Sins Invalid/sexuality and disability

Fri, Apr 28
8pm
sliding scale $10-20 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

Unique performance and video event invites an honest and graphic look
at the cultural taboos surrounding sexuality and disability

"Beauty cannot be denied. It will always, always recognize itself." --
event co-director Patricia Byrne

The Dancing Tree presents "Sins Invalid: An Unshamed Claim to Beauty
in the Face of Invisibility", an "only in San Francisco" -type of
performance and video arts event on one night only: Friday, April 28
at 8pm at the Brava Theater, 2789 24th Street, San Francisco.
Admission is $10-$20 sliding scale, no one will be turned away for
lack of funds. This event is funded in part by a grant from Theatre
Bay Area. Venue is wheelchair accessible.

Local disabled artists will share artwork in all avenues of artistic
expression that will invite the audience to re/view sexuality &
disability. Each work asserts a personal/political statement on
sexuality relating to constructions of disability through poetry,
performance, reading or video shorts. Submissions for this one-night
event were solicited from diverse artists regardless of
identification as having a "disability".

Sins Invalid features local artists flaunting their sexuality and
speaking the truths on the taboo pairing of sexuality and disability
-- be it gettin' some, gettin' none, the wanting of self and the
rejection of difference to the unabashed claim of desirability in a
world of embodied and enforced norms. Featured works include
Forbidden Acts, a video starring disabled African American writer,
poet, community activist and feminist Leroy Moore; video short by
poet and community organizer Patricia Berne; "Nature of Pleasure"
film by Thanh Diep; poetry from Pen Oakland Award winner and
storyteller Noemi Sohn; and spoken word from queer New African
activist and mother Lisa Thomas-Adeyemo. Other participants include
'Ron Daniella (poetry/exotic dancing), Ron Jones (poetry "in the
buff"), Solidad Acosta (spoken word w/partial dress), DJ Quad
(rapper), Lee Williams (poet), Leah Ottersbach (stripper) and video
artists John Killacky and Oriana Bolden.

Co-director and performer Patricia Berne has been active in racial
justice and gender based violence prevention fields for over fifteen
years. Having used a wheelchair since she was a child, Patricia
directs the Project on Race, Disability and Eugenics at the Center
for Genetics and Society.

Co-director and performer Leroy Franklin Moore Jr. is a disabled
African American writer, poet, community activist and feminist. He
hosts a weekly radio show, "Pushing Limits", on KPFA-FM.

Films director/editor and event producer Todd Herman has won numerous
grants and awards for his art, photography and film works. With his
wife, Amanda Coslor, he co-directs The Dancing Tree, an alliance of
visual and performing artists who facilitate, develop, perform,
document and publish the stories of underrepresented people around
the world. He has taught animation at Creativity Explored of San
Francisco, an art studio for adults with disabilities, and is the
author of IN PASSING: A Book About Death, an intimate chronicle of
contemporary responses to death, dying and grieving, available
through Small Press Distributors. In 2005 Todd received the San
Francisco Arts Commission's first Emerging Curator Award, was
recently awarded a 2006 residency at the Taipei Artists Village in
Taiwan, and he will be exhibiting at the Oakland Museum later this year.

Filmmaker Thanh Diep is a Vietnamese-American woman with Cerebral
Palsy who socializes with the aid of a communication device called
"The Liberator". Her film, 'Nature of Pleasure', is about exposing
her sexuality and disability, which is constitutional for many
people, while others tend to alienate people with disabilities.

Storyteller Noemi Sohn is a poet, community activist and perpetual
student living in San Francisco. She reads her poetry at different
venues and open mics throughout the Bay Area. Her 2003 chap book
Intertwined won the 2004 Pen Oakland Josephine Miles Award. At times,
she can make people laugh with her wry sense of humor.

Video artist Oriana Bolden's experience as a young queer woman of
color who is poor and living with a chronic illness shows us that we
have little choice but to shout, sing, dance and create a different
vision than that which we are forced to consume. Her web site is
http:/hellagetto.xbuild.com

Other participants include 'Ron Daniella (poetry/exotic dancing), Ron
Jones (poetry "in the buff"), Solidad Acosta (spoken word w/partial
dress), DJ Quad (rapper), Lee Williams (poet), Leah Ottersbach
(stripper) and John Killacky (video artist).

Media interviews, sample interview questions, digital images, and
full artists bios are available by contacting
, 415-453-4474

Venue:

Brava Theater
2789 24th Street
San Francisco, CA, 94110
415-453-4474
www.thedancingtree.org

Additional Info:

415-453-4474
www.thedancingtree.org