NEXTFEST NW: TOTAL CHAOS

RESIDENCY SHOWINGS

performances by

STASIA COUP, HANNAH KRAFCIK + EMILY JONES, AND SYMONE SANZ

JUL 19  | 5:30 PM

12th Ave Arts | 1620 12th Ave

FREE

In this free and informal showing,  the 2024 cohort of NFNW artists will provide our audiences with a first glimpse of their creative worlds.  These showings are a culmination of each of their residencies during the Seattle Festival of Dance and Improvisation (SFD+I).  We can’t wait to witness this first iteration of their creative process!

NEXTFEST NW: TOTAL CHAOS

Next Fest NW is Velocity’s experimental new works festival, celebrating contemporary dance and movement-based artists innovating in our region. For this year’s festival, Hannah Krafcik + Emily Jones, Artie Thomas, and Symone Sanz will each be in residency at SFD+I and will make new works focusing on the theme Total Chaos for the show premiering in December 2024.

For this iteration, artists were asked to respond the idea of TOTAL CHAOS. “Total”, in this context, meaning “complete” but it also “damaged beyond its value”.  In this time of disarray, disorder, and mess. “Total Chaos” is an investigation of cacophony, grief, order, and purpose.

ARTIST BIOS

Stasia Coup (she/her) is the stage moniker of transmasculine performance artist Artie Thomas (he/him). Stasia hails from Seattle’s notoriously weird drag scene, where she has been performing for five years in venues ranging from dive bars, clubs, and living rooms to curated black box theaters. Stasia enjoys turning expectations of drag on their head, pushing boundaries of what drag can be and experimenting with innovative structure. Ranging from magical to mischievous, her work weaves together elements of storytelling, performance art, creative costuming, and postmodern dance. Stasia is known for a signature absurdity, playfulness, and sentimentality, which shine through in most of her creations.

Stasia’s work has been featured in over fifty local drag shows, perhaps most well-known as a cast member in the experimental drag/art show, Glory Hole. Stasia has also been showcased in On the Boards’ Performance Lab, as a choreographer in Velocity’s Bridge Project, CO-’s Show 6, and as a guest resident for the Drama Tops’ BASE residency Off the Lead.

We are Emily Jones (she/they) and Hannah Krafcik (they/them), and we are artistic partners living on unceded lands of Cowlitz, Confederated Tribes of Grand Ronde, Clackamas and many other tribes, also known as Portland, Oregon. We make dance performances and transdisciplinary work together. Our artistic offerings explore the tensions between social power dynamics and unnamed personal needs. We maintain that sensory autonomy—the ability to honor and explore one’s own sensory needs and desires—is an essential step in naming, refusing, and subverting coercive power dynamics that touch every aspect of life.
Symone Sanz is a Seattle-based movement artist, choreographer from Los Angeles. She holds a BFA in dance from the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Her “mesmerizing, energizing, and weirdly gripping” (-The Stranger) choreography is underscored by punk rock and grunge music that embodies Seattle culture at its core. Her current research offers space to explore taboo emotions through rigorous feats and durational exploration. Symone has collaborated with artists Heather Kravas, Cherdonna Shinatra, zoe|juniper, and Amanda Morgan, among many others. Her choreographic work has been presented at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Washington Ensemble Theater, Friends of the Waterfront, and 10 Degrees. Symone facilitates movement and euphoria through her Dance Church® classes and supports the community through her board service for Velocity Dance Center and work as an arts administrator.

ACCESSIBILITY INFORMATION

12th Avenue Arts is fully accessible for wheelchairs and walkers. The lobby, bathrooms and theater spaces are at street level, and seating is available without the need for an elevator or stairs. ASL interpretation will be provided at one of the performances. Bathrooms will be gender neutral.

For specific questions and accommodations, please contact Shirley at operations@velocitydancecenter.org

SUPPORTERS

The Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation is made possible with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, ArtsFund, and 4Culture. It is also supported by our community of individual donors, community partners, and arts advocates.

Next Fest NW is a core residency program, and supported by the Raynier Foundation.

 

SFD+I SUPPORTERS

The Seattle Festival of Dance + Improvisation is made possible with generous support from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Seattle Office of Arts and Culture, ArtsFund, and 4Culture. It is also supported by our community of individual donors, community partners, and arts advocates.

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