The wildly-popular FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL is back with edgy, exquisite, extraordinary dance, theater and live music … and a cornucopia of regional and world premieres! These award-winning artists offer gorgeous, loving, bold, beautiful artistry brimming with innovation, resilience and joy.
This year, the festival features 8 artists: World champion bachata dancers, bad-ass trans-americana music, South Asian contemporary dance, cutting-edge drag performance artists, hilariously gorgeous storytelling, and MORE.
The FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL is excited to premiere 4 new pieces commissioned especially for the festival by the 2025 FRESH WORKS! commissioned artists: Aísha Noir, Mudd the Two Spirit, Ishami Dance Company, and JanpiStar.
The festival lineup also features: D’Lo, Jahaira and Angelica, Sean Dorsey Dance, Shawna Virago, and femme-cee Churro Nomi!
KN95 masks will be provided and required. ASL Interpretation will be provided at all performances. Z Space theater is wheelchair accessible and has all-gender bathrooms.
Date & Time:
Venue:
Z Space
450 Florida Street
San Francisco, CA
Mudd the Two Spirit (he/they/she)
Mudd the TwoSpirit is a deaf/Hoh, neurodivergent, BiPoc multidisciplinary drag artist living in the Bay Area. Mudd focuses their performance style around their multiply marginalized identities and has a richness of depth and perspective that they have acquired through self-exploration within the support of their diverse communities.
Aísha Noir (she/her/Goddess) Aísha Noir is the Emerald City Queen all the way from Seattle, WA. Her music is a blend of poetry, politics, BARZ, and pussy. You can follow her on IG and X @theaishanoir. Her two top hits EMERALD CITY feat CarLarans and ISSUES feat Meysha is available on Apple Music, Spotify, and YouTube. Her cashapp is $randybaby, venmo @Randy-Ford-3. Her website is therandyford.com.
JanpiStar (they/them) JanpiStar was born and raised in Puerto Rico they move to Oakland, California to joined AXIS Dance Company in 2018. Janpi has been commissioned in the Bay Area by different festivals & organizations like : Queering Dance Festival on 2019, 2020 & 2022 and by The FreshMeat Production in 2021 , 2022 & 2023. In the last two year JanpiStar has develop a new way to express themselves, doing Drag shows Janpi has performed at the MOMA SF, The Academy fo Science and Oaklash 2023 & 2024..
Ishami Dance Company is an Award-winning South Asian Contemporary dance company, based in the San Francisco Bay Area. They combine elements of South Asian Classical and Folk dance forms with Western dance forms, treading the line between traditional and modern. Ishami was founded by Amit Patel & Ishika Seth to spark conversations through art. Their mission is to explore, unite and amplify the diverse voices, stories and histories of the South Asian diaspora and dismantle social and cultural constructs. They aspire to show the beauty, depth and immense range of South Asian Contemporary movement locally and across the globe.
Shawna Virago (she/her) Singer-Songwriter Shawna Virago is one America’s first openly transgender women to perform and tour nationally, to critical acclaim. She has been performing as her true self since the early 1990’s. Her career, spanning decades, is a storied journey of breaking barriers, challenging norms, and creating a powerful blend of punk and country music that resonates deeply with listeners from all walks of life.
Angelica & Jahaira with In Lak’ech Dance Academy (she/her) Angelica Medina & Jahaira Fajardo are two-time world champions and visionary leaders in the dance world. As co-founders of In Lak’ech Dance Academy, the first Queer Afro Latin Dance Academy in the United States, they have reshaped the landscape of dance, breaking barriers and creating space for LGBTQ+ dancers to thrive. They are also the founders of the Queer Afro Latin Dance Festival, the first Queer Latin dance festival in the country, now in its 7th year, a testament to their pioneering impact on the community.
D’Lo (he/they) is an LA-based queer/trans actor, writer, and comic whose work spans stand-up, solo theater, film, and TV. His solo shows Ramble-Ations, D’FunQT, and To T, or Not To T have toured internationally, and his stand-up show D’FaQTo Life tours colleges nationwide. Featured in LA Times, The Guardian, and NPR’s CodeSwitch, his latest tv credits include QUANTUM LEAP, and Billy Eichner’s BROS. A USC Senior Civic Media Fellow, he’s also received writing award/fellowships from Center Theater Group and Center for Cultural Power. He leads writing and comedy workshops nationally, including his “Coming Out, Coming Home” for South Asian and immigrant LGBTQ groups. dlocokid.com
Sean Dorsey Dance has uplifted Trans and Queer bodies and lives for 20 seasons, and has toured to over 35 cities across the US and internationally. SDD’s Artistic Director Sean Dorsey is the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions – and an Emmy award-winning choreographer, dancer, writer, educator and activist.
Getting to Z Space
Public Transportation:
Z Space is close to a variety of public transportation lines, most notably the 16th and Mission BART stop (approximately 9 short-side blocks away), and the 22, 27, and 33 MUNI bus lines.
Parking:
In the neighborhood immediately around Z Space, as in much of San Francisco, parking is a challenge during the day. If you are planning on parking on the street, please allow at least 30 minutes to find a space, and be sure to carefully read all restrictions on street signs and parking meters. Street parking is plentiful beginning around 4:00 pm each day and on weekends. There is a paid parking lot (operated by UCSF) at Harrison and 15th Street which has metered visitor spaces and located approximately three blocks from Z Space.
ACCESS INFORMATION:
- Z Space’s entrance, lobby, bathrooms and audience seating areas are wheelchair accessible.
- The front row of theater seats are at floor level; all other rows of seating are on risers and require climbing stairs. The front row will be reserved for accessible seating, wheelchair users, mobility-device users, and people who would like to use extra-wide, armless chairs.
- The front row of seating features armless chairs; all other chairs in the theater have non-moveable arms.
- If you need to reserve accessible seating, please email us at boxoffice@zspace.org. Please specify your access need (eg. if you’re a wheelchair user coming with one companion; if you need an extra-wide, armless chair; if you need to be seated in the ASL seating area).
- Z Space’s bathrooms are all-gender.
- There will not be a scent-reduced seating section for this event
- Identification (ID) is not required to purchase or pick up tickets.
- Each program will feature ASL Interpretation: please let us know when you’re coming (email melissa@freshmeatproductions.org)
COVID SAFETY PROTOCOLS FOR THIS EVENT:
- KN95 masks will be provided and required for this event.
- Audience is required to be KN95 masked for the entirety of their time inside the building. Our staff will provide KN95 masks to everyone before they enter the building (unless someone’s disability, chronic illness or health condition means they cannot wear a mask).
- By attending the Fresh Meat Festival, you agree to the following:
- You do not have any signs of contagious illness (COVID or otherwise), including pink eye, that aren’t fully explained by a non-contagious health condition that you have
- If you have had COVID, it’s been at least 10 days since your first symptoms or positive test if you were asymptomatic.
Performances include an evening length original production titled “Pehchaan” as well as several repertory works. Through their performances, dance workshops and intensives, and their blog “Intermission” they invite their audiences to engage with their work and vision and celebrate the intersectionality of their identities.
Ishami was founded by Amit Patel & Ishika Seth in the unceded lands of the Ohlone-Muwekma tribes (Fremont, CA) and consists of several dance artists with unique and varied dance backgrounds and experiences.