DEFINITIVE FIGURES
VARIATION 1 : NEW ORLEANS
FEBRUARY 28 - MARCH 4, 2018
Definitive Figures is a festival of performance and community events created to amplify and explore the femme body in space. Conceived and produced by dance artist, Donna Costello, and physical theater creator, Jennifer Sargent, Definitive Figures aims to elevate and explore feminist ideas while negotiating our plural identities of race, class, and sex in a patriarchal society.
Variation 1 will take place in New Orleans from February 28 to March 4, 2018. Over five days, the festival will feature four core female-identifying artists presenting body-based performance work and will also feature a host of supporting events from stand-up comedy to a late-night dance party, each showcasing the diversity of femme experience through a variety of mediums.
Presented in collaboration with THE CREATORS COLLECTIVE
purchase tickets here!
Photo of Jarrell Hamilton
DEFINITIVE FIGURES FESTIVAL SCHEDULE
Wednesday, February 28
7:00PM
Kick Off Gathering
Join us as we gather together to kick-off the beginning of the very first Definitive Figures Festival with participating artists and the Daughters of Aquarius.
Photo of Black Girl Giggles
Thursday, March 1
6:00PM
Lisa Shattuck & Jeff Becker
(theater/dance)
"12 (in progress)"
Using a 6-foot inflatable ball, two performers and video projection mapping, ”12” (titled from the measurement of an English king’s foot) will take a critical look at how systems of measurement inform how we perceive our world.
- - -
7:00PM
Jarrell Hamilton
(festival core artist)
"E P I S O D E S" (Excerpts)
Running time : 30 minutes
"E P I S O D E S" dance theatre work honors a-typical depictions of black womanhood, as the main character Antebellum time travels to unveil her/self through the female Orishas and an ancestral spirit.
- - -
9:00PM
Donna Costello & Jennifer Sargent
(festival core artist)
"Jitterbug and the Aftermath"
Running time : 50 minutes
Jitterbug and the Aftermath is a raw, expressionistic movement-theater work exploring an unmoored feminine identity at midlife. The piece wrestles with social conceptions of a diminishing feminine cachet, the confusion of “post-feminist” gender roles, and aging as a slow corporeal death. Created by Donna Costello (a dance artist) and Jennifer Sargent (a physical theater artist), Jitterbug puts the body at the center of storytelling.
- - -
10:00PM
Black Girl Giggles
Black Girl Giggles is a New Orleans-based collective of African-American comediennes. The evening is curated to spotlight comedy from the Black female perspective - sketch, stand-up, improv and everything in between. The line-up includes Geneva Joy, Camille Roane, Ashleigh Branch, Moxie Rogue, TK Fairley, Denise Jena and Shep Kelly.
Photo of Donna Costello & Jennifer Sargent
Friday, March 2
6:00PM
Madison Krekel
(multidisciplinary)
"Drinking from the devil's punchbowl (in progress)"
"My salvation is the only thing I know
Yes my dear, filling up my cup from the devil's punchbowl
That little thing y'all know as rock 'n' roll"
Blown in from the North by way of NYC, join Madison as she stumbles, wails, hoots and hollers to conjure the calls of her rock ancestors in the mystic land of New Orleans.
- - -
7:00PM
Maritza Mercado-Narcisse
(festival core artist)
"How To Make a Kitchen More Difficult"
Running time: 40 minutes
The mission of NARCISSE|MOVEMENT PROJECT is to provide a space in New Orleans for connection and integrated artistic expression that will promote the further development of a local professional dance community, and to make beautiful movement with professional artists in New Orleans who are interested in challenging what dance can be, who can make it, how it can matter, and where it can matter.
- - -
9:00PM
Donna Costello & Jennifer Sargent
(festival core artist)
"Jitterbug and the Aftermath"
Running time : 50 minutes
"Jitterbug and the Aftermath" is a raw, expressionistic movement-theater work exploring an unmoored feminine identity at midlife. The piece wrestles with social conceptions of a diminishing feminine cachet, the confusion of “post-feminist” gender roles, and aging as a slow corporeal death. Created by Donna Costello (a dance artist) and Jennifer Sargent (a physical theater artist), Jitterbug puts the body at the center of storytelling.
Photo of Madison Krekel
Saturday, March 3
6:00PM
Aurora Nealand
(music)
Aurora Nealand loves sound. And language. And movement. And the moments when they intersect.
"The Monocle" is the musical solo vehicle of New Orleans based songwriter and multidisciplinary artist Aurora Nealand. "The Monocle" is a fragile 'birdcage project' of sounds; or to state it less loftily, it’s a bunch of art-pop songs and performance art pieces about feelings, reality, desire, and the dissonance between all those things. In Nealands words, "I believe that in sound and music, there is revolution, resistance and healing; that our voices and ears can be a force of true strength and diplomacy.”
- - -
7:00PM
Shannon Stewart
(festival core artist)
"RELATIVES"
Running time - 65 minutes
Sprung from years of research in performativity of identity and textures of femininity, the Screaming Traps don’t know what is happening but they are curious. They watch you watch them. They appear and disappear. They change. They communicate. They subconsciously ask you to participate in unmaking what is objectified and objectifiable while still asking to be seen.
- - -
9:00PM
Jarrell Hamilton
(festival core artist)
"E P I S O D E S" (Excerpts)
Running time : 30 minutes
"E P I S O D E S" dance theatre work honors a-typical depictions of black womanhood, as the main character Antebellum time travels to unveil her/self through the female Orishas and an ancestral spirit.
- - -
10:00PM
Dance Party!
The Definitive Figures Dance Party at the Allways will be DJ'd by Amber Martin, a NYC downtown cabaret star. From vintage vinyl, Amber DJs the most magical parties in New York City and can get a room dancing, even when there's no dance floor!
Photo of Shannon Stewart
Sunday, March 4
6:00PM
Spirit & Sparrow
(music)
Spirit & Sparrow (Spirit McIntyre, kei slaughter) is a sweet Non-Binary mashup of Black magick, soul & folk, delicate lyrics, powerful harmonies, engaging musicianship, and dynamic chemistry.
- - -
7:00PM
Maritza Mercado-Narcisse
(festival core artist)
How To Make a Kitchen More Difficult
Running time : 40 minutes
The mission of NARCISSE|MOVEMENT PROJECT is to provide a space in New Orleans for connection and integrated artistic expression that will promote the further development of a local professional dance community, and to make beautiful movement with professional artists in New Orleans who are interested in challenging what dance can be, who can make it, how it can matter, and where it can matter.
- - -
9:00PM
Shannon Stewart
(festival core artist)
"RELATIVES"
Running time - 65 minutes
Sprung from years of research in performativity of identity and textures of femininity, the Screaming Traps don’t know what is happening but they are curious. They watch you watch them. They appear and disappear. They change. They communicate. They subconsciously ask you to participate in unmaking what is objectified and objectifiable while still asking to be seen.
- - -
10:00PM
Closing Party!
More info coming soon!