Queer Dance Film Festival 2023 Program

Rashaad Newsome (director/producer) is a multidisciplinary artist whose work blends collage, sculpture, film, music, technology, and performance, and focuses on Black and queer culture.

Johnny Symons (director/producer) is an Emmy-nominated Bay Area-based filmmaker focusing on LGBTQ+ documentaries.

Cleo Wesley is a multi-international award-winning actor, published playwright and director. They got their acting start in David Kramer’s hit musical, District Six: Kanala! before co-writing and performing in the critically acclaimed production, ‘The Fall’.

Rudi Smit is an international choreographer, dancer & creative director from Cape Town, South Africa.

Inspired by the nightclubs of the Castro, and the loss of gathering spaces that was felt during pandemic, Heartbeats is a celebration of queer spaces and the community that gathers and thrives within them. Throughout the ballet you will be transported through various experiences during an especially memorable night out.

World premiere choreographed by Myles Thatcher with original music by Davide Occhipinti June 18. 2021 at the Great Star Theater, San Francisco, CA.

Angie and Audrey are a married, queer, non-binary dance couple. Born and raised in the Caribbean, together they specialize in Afro-Latin dances. By uplifting Afro-rooted art forms and breaking the traditional binary roles in partner dance, they aim to represent and inspire marginalized people who want to be leaders in inclusive and creative spaces.

Credits: Angie Egea and Audrey Guerrero

The Darvish, is a Non-binary Syrian Self taught Dancer, Cultural events and performance parties organizer. After immigrating to Berlin, Germany in 2016 Darvish started exploring more and more with gender identities and artistic expressions and more so, questioning the relationship between social boundaries and performance Art.

Credits: Prod. & Post-Production : Lucas Choque

Jacob Sutton, born in Bath, England in 1979, is known for his innovative work in photography and film. He began a career as a fashion photographer in the early 2000’s, making a name for himself with work that celebrated movement and form. His work has been featured in magazines such as New York Times, Vogue and Numéro.

CREDITS: Dancers—AyaBambi

Alex resides in NYC working as a film & music video director, editor, and story writer working alongside innovative artists, dancers, and musicians. She has finally found a home for her ever-evolving aesthetic: multi-disciplinary, raw storytelling to hear with your eyes.

Credits: Alex Mastoon – Director
Madison Wada – Key Cast
Robyn Ayers – Key Cast

Marcus Zebra Smith is a multi disciplinary art born and raised in Bermuda. Self proclaimed “Human Sunshine”, Marcus has a handful of notable achievements including being a featured dancer in music videos such as “Trampoline” By David Guetta, Afrojack Feat. Missy Elliot, Bia and Doechii and “Wig” by Todrick Hall. He has performed with Arya International Dance Company at the “50th Anniversary of Diplomatic Comradery between Guatemala and India; hosted in Guatemala and performed at Centro Cultural (Guatemala’s largest stage).

Credits: Marcus Zebra @tizzebra

Indigenous dancers Sean Snyder and Adrian Stevens challenge the rulebook of San Manuel’s Native American Sweetheart Special as they attempt to compete in the annual couple’s competition. Dancing not only against the other dancers, but against the drums of oppression and closed-mindedness, this two-spirit couple is determined to rewrite the rules of “one man, one woman” with their resplendent charisma, character and resilience.

Credits:

EXECUTIVE PRODUCERS
Rahdi Taylor, Davis Guggenheim

DIRECTOR
Ben-Alex Dupris

Carlos and Rey from work together with the Queer Tango in Mexico city. Tango Queer has become their ally by developing the visibility of the LGBTI+ community and, together, they are in constant search to create spaces free of homophobia outside and within Mexico.

Credits:

Original idea: TangoqueerMX Dancers: Carlos Blanco y Rey FloresMusic: Paris-Texas. Gotan Project

The purpose of our association is to bring together Hip-Hop dancers LBGTQIA+ in France and internationally to exchange and create contents. Here are the activities that are performed by the collective: creation of short films danced with LGBTQIA+ themes, dance classes, lectures and performances.

Credits:

Director : Charlene Brimaud Dancers : Laura Maillard et Marine Veyrat

Production : Nawelle Touati et Laura Maillard Music : Dévorantes – Aloise Sauvage

Tosha “Zae” Jorden is a dance movement therapist located in Chicago, IL.

Credits:

Dancer/Choreographer: Tosha “Zae” Jorden

Director/Choreographer from Brooklyn New York looking to bring art from the heart. This piece was inspired by the family culture of ballroom.

Credits:

Directed, Choreographed, Filmed & Edited, Music Mixed by Anthony Auguste

Arturo Mugler
Sinia Alaia

Choreographed, directed and shot from disability perspectives, this dance-on-video delves into the playful connection enabled where disability, community and ramp meet, as well as the institutional histories and discordant inclinations that lurk just below the surface.

Credits:

Directed by
Alice Sheppard and Danielle Peers

Choregraphed by
Alice Sheppard, in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers (in order of appearance)
Alice Sheppard
Harmanie Taylor
John Loeppky
Danielle Peers

We are a gay band that fights for art in a mega sexist and homophobic country. We love and breathe ART.

Credits: Cloudstrip

Detour is a devised-theater ensemble that produces immersive and site-responsive performances that are oriented towards queer lineages and legacies, present-day complexities, and future-facing possibilities.

Credits:

Directed by Eric Garcia
Choreographed by Maurya Kerr
Performers: Phoebe Cakes, Alexandra Carrington, Syd Franz, Héctor Jaime, Kevin Lopez, Qween, Wiley Naman Strasser, Saharla Vetsch

EMMY-Nominated short documentary about Sean Dorsey Dance.

As a modern dance choreographer and as a transgender person, Sean Dorsey felt irresistibly drawn to San Francisco with its history of trans and queer resistance and culture. But the city he moved to in the early 2000s was not the city he had envisioned. He discovered he was the only openly trans modern dancer and no one was putting trans artists on stage. Dorsey spent the next two decades championing trans and queer performing arts in the city, hand in hand with his life partner, the musician, filmmaker and transgender activist Shawna Virago. Their Fresh Meat Festival is in its 21st season of showcasing trans and queer performance; Sean Dorsey Dance has toured innovative modern dance to more than 30 cities in the U.S. and abroad; and accolades have arrived in the form of prestigious national awards, commissions and grants.

Credits: Featured Performers: Sean Dorsey, Héctor Jaime, Nol Simonse, Will Woodward Directed by Lindsay Gauthier. Produced by KQED Arts. www.seandorseydance.com

Tajabone takes its name from a unique tradition in Senegal, ten days after Tamkharit, or Islamic New Year. In the evening, after a day spent feasting and visiting friends and family, men and boys would dress as women and vice versa. In a carnivalesque exchange of kaftans and boubous, the night ends with a chorus of singing, cavorting, and dancing through the streets to the sound of percussion instruments.

Musician and writer Mykki Blanco wrote a poem that is heard in the stirring voiceover in Tajabone. It explores the vulnerability and strength of the queer, black community and the ongoing trauma they live through.

Credits: Poem by Mykki Blanco Directed by Raphael Chatelain & Nicolas Huchard Dancers: GG Palmer, Keiona, Hanabi, Sky, Stessie, Audjyan, Madame B, Snake, Malik Lenost, Serena Freira, Dylan Finland, Joel Luzolo, Chrimson, Christian Shummer, Jovani Harrys