OR, AN ORAL HISTORY: UTMOST
PICS OR IT DIDN’T HAPPEN
A Sarah Donnelly Production
Photo: Sean Billy Kizy
In “Or, An Oral History: Utmost,” artists Rakia Seaborn, Sean Billy Kizy & Ethan Baldwin are glitter-wearing oracles. All seeing & sensuous, they hold court in a storefront window turned deconstructed disco ball. Cross the threshold and track the evolution of the work from a 2015 virtual diary into a real-world dancehall for existential booty-shaking. Audiences are invited to time travel to a place before “baskets of deplorables,” “Lemonade” and Russian interludes. Part séance, part experimental novel of the body, the trio of artists magically transforms into medium & soothsayer via six days of interrogative performance. Can we apprehend the present by collectively exorcising the past? How do we recapture the #blackgirlmagical optimism of recent history? Where do we carve out a path to a more just future when complexity is distilled to a series of hashtags?
“Or, An Oral History: Utmost” Schedule of Performances:
Bitches Brew: Monday - Wednesday, June 19 - 21, 2017, 8:30 - 10:00 am
Seaborn will be brewing a potion and raiding the virtual diary for choreographic material from 2015. Please join her for coffee & improvisation.
High Art Happy Hour:
The Mixtape: Wednesday, June 21, 2017, 7:30 pm
WE: Thursday, June 22, 2017, 7:30, pm
I am tired and possibly hungover and want to go home: Friday, June 23, 2017, 7:30 pm
Swan Song Soiree: Saturday, June 24, 2017, 8:00 pm, $10 Suggested Donation, RSVP Required
Three is a magic number! Don your shiniest party wear & grab a glass of champagne while the trio tackles the triptych in an interactive, evening-length piece- for the first and last time.
Location: chashama, 266 West 37th Street, New York, NY, 10018
This project was supported in part by a space grant from chashama.
RAKIA!®2017