Monthly Archives: April 2018

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Piñata 45: The End of Her Rope is not just a show. The women (and our male allies) in this production are bringing forth powerful stories of resilience, fragility and survival. Our rehearsals are sometimes about product and aesthetic value…. and sometimes about process, healing, showing more of our lived experience and about personal growth. As artists, we are developing the craft of blending these worlds.  As director of PDC, I don’t believe in making art that doesn’t move us forward… or move us through…. or touch on what is untouched- both within ourselves and in the lives of our audience.  Piñata Dance Collective (AKA PussyFleet) is making an impact and we are counting on seeing you in the theater May 11-12.

Why do we place so much value on beauty?  How is beauty defined?

What lengths will we go to attain it?

How do we use this platform to understand more about ourselves as females, people of color, survivors of abuse, gender-based harassment or as artists?

How do we respond to an overtly misogynist president?

In addition to being humorous, quirky, stunningly beautiful, painfully true, uncomfortably grotesque, a courageous reveal of tenderness and, at times, confusing material regarding victimization and empowerment, there are high financial costs and countless hours of preparation.  There are many ways you can support us as we birth this beast.

Please donate to our GoFundMe campaign, purchase tickets and share our FB event page on Social media. Click on the campaign for more info and photos!

https://www.gofundme.com/EndofHerRope

Thank you for your generous support

Issachar Curbeon rehearsing “Zinzi”. A piece about body dysmporphia in the eyes of an African American Girl.

Scott Wells and Liz Boubion rehearsing “piñata humana”

Andreina Maldonado and Dominique Nigro rehearsing “Magazine” duet.

Ronja Ver rehearsing solo “Sunflower”

 

Piñata 45: The End of Her Rope

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A woman dangles at the end of her rope in an historically suspended tale of Piñatas, Miss Universe and the fatal body politics of the feminine. Joined by her dynamic cast of grotesque-burlesque modern dancers, the PussyFleet ensemble moves through 500 years of re-appropriated rituals that involve breaking open, over-consumption, body manipulation and a re-framing of sex, race and power.

Piñata 45: The End of Her Rope 

Dance Mission Theater 3316 24th Street, San Francisco 

Friday, May 11 and Saturday, May 12 at 8:00 pm

Tickets $20    

facebook event page

“Piñata 45”, a sarcastic reference to the president, as well as, to the dance company, is a breakable subject. While the former owner of Miss Universe and accused perpetrator of sexual harassment and domestic violence sits in the white house, the number of women speaking out against violence is rising.  For the Piñata Dance Collective, the body becomes a site and process of showing how resilient and fragile the body of the feminine can be.

The show moves in three parts with dancers, Liz Duran Boubion, Issachar Curbeeon, Ronja Ver, Andreina Maldonado, Kristen Rulifson, Dominique Nigro, Alyah Baker and live music by Chelsea Kirby.

Part I, Ms. Boubion’s personification of a human piñata hanging from a bungee cord, tells a tragic yet triumphant story of a tenacious piñata with the compensatory survival skills of innocence, generosity, humor and beauty. As a 2nd generation Chicana and survivor of sexual abuse, she dances with her blindfolded dancers with bouts of cultural dementia, erotic outbursts and broken English and Spanish.  Bouncing between the trappings of exploitation and exaltation, her super powers of animal shape shifting and rapid proliferation may triumph. Co-directed by Zoe Klein.

Part II: Miss Universe.  A choreographed memorial of beauty contestants dance on a mirror, highlighting the commodification and manipulation of women’s bodies contextualized by cosmetic surgery, suicide, sexual harassment and domestic violence. The Pageant includes the story of “Zinzi” written and performed by Issachar Curbeeon and dancer Alyah Baker, reflecting on racism in the mirror of an African American girl with body dysmorphia.  Dancer, Ronja Ver performs a piece about Ivana Trump as it relates to her own insights into domestic violence. And the story of Miss Venezuela is danced by Andreina Maldonado exposing the shadow of cosmetic surgery and a repressive government regime.

Part III: #DontGrab. A response to trump’s ‘grab her by the pussy’ conversation that went viral in 2016. The first iteration of this dance was performed by Boubion’s PussyFleet dancers last November during the Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers and will be developed further in Piñata 45: The End of Her Rope. Musical composition by David Molina.

Your support for women in the arts is needed!

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Thank you very much for your generous donation!