MOUTHWATER FESTIVAL
A DISABLED DANCE FESTIVAL
SEP 23 – OCT 13, 2024
THROUGH MADE IN SEATTLE
Mouthwater Festival is three weeks of Disabled movement genius coming to Seattle. Disabled artists from all over the country will gather in town to share their work, develop their practice, foster cross-disability solidarity and grow their creativity. Mouthwater Festival is the beginning of an arts hub by and centering Black and Indigenous Disabled artists to present, collaborate and get uplifted for their crafts. The festival’s values are anti-capitalist, anti-fascist, pro-Black, Disability Justice-informed, Afrofuturist, sex-educated and practical. The creatives and workers behind Mouthwater dream of making more spaces for Disabled artistry to thrive. The Mouthwater Festival will begin with artist incubating spaces like workshops, socials and photoshoots in late September 2024 then offer sliding scale performance-centered events during the first two weeks of October 2024.
Mouthwater Festival is over a dozen events in six different venues. All events will be ASL interpreted. All venues have step-free access to the bathrooms and performance spaces. There will be a variety of seating as well as ear plugs available in all venue spaces. Masks will be required for the audiences. Masks will be provided. All performers will be multiply tested for COVID and asked to be low-scent.
Please reach out to cripdancedoula@gmail.com for more specifics on any venues or events.
Mouthwater Festival is organized by and for Disabled artist community. Because of this, events are liable to adapt, adjust and change. Join our social media to stay up to date should changes occur. Insta: @mouthwaterdance, @velocity_seattle
PERFORMANCES
SEP 29 | Crip Open Stage
[Image Description: In clockwise order are graphics of Vanessa Hernández Cruz (she, her, ella), India Harville (she, her, hers), Saira Barbaric (he/they/she/ze), and Mx. Pucks A’Plenty (they/them). Background is a red and blue gradient.]
Crip Open Stage is a performance and artist lunch with UJDC and Mouthwater team at BASE Experimental Arts...
For the second day of Urban Jazz Dance Company’s participation in Mouthwater Festival, we offer our first artist social. There will be lunch, refreshments and a sign up sheet for an open stage session. Bring a finished drag, a work-in-progress, an idea in movement form, a new burlesque piece, your latest b-boy move. This is the Disabled dance show-and-tell of your dreams.
OCT 5-6 | GROW GREEN MAN
[Image Description: Graphic of Saira Barbaric (he/they/she/ze)with a natural facial expression, eyes open, lips closed, poised forward and he is only showing the top part of his body and shoulders. The background is a gradient rainbow, has pink, blue, green, and light blue.]
Grow Green Man is a performance party from Saira Barbaric at the Olympic Sculpture Park…
Grow Green Man is the premiere evening work from Saira Barbaric. Hosted at the Olympic Sculpture Park’s Paccar Pavilion, Barbaric wants you for a night of music, visual art and performance. Come early to hear DJs, enjoy refreshments and experience works from Barbaric’s 2022 show, Pantheon Anew. Sunset will set off a series of performances including circus, burlesque, installation art and interactive acts from a lineup of Black Disabled artists including Saira Barbaric. The night will wrap up with more dancing and drinks as the art action draws to a close. Come on out for an evening of sensual, playful, confronting work from a bevy of PNW favorites and new-to-us powerhouses.
OCT 10 | SOUL SEEKER
[Image Description: Graphic of Vanessa Hernández Cruz (she, her, ella) with a poised expression to the side, eyes open, lips closed, wearing silver long earrings! Hair is black and is worn down with a side part. She is wearing a necklace that has a black string, and a blue gem necklace that is heart shaped. Vanessa is wearing an off the shoulder top that is black and gray, with halter straps. The background is gradient with blue, green, and purple.]
Soul Seeker is an experimental contemporary performance from Vanessa Hernández Cruz at On the Boards…
Soul Seeker is an experimental contemporary dance solo of the epic odyssey of our soul that will be performed at On the Boards in the Fall for the Mouthwater Festival. It recently premiered at the Los Angeles Contemporary Exhibitions performing art series “ABUNDANCE’. This work conveys the tumultuous journey of the soul as it navigates the labyrinthine path of life. In this cosmic journey we find ourselves intricately interwoven, connected by invisible threads that bind us to one another and to the vast universe that surrounds us. We don’t get to choose our vessel on this Earth, but the Universe grants us the profound gift of life. It is a dance of introspection and revelation, inviting audiences to embark on a transcendent voyage of self-discovery. But it is not only through movement and sound that this odyssey unfolds; visual artistry takes center stage, manifesting the chaos and beauty of our soul in vibrant hues and striking imagery.
OCT 11-12 | Mouthwater Cabaret
[Image Description: In clockwise order are graphics of Vanessa Hernández Cruz (she, her, ella), India Harville (she, her, hers), Saira Barbaric (he/they/she/ze), and Mx. Pucks A’Plenty (they/them). Background is a red and blue gradient.]
Mouthwater Cabaret is a night of cabaret decadence at 12th Ave Arts…
Slip into 12th Ave Arts for two nights of our very own cabaret decadence. Disabled movement artists of so many styles will grace the stage with contemporary dance, drag and burlesque. All that alongside hilarious hosts, vintage cocktails, small bites in a luscious lounge will transport you to a retro-future of access and art.
Dress code for those that like to dress- Sleek, retro-future. Come to our lounge in your favorite look for the accessible speakeasy of your dreams.
Touch tours and artist talks available before each performance in the 12th Ave Arts lobby.
OCT 13 | Shuga Shaq
A Mouthwater Feature at Seattle’s longest BIPOC burlesque night at Theatre Off Jackson…
Briq House Entertainment, in Association with Theater off Jackson and Sin de la Rosa, produces the only monthly ALL PEOPLE OF COLOR Burlesque Revue in Seattle, The Sunday Night Shuga Shaq.
On October 13th, join us as the Mouthwater Festival wraps up with an evening of dazzling dancing, tantric teasing, and all around magic with some of the hottest Burlesque performers this side of the Mississippi! There will be so many shades and flavors of chocolate, caramel, mocha, lemon meringue, and red velvet dripping from the Theatre Off Jackson stage that you are guaranteed to leave with a toothache.
Bring your dollar bills to get some thrills- drinks, raffles, performers and more! Shuga Shaq is the official last stop of the Mouthwater Festival where you’ll see a mix of our babes and the shining stars that Shuga Shaq brings to the stage.
WORKSHOPS FOR DISABLED ARTISTS
ANTI-BURNOUT
THE UJDC SPIRIT
GROOVE + CONNECT
ENERGY FLOW
FESTIVAL CURATORS
SAIRA BARBARIC
VANESSA HERNÁNDEZ CRUZ
MX. PUCKS A’PLENTY
INDIA HARVILLE
HOW TO PARTICIPATE
Mouthwater Festival offers a variety of workshops for disabled artists, and performances and events for all. Individual Event Tickets will be sliding scale from $0-50 for all performances. Packages to the full Mouthwater Festival are are sliding from $0-80, and include access to all 5 performances and events. Workshops for disabled artists are available for individual registration at a sliding scale of $0-20.
To purchase a subscription to Velocity’s full Fall 2024 Season, including the entire Mouthwater Festival, click here.
FESTIVAL PACKAGE
Pricing: $0-80
Includes Tickets to the following Events & Performances:
- Crip Open Stage
- Grow Green Man
- Soul Seeker
- Mouthwater Cabaret
- Shuga Shaq
ARTIST WORKSHOPS
Pricing: $0-20
Includes Tickets to the following Events & Performances:
- Anti-Burnout
- Groove + Connect
- Watering Our Brilliance
- The UJDC Spirit
- Energy Flow
INDIVIDUAL TICKETS
Pricing: $0-50
Individual Tickets are on sale for the following performances:
- Crip Open Stage
- Grow Green Man Performance Party + Touch Tour
- Soul Seeker
- Mouthwater Cabaret
- Shuga Shaq
PRESENTING PARTNERS
PROGRAM SUPPORTERS
Mouthwater Festival is supported in part by the Mellon Foundation, the Beim Foundation, 4Culture, and the National Endowment for the Arts.
ABOUT MADE IN SEATTLE
Mouthwater is presented through Velocity’s Made in Seattle new work incubator program. Made in Seattle is a core residency program, and supported by the Raynier Foundation along with Velocity’s season sponsors and community of individual donors.
Velocity’s Made in Seattle program provides support to artists over a period of a year or more, and focuses on the critical development phase of a new work. The Made in Seattle program is dedicated to growing the Northwest’s creative community by commissioning, producing and presenting evening-length works by some of the most talented and experimental artists from our region.
Through nuanced and responsive assistance, over a multi-year period, the incubator enables artists to push boundaries, and develop their best work at a scale and visibility level that can catapult them into the next career phase, and onto the national stage.
The Made in Seattle creative incubator brings resources to every stage of creation — from conception through presentation and beyond — making it one of the most robust artist opportunities in Seattle, if not nationally.
Anti-Burnout — workshop from Mx. Pucks A’Plenty
SEP 26 | 5 – 6:30 PM
The Beacon Studio | 812 Rainier Ave S
Artistic burnout is a state of emotional, physical, and mental exhaustion around creative work. The symptoms can be hard to pinpoint. In this workshop and discussion we will dive into the emotional, physical, and mental symptoms and give them not only a voice, but will give them movement, sound, and color through interactive prompts.
As a performer, producer, executive director of a non-profit, parent, disabled human, Mx. Pucks A’Plenty has spent most of their life in a deficit of time, energy and resources. Being able to give their artistic burnout a voice as well as listen to their own has allowed them to use other methods of refilling their creative energy cup so Pucks can pour more art into the world.
Together we will share our methods for refilling our creative energy cups.
Groove + Connect — workshop from Saira Barbaric
SEP 26 | 7 – 8:30 PM
The Beacon Studio | 812 Rainier Ave S
Join Saira Barbaric for a movement workshop of improvisation, games and disco. Experience Saira’s developing style that brings together burlesque, club dance, pleasure practice and play for a sensual and lighthearted dance session. Beginning with history and cultural context, we will warm up, move on our own and find ways to travel together and connect. Led by the rhythm and the goals of the games, movers will get a taste of Soul Train with a queer crip guide and an accessible framework to support a wide range of disabilities, ages and skill levels.
Workshop and games were originally created for Axis Dance Company’s summer 2023 Choreo-Lab as rehearsal prompts for the in-progress work, A NEW GUEST.
Watering Our Brilliance: Disability Justice + Disability Art — Workshop
with Kayla + India
SEP 27 | 6- 8 PM
The Beacon Studio | 812 Rainier Ave S
Disabled Artists India Harville and Kayla Hamilton will guide us through a movement experience that centers disabled bodies and the disabled experience. We will discuss Disability Justice and explore how we embody the principles in our movements and in our lives. We will aim to be together in a creative exploration that honors each of us, each other, and the ways we come together. Please bring a note-catching device of your choosing. Be prepared to shed ideas of perfection, reach your growing edge, and appreciate all of who you/we are. If you are disabled, come!
The UJDC Spirit — workshop from Urban Jazz Dance Company
SEP 26 | 7 – 8:30 PM
Base Experimental Arts + Space | 6520 5th Ave S
Want to build a stronger core- physical and spiritual without overextending yourself? Need to dance? Beginner or professional this class is for everyone. It’s not how high you kick but why you kick!
Urban Jazz Dance is a convergence of artistic forces where RAW energy, ROOTED in FREEDOM, is expressed through the athletic BODY and UNCONTROLLABLE, PASSIONATE dance. Expect Ballet, Afro movement, plus more and even American Sign Language…the power of expression must be real.
Taught by Award winning Deaf Dancer Antoine Hunter and assisted by Urban Jazz Dance Company’s Deaf dancers. Deaf, hearing and ALL are welcome!
ENERGY FLOW: SAFE/CENTERED STAGE PRESENCE
OCT 1 | 6 – 7 PM
Base Experimental Arts + Space | 6520 5th Ave S
Commanding an audience’s attention doesn’t have to mean constantly moving about a stage! Learn the five elements Jacqueline uses to make the absolute most of center stage and practice a brief choreography that introduces adapting these elements to your own performance style.
Groove + Connect — workshop from Saira Barbaric
SEP 26 | 7 – 8:30 PM
The Beacon Studio | 812 Rainier Ave S
Join Saira Barbaric for a movement workshop of improvisation, games and disco. Experience Saira’s developing style that brings together burlesque, club dance, pleasure practice and play for a sensual and lighthearted dance session. Beginning with history and cultural context, we will warm up, move on our own and find ways to travel together and connect. Led by the rhythm and the goals of the games, movers will get a taste of Soul Train with a queer crip guide and an accessible framework to support a wide range of disabilities, ages and skill levels.
Workshop and games were originally created for Axis Dance Company’s summer 2023 Choreo-Lab as rehearsal prompts for the in-progress work, A NEW GUEST.