visual arts, music, spoken word and poetry as a culture-maker. His work has been featured in online literary spaces and cultural and political gatherings, opening the international forum “Defending the Displaced: Border Justice and Migrant Rights,” convened by UC Berkeley’s The Othering and Belonging Institute. Arnoldo’s poetry is featured in the groundbreaking anthology “Painting the Streets: Oakland Uprising in a Time of Rebellion,” documenting Oakland’s anti-racist art & cultural explosion in the wake of the police murder of George Floyd. Arnoldo co-founded editorial Xingao, publishing Chicano, Xicana, Palestinian, Asian and Indigenous poets. Xingao just published the new poetry & art broadside, La comuna. Subscribe to their e-newsletter, the colibrí revolution. You can read Arnoldo’s poetry in the blogs La carpa del FEO: Fandango in East Oakland and Art of the Commune.
Poetry |
AntiFaSon
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AntiFaSon is a Son Jarocho project musically residing on unceded Ohlone territory (aka Oakland). They amplify anti-capitalist, anti-colonial, anti-fascist and anti-extractivist feminist themes in Son Jarocho songs that form part of the larger history of Afro-Indigenous land, water and campesinx struggles. Instagram
Music & Dance| Son Jarocho |
Al-Juthoor
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Al Juthoor is a Palestinian Dabke troupe based in the Bay Area. Al Juthoor means “the roots” in Arabic, symbolizing the steadfastness of the Palestinian people in remaining on their land, just like the olive trees that have been there for hundreds of years, and our deep roots to the land of Palestine. We serve to raise awareness of the struggle and art of Palestinians and the Arab world. Our culture has become inseparable from resistance to ethnic cleansing, erasure and colonial violence. To us, Dabke is more than a celebratory event- every stomp is an ode to our martyrs and our political prisoners, and an expression of our will toward collective liberation. The art of Dabke asserts our existence, expresses rage toward the occupation, and reminds the world of our steadfastness and commitment to liberation. Our people and our land will be free, and we shall return.
Dabke Dance |
"Gaza" by Mary Hazboun
The Art of Weeping
Prints by Chicago-based visual collaborator, Mary Hazboun, will be on sale during the festival. 10% of the proceeds will be donated to Gaza relief funds. Come meet her in person and join the discussion Sun. Nov. 10, 4:30pm.
Learn more about Mary from Bethlehem here.
Learn more about Mary from Bethlehem here.
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Read...Dancers for a Free Palestine: Tactics of Resistance that Artists Understand
By Liz Duran Boubion April 16, 2024, PUBLISHED BY IN DANCE |
DONATE...
Your donation supports the artists and our commitment to liberation from Turtle Island to Palestine. FLACC is the first and largest dance festival on the west coast that is devoted exclusively to Latinx/e and indigenous contemporary choreographers and culture bearers. Performers from across the United States, Latin America and the Caribbean Islands gather to present their art and enrich the dance ecosystem of the Bay Area and beyond. We are committed to making contemporary dance practice and performance accessible to queer, immigrant, disabled and underserved Latine, Chicanx, Caribbean and Indigenous communities. We are dedicated to creating a platform of connection, belonging and solidarity for our choreographers and culture bearers locally and internationally.
