Dreams/Suenos video
July 22, 2014
We performed Dreams and Sillhouettes/Suenos y Silhuetas in January 2014 at the Center for Global Justice in Tucson, AZ. An multi-disciplinary performance based on stories from undocumented women in the South Tucson Community. Premiered January 25, 2014, Global Justice Center, South Tucson. Over 200 people came out to see this multi-disciplinary collaborative performance on one evening.
Comments (0) | More: News, Performances and Activities
Shooting Columbus – first steps
May 15, 2014
Back row, L to R: Klee Benally, Alex Soto, Chandra Narcia, Adam Cooper-Terán, Rachel Bowditch, Denise Uyehara, Front Row, Ryan Pinto and Tygel Pinto
We are excited to announce the launch of a new project, Shooting Columbus. Our first devising session is made possible by a NET Travel Grant and was held at Arizona State University.
Shooting Columbus is an evening-length, interdisciplinary performance in which indigenous scientists build a time machine and go back in time to the Bahamian Islands to kill Columbus in 1492. During the course of the performance native people from an Alternate Timeline interrupt and eventually take over the play. These alternate characters are being developed in a series of devising workshops with artists from the Tohono O’Odham, Akimel O’odham, Yaqui and Diné nations.
The project examines ethics and consequences of time travel, with the United State’s continual genocide of native people serving as a backdrop. It also responds to anti-immigration law SB1070 – the “papers please” clause of which was recently upheld by the Supreme Court – that has spread fear throughout the South Tucson community. Native Americans, who have lived in the region for generations before the U.S.-Mexico border was drawn, are caught in the midst of this ongoing xenophobia.
Three award-winning artists, video/audio artist Adam Cooper-Terán, performance artist/playwright Denise Uyehara and ASU Theater director Rachel Bowditch will develop and premiere this evening-length work in Phoenix in 2015, with plans to subsequently tour nationally and abroad. All three artists hail from highly collaborative, interdisciplinary backgrounds. These artists will also work with a small ensemble of performers to ready the work for its premiere.
This project marks the fourth collaboration between Uyehara and Cooper-Terán since they began working together in 2008. Major past projects include BUS STOP DREAMING, a site-specific, interdisciplinary performance, located at sites of deportation in South Tucson (MAP Fund 2012, in collaboration with Jason Aragon/Pan Left) and ARCHIPELAGO, which explores Yaqui and Okinawan creation stories, reset in contemporary times of war and occupation (National Performance Network Creation Fund).
| More: News, Notebook, Performances and Activities
Gracias from the Dreams/Sueños Team
January 27, 2014
SOUTH TUCSON – We want to thank the community for coming out to see Dreams and Silhouettes/Sueños y Siluetas at the Center for Global Justice. It was so exciting to perform to a packed house — and what a diverse crowd! We were so moved by your energy, support and feedback. Special thanks to our community partners: Las Promotoras, Coalición de Derechos Humanos, Pan Left Productions and the Center for Global Justice. Check out the media coverage on the project and artist notebook.
| More: News, Notebook
“Dreams and Silhouettes” on AZ Illustrated, Tucson Weekly and more…
January 23, 2014
“Without Papers”
Tucson Weekly article, by Margaret Regan
“Border Issues Visualized by Art”
review in the Daily Wildcat
University of Arizona
“Llevan al teatro ‘Sueños y Siluetas’”
de los deportados
La Estrella.com
and on Carolyn’s Community News,
TucsonCitizen.com
Dreams & Silhouettes/Sueños y Siluetas
Saturday January 25, 2014, 7p.m.
Free
Global Justice Center
225 E. 26th St. (just west of 4th Ave.)
Tucson, AZ 85713
Show details
| More: News, Notebook
Gathering the stories for Dreams and Silhouettes
January 21, 2014
We’re down to the home stretch with the Dreams and Silhouettes production. This multidisciplinary installation is based on stories from Las Promotoras and others from the local Tucson community. We’re so thankful to get to work with these fierce women and inspired and humbled by their stories. A special thanks to Lidia Terán-Cooper (pictured here with Adam) who shared her stories and also did some final voice over poetry for us.
Show is Saturday, January 25, 7pm. Come early – we expect a crowd!
| More: Notebook
Live shadow painting in progress for Dreams & Silhouettes
January 10, 2014
Deep in production….
Wesley Creigh, after a live painting created with Christina Cardenas
Wesley painting in the “shadow” of a local resident who has been deported
I’ve been thinking a lot about how to make the invisible more visible. How do you represent someone who is undocumented, who lives with constant threat of deportation, without making them more vulnerable? We conducted a workshop with Las Promotoras, the women of Derechos Humanos who help educated the public about their rights. In the workshop we explored peoples dreams and aspirations, then had them write a letter to someone they loved as if this dream had come true. These letters are played back as audio clips in the Shadows scene from the show.
Meanwhile, performers stand in for those they know who have been deported, created a shadow on the wall, which magically reverses to a white shadow.
Above is a photo of Wesley Creigh in a test run – painting in the “shadows” representing those deported. Melo and Wesley will both be painting, along with Adam’s animation playing in tandem with their artistry.
Click here for details on this free performance in South Tucson.
| More: News, Notebook
Dreams and Silhouettes team at work at the Global Justice Center
December 13, 2013
As the Winter Solstice approaches….
Jason Aragon, Adam Cooper-Teran and I have been working closely with women from Las Promotoras (the community wing of Derechos Humanos) on a new, community-inspired performance installation, Dream & Silhouettes, or Suenos y Siluetas. The event will take place Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014 at the new Global Justice Center, which houses some fierce human rights groups based in South Tucson. This summer The Alliance for Global Justice purchased the old Stardust Ballroom and renovated it to provide office space for all these groups — and they kept the ballroom for performances and conferences. (The photo above is courtesy of The Gloo Factory, a community minded union print shop located directly across the street)
Work by Melo Dominguez
Work by Wesley Creigh
Through workshops, meet ups and Jason’s in-depth one-on-one interviews, The Dreams and Silhouettes team has collected stories from Las Promotoras and other people from the community who are most affected by recent detentions and deportations in Tucson. Adam is working his magic to mix their interviews into fantastic sound and video montages.
Visual artists Mel “Melo” Dominguez and Wesley Creigh will be painting “silhouettes” live during the evening. Performers include Yvonne Montoya of Safos Dance Theater and Marc Pinate and rumor has it the Border Patrol Trixter will make an appearance once again.
Hope you can step out for this free show on Saturday, Jan. 25, 2014! Click here for more on Dreams and Silhouettes.
- Denise
| More: Notebook, Projects (selected)
Dreams and Silhouettes premieres at the Global Justice Center Saturday Jan. 25, 7pm, Tucson
November 15, 2013
Mark your calendars!
Dreams & Silhouettes/Sueños y Silhuetas
Saturday January 25, 2014, 7p.m.
Free
Global Justice Center
225 E. 26th St., Tucson, AZ 85713
Just out! “Without Papers” Tucson Weekly Article
Video (from MOCA-Tucson show)
Inside scoop in Artist Notebook
Facebook Event Page
High Resolution Photos and Press Release
Dreams & Silhouettes is multi-disciplinary performance installation inspired by communities in Tucson and near the border that live with militarization, detention, and deportation.
By award-winning filmmaker Jason Aragon of Pan Left Productions, performance artist Denise Uyehara and video artist Adam Cooper-Teran. Featuring stories from Las Promotoras of Derechos Humanos and members of the community, with visual artists Melo Dominguez, Lawrence Gipe and Wesley Creigh, performers Marc Pinate and Yvonne Montoya.
Made possible with generous support from the Tucson Pima Arts Council PLACE Grant and the MAP Fund
—
Sabado, 25 Enero, 2014, 7p.m.
Gratis!
Global Justice Center
225 E. 26th St., Tucson, AZ 85713
Sueños y Silhuetas es la instalación actuación multidisciplinar inspirado en las comunidades en Tucson y cerca de la frontera que viven con la militarización, la detención y la deportación.
| More: News
“Shedding Light on Memory and the Occupied Body” performative talk, Pitzer College
February 04, 2013
- I’m excited to announce I’ll be an Activist/Artist-in-Residence (AAIR) this February and March at the Claremont Colleges in Southern California. Activities include:Opening Performative Talk:
“Shedding Light and the Occupied Body”
February 13th, 2013, 7:00 p.m.
Benson Auditorium, Pitzer
Community and class workshop showing:
Saturday, March 9, 3pm, Kallick Family Gallery at Pitzer College
AAIR is the signature project of the Intercollegiate Department of Asian American Studies at the Claremont Colleges, offering public events and workshops with activists and professional artists representing diverse cultures and art forms that are usually not part of “traditional” college curricula. More…
| More: Education, News
Bus Stop Dreaming in Casa Libre’s Edge 50 series, Jan 23
January 22, 2013
Denise Uyehara/Yvonne Montoya perform excerpts from Bus Stop Dreaming (the roving unplugged version!) as part of an evening of poetry and performance, presented by Edge 50: a Reading Series of Emerging and Younger Writers. Evening also features work by Cybele Knowles, Sueyeun Juliette Lee.
Wednesday, January 23,
7:30 p.m.
Suggested Donation: $5
Casa Libre
228 N. 4th Avenue
Tucson, AZ 85705
view video here
Bus Stop Dreaming is a series multi-disciplinary performances that appear at community sites around Tucson in response to the ongoing deportations of thousands of undocumented immigrants in the city. Bus Stop is a collaboration between documentary filmmaker Jason Aragon of Pan Left Productions and performance artist Denise Uyehara, with Yvonne Montoya of Safos Dance Theater, video/audio artist Adam Cooper-Terán. interviews and footage from residents of South Tucson. Made possible in part by the MAP Fund and the P.L.A.C.E./Open Society Fund from the Tucson Pima Arts Concil. More…
| More: News
ASU Intermedia Performance Class showing Dec. 5, 2012
November 28, 2012
This fall 2012 I was invited to teach Intermedia Performance at Arizona State University, Tempe. The Intermedia Program is part of the School of Art in the Herberger Institute for Design and the Arts. We had a great time creating performance, movement and installations, culminating in a final performance. Three cheers for ASU Intermedia students! Click on thumbnail for larger image.
Photos by David Moreno, additional photos by Mikey Estes. Featuring work by Alex Levy, Terrance Kelsy, Brandon Beren, Dave Moreno, Blake Payan, Tracy Fairfield, Mikey Estes, Yixuan Wang, Morgan Sweazy, Gabriel Lopez, Chungling Paul Liu, Edgar Noriega, Kiley Bishop.
| More: Education, Notebook
Bus Stop Dreaming March 22 and 23, House of Neighborly Services, South Tucson
October 02, 2012
Traffic Stop. Border Patrol. Deportation.
Bus Stop Dreaming will appear as part of Safos Dance Theater’s “Vignettes”
House of Neighborly Services
243 W 33rd St, Tucson, AZ
Friday, March 22 at 7pm
Saturday, March 23 at 7pm
Admission: $14 suggested donation, $12 seniors/students
and special free matinee for community on Saturday March 23, 1pm
for more info on community matinee and accessibility call (520) 481-1656
Click here for video
Choreography by Denise Uyehara in collaboration with Yvonne Montoya, video/audio design for Bus Stop Dreaming by Adam Cooper-Terán, based on an interview with Alex by Jason Aragon. “The Dove” image used with permission © 2009 Ed Braverman. Photos by JP Westenskow. Bus Stop Dreaming is supported by the MAP Fund and the P.L.A.C.E. grant from the Tucson Pima Arts Council. Photos taken at MOCA-Tucson.
| More: News
Featured Performances
- Archipelago (2012)
December 8, 2012 | 12:26 pm
ARCHIPELAGO is a new multidisciplinary work by critically-acclaimed performance artist Denise Uyehara and award-winning visualist Adam Cooper-Terán. Through video, image and movement they remix ancient myths of Okinawa with the story of Batuc, a village in the Yaqui River Valley which was flooded by the Mexican government. They weave together loss, cultural survival, wrath of […]
Comments closed
- Transitions (2012)
January 20, 2012 | 2:18 pm
Transitions by Denise Uyehara and James Luna Everybody has a past. For James Luna and myself, that past began in Orange County — land of malls, surfers and the 405 Freeway. How did we evolve from being ethnic minorities in suburbia to the artists we are today? And in the sea of consumerism […]
Comments closed
- Dreams & Silhouettes (formerly Bus Stop Dreaming) 2012-2014
January 12, 2012 | 1:20 pm
Dreams & Silhouettes (formerly entitled Bus Stop Dreaming) is a series of short, multi-disciplinary performances that appear at various community and art events in response to the ongoing deportations of thousands of undocumented immigrants in the city of Tucson. Bus Stop is a collaboration between two award-winning artists – documentary filmmaker Jason Aragon, and performance […]
Comments closed
- Denise in 1 minute
January 1, 2010 | 9:46 am
Tweet
Comments closed
- Pageantry (2008-2009)
December 3, 2009 | 3:33 pm
A collaboration by Denise Uyehara and Sri Susilowati PAGEANTRY follows the trail of young Asian women who danced for renowned Hollywood choreographer Michio Ito in the late 1930s. Under Ito’s training they learned dances from Indonesia, Thailand, China and Japan. Their plans to tour the U.S. were disrupted when the Japanese attacked Pearl Harbor and […]
Comments closed
- The Senkotsu (Mis)Translation Project (2006-2009)
April 26, 2009 | 9:29 am
The Senkotsu (Mis)translation Project (Highways Performance Space 2009, Barnsdall Municipal Art Gallery/COLA Awards 2006) is an interactive interdisciplinary performance installation that explores the entangled history of Okinawa and the U.S. military which has had a presence on these southern-most islands of Japan since World War II. It evokes the battle of Okinawa in which one-third […]
Comments closed
-
Archive for Featured Performances »
- Archipelago (2012)