FRESH FESTIVAL 2020 FESTIVAL OF EXPERIMENTAL DANCE, MUSIC + PERFORMANCE

Pictured: Kathleen Hermesdorf, Gareth Okan, Delaney McDonough, Kentaro Kumanomido. 

Photo by Robbie Sweeny

Coming to San Francisco, the Fresh Festival 2020, with a great schedule of artists in several areas:

SAN FRANCISCO, CA - November 6, 2019 - ALTERNATIVA, in association with Joe Goode Annex, launches San Francisco’s 11th annual FRESH Festival of Experimental Dance, Music + Performance, January 6-26, 2020 in three San Francisco locations.   Turned toward this year’s theme of tender, FRESH Festival 2020 is a diverse feast of embodied art, action and interaction showcasing three weeks of risk-taking mainstage Performances, immersive studio Practices, and social, inclusive and interactive community Exchanges, featuring 75+ cutting-edge artists from the Bay Area and beyond. FRESH 2020 takes place at three locations in the Mission District in San Francisco, which are also community partners of the Festival: Joe Goode Annex, BRAVA for Women in the Arts, and ODC Dance Commons.  FRESH is open to all curious, adventurous and serious bodies.  Performance tickets are $25-35, available online at https://joegoode.org/calendar/FRESH and at the door. Tickets go on sale November 18. Registration for FRESH Practices and a full schedule of Performances, Practices and Exchanges is available at https://freshfestival.org.

FRESH 2020 Video Trailer: Coming soon!

Comprised of Performances, Practices and Exchanges FRESH Festival offers multiple ways of experiencing cutting-edge live art and radical, risk-taking dance, music and performance.  FRESH 2020 addresses and embodies, from a myriad of perspectives, aspects of tender, tenderness, tending to, pretending and portending, and what these intentional, visceral and physical experiences might conjure in the body, in the individual, in the workshops and audiences and in those relationships to the wider world. 

“I’m trying to find a tender way of dealing with my outrage and burnout,” explains FRESH Festival Director and choreographer/performer Kathleen Hermesdorf.  “Tender is partly a response to common, everyday heartbreak and overall despair fatigue, and partly a response to FRESH 2019 being extremely expansive and full. Therefore, FRESH 2020 is a conscious tending to the local garden of artistic delights, as well as a tendency towards individual health as well as sharing the weight of the world. There is a focus on the feminine and on new voices that have the power to shift the tone of power, Hermesdorf adds, “A tender revolution seems necessary to become both more powerful and more permeable through transforming what is hard to handle, hard to swallow, hard to take, hard to manage, into softer materials.”

Co-curator José Navarrete, of NAKA Dance Theater, is presenting some new FRESH Exchanges this season, framed as Deep Community Engagement.  “We’re collaborating with local artist/activists and community groups, including Regina Evans, Skywatchers and MUA (Mujeres Unidas y Activas), on panel discussions, presentations, salon experiences, maybe even a fashion show and self-care spa, with a particular focus on bringing people of color into these experiences and into these dialogues around art making and community,” he says. These engagements will also include considerations for self and community care. 

FRESH PERFORMANCES

Also curated with major input by Navarrete, the first weekend of Performances features female black artists who are mainly new to the Festival. January 10 and 11 showcases brontë velez, sharing their eco-social art praxis through the mediums of the body, prophecy, ink made from guns and mud; dana e fitchett, in exploration of lineage and individual and collective healing; and Lsx Dsx featuring work interested in the physiological, environmental and sociopolitical implications of the word ‘pressure’, by Stephanie Hewett, jose e abad, Jubilee July and Felix Sol Linck-Frenz.

January 17 and 18 brings together an idiosyncratic and iconic solo by Sara Shelton Mann on spectacular New York dancer Jesse Zaritt, and a group piece by Lux Boreal Dance Company from Tijuana, Mexico made in testament to a grand ultimatum - survival vs. our own downfall.

January 24 and 25 features ALTERNATIVA in a new duet influenced by the dark side of the moon, the dark night of the soul, and the song of the nightingale; Irish artist and Director of Croí Glan Integrated Dance Company, Tara Brandel, in collaboration with Nigerian street dancer Nicholas Nwosu; and local superstar, Brontez Purnell, with a new work based on the Festival’s theme. Tender Dub Remix will be a performed piece as well as a movement love letter/chain letter and an original Dub inspired musical score to accompany it.

FRESH PRACTICES

FRESH Practices are held seven days a week for 5-6 hours per day throughout the Festival at Joe Goode Annex in San Francisco, feature innovative artists facilitating dance, corporeality, creativity and agency. FRESH Practices are open to all bodies interested in exploring embodiment, somatics, physicality, improvisation, creative processes, performative experiments and human experience.

FRESH 2020 Practices are led by ALTERNATIVA, Abby Crain, and Keith Hennessy from January 6-10; Sherwood Chen on January 11 and 12; ALTERNATIVA, Ángel Arámbula, and Jesse Zaritt from January 13-17; Chani Bockwinkel and dana e fitchett in 2 unique Practices on January 18 and 19; ALTERNATIVA, Sara Shelton Mann, and Tara Brandel from January 20 + 24; and Violeta Luna on January 25 and 26. Practices are held at Joe Goode Annex. 

FRESH EXCHANGES

Social, inclusive, easy access community events created to cultivate, invigorate and cross-pollinate the dance, music and performance scenes, players and audiences.

Mondays host Happy Hours, social club and cabaret space with live music by Albert Mathias and special guests on January 13, and multi-media installations by international collaborators on January 20. Wednesdays invite Deep Community Engagement, interactive events giving witness and access to outreach and activism, curated and moderated by NAKA Dance Theater, presenting Regina Y. Evans with Nicia De’Lovely + JahniahOmi Bahari on January 8; Skywatchers and Tongo Eisen talking, singing and dancing about Displacement in San Francisco on January 15; and a conversation and talent showcase with MUA (Mujeres Unidas y Activas) on January 22. Thursdays feature RIPE [raw + intimate performance experiments], showcasing new work by young female artists along with moderated audience feedback. RIPE presents Malia Byrne + Melissa Lewis and Kickbal (emma lanier) + Ky Frances) on January 9; Melissa Padilla and Middle Space Dance (Leah Fournier + Amelia Heintzelman) on January 16; and Audrey Johnson and Nicole Maimon + Kass Friend + Zoe Huey on January 23.

Sunday, January 19 is a FRESH Special Event co-presented with Flyaway Productions and ODC in Studio B at ODC Dance Commons - Contact Improvisation/Power/Gender (Talk.Dance.Cake) - a moderated and open conversation, CI Jam and sweet indulgence for and with women and non-binary dancers. Free if you bring dessert.

FRESH Exchanges on Wednesdays and Thursdays happen from 7-9pm at BRAVA for Women in the Arts. For Monday locations and details check www.freshfestival.org. Exchanges are priced $5-15 at the door [notaflof].

FRESH 2020 ARTISTS

FRESH 2020 features 75+ dance, music and performance makers, masters, upstarts and treasures from the Bay Area and beyond, including Abby Crain | Ainsley Tharp | Albert Mathias | ALTERNATIVA | Amelia Heintzelman | Andrew Kushin | Ángel Arámbula | Audrey Johnson | Barnaby Tree | brontë velez | Brontez Purnell Dance Company | Cabeza De Caset | Chani Bockwinkel | DaFuQ | dana e fitchett | Devin Pastika | Dustin Maxwell | emma lanier | Felix Sol Linck-Frenz | Henry Torres | Ilse Meza | JahniahOmi Bahari | Jesse Zaritt | Jo Kreiter | jose e abad | José Navarrete | Jubilee July | Kass Friend | Katelyn Stiles | Kathleen Hermesdorf | Keith Hennessy | Kickbal | Ky Frances | Leah Fournier | Lux Boreal Dance Company | Lxs Dxs | Malia Byrne | Matthew Armstrong | Melissa Lewis | Melissa Padilla | MUA (Mujeres Unidas y Activas) | NAKA Dance Theater | Nicholas Nwosu | Nicia De'Lovely | Nicola Bullock | Nicole Maimon | Nhu Nguyen | Pamela Macias | Raymond Larrett | Raúl Navarro | Regina Y. Evans | Sara Shelton Mann | Sherwood Chen | Skywalkers | Stephanie Hewett | Tara Brandel | Tongo Eisen | Violeta Luna | Wiley Evans | Zoe Huey | and more to be announced.

ABOUT FRESH FESTIVAL

FRESH Festival was created to ensure that San Francisco continues to grow as a provocative center for contemporary dance, music and performance. FRESH is artist-oriented and artist-run, manifesting as an arena for research; an incubator for new work; a generator for sharing resources, and a platform for cross-pollinating communities. Rooted in the body, the Festival embodies Bay Area legacies of creative freedom, community collaboration, ground-breaking practice and performance tactics, multi-disciplinary sensibilities, and accessible, alternative education.

ALTERNATIVA, directed by dancer Kathleen Hermesdorf with musician Albert Mathias, is an apparatus for deeply integrated contemporary dance and music via collaboration, creation, improvisation, performance, production, curation and education. Active in San Francisco since 1999, the organization supports the creative work of the directors, known for radical dance classes, multi-disciplinary performance projects, and musical endeavors delving into the corporeality and ineffability of human conditions, behaviors and other curiosities. Activities, including an annual FRESH Festival, ongoing classes and workshops in the Bay Area, residencies at universities, festivals and studios worldwide, engage an extensive population of artists, audiences and participants. ALTERNATIVA is fiscally sponsored by Dancers’ Group and has received support from the Zellerbach Family Foundation, William + Flora Hewlett Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Dancers’ Group’s Matching Grant and CA$H Grant, CHIME/MJDC, the San Francisco Arts Commission and The Suitcase Fund and individual donations.  la-alternativa.us 

Kathleen Hermesdorf is an international dance artist, educator and producer based in San Francisco. She directs ALTERNATIVA, with musician Albert Mathias. Hermesdorf has been dancing in the Bay Area since 1991 and teaches, performs, improvises, creates and curates around the world. Her work has been presented in the Bay Area, New York, Seattle, Berlin, Amsterdam, and Dakar, amongst other locations, in commission for universities, companies and independent dancers, and in collaboration with art partners worldwide. She was a member of Bebe Miller Company, Contraband/Sara Shelton Mann and Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, and co-director of Hermesdorf & Wells Dance Company with Scott Wells and Collusion with Stephanie Maher. She is the co-director of PORCH summer school at Ponderosa in Stolzenhagen, Germany and WILD [West Cork Contemporary Dance Festival] in Ballydehob, Ireland. Hermesdorf brings over 20 years of experience from the field, studio and stage to her work and holds a BFA and an MFA in Dance Performance + Pedagogy.

Albert Mathias is a multi-disciplinary musician based in San Francisco since 1991. He creates and performs composition and sound design for dance, theater, film, video and audio mediums, and is the music director of ALTERNATIVA, with director/dancer Kathleen Hermesdorf. He was a member of Bebe Miller Company and Contraband/Sara Shelton Mann, and has created original sound scores for myriad dance companies. In 2000, he was nominated for an IZZIE Award with ALTERNATIVA and received a BESSIE Award in 2006 with Bebe Miller Company. Mathias has produced 15 records of original music and collaborated in numerous bands, most notably LiveHuman, an internationally acclaimed trio with DJ Quest and bassist Andrew Kushin. Mathias attended California Institute of the Arts, training in tabla, voice and accompaniment, and has had the honor of private study with Pandit Swapan Chauduri, Sri Ravi Bellare and Tony Williams. His eclectic sounds can be found on I-Tunes, Bandcamp and CD Baby.

FRESH is an ARTLAB [a rising tide lifts all boats] Production by ALTERNATIVA, a fiscally sponsored project of Dancers’ Group. FRESH 2019 is curated by Kathleen Hermesdorf and José Navarrete, along with Gizeh Muñiz and FRESH team and community input, and sponsored by Joe Goode Annex, with added support from BRAVA for Women in the Arts and ODC Dance Commons. ALTERNATIVA and FRESH Festival 2020 are grateful for support from Dancers’ Group, the Zellerbach Family Foundation, the William + Flora Hewlett Foundation, the Kenneth Rainin Foundation, and many generous individuals.

Tickets for FRESH 2020 Performances are priced at $25-$35 and are available online at https://joegoode.org/calendar/FRESH beginning November 18, 2019.

A complete schedule of Performances, Practices and Exchanges, as well as Festival packages which include access to FRESH Practices and FRESH Exchanges, can be found at  https://freshfestival.org.