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reFRESH Program #5 – Program Credits

2020 FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL

reFRESH Program #5 – Friday June 18 - Saturday June 27

Program Credits

(artist bios at bottom)

GAY ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (GAPA) MEN’S CHORUS
Under a Vast Sky

Randall Kikukawa (Choral Director)  and Desmond Tan (Accompanist)
Performed by: GAPA Men’s Chorus
Music: Hoi Fut Tin Hung (Under a Vast Sky) (sung in Cantonese) by Wong Ka Kui, Beyond, and Metro Vocal Group, Nada Sou Sou (Silent Teardrops Falling) (sung in Japanese) by Higa Eisho, Shimabukuro Masaru, Uechi Hitoshi, Moriyama Ryoko, and Yamamuro Kouichi, Pobreng Alindahaw (Poor Dragonfly) (sung in Bisaya) by Tomas Villaflor and Emmanuel B. Gregorio

LOTTIE RIOT
Dyke Dating in the Bay

Written and performed by: Lottie Riot

AXIS DANCE COMPANY
Quartet No. 1

Choreographed by: Marc Brew
Performed by: Lani Dickinson and Yuko Monden Juma
Music by: Leos Janacek

SHAWNA VIRAGO
Mustang Baudelaire & The Statues of the Impossible (excerpts)

Songs written and performed by: Shawna Virago

ANTOINE HUNTER
I wanna be me, hug me, I was under construction now I love the ugly me

Choreographed and performed by: Antoine Hunter of Urban Jazz Dance Company

TAJAH J
New Life Project

Music and Performance by: Tajah J
Written by:  Tajah J 

kNOwSHADE VOGUE ENSEMBLE WITH DENA STANLEY, MOTHER OF THE HOUSE OF MIZRAHI
“A Story Of…”

Performed by: International Hall of Famer Mother Deedee Mizrahi, Legendary Pittsburgh Hall of Famer Havoc Ebony, Dimmi Fenty, Tinky Miza, Trevor C. ‘Miza’ Miles
Choreographed by: Havoc Ebony and Trevor C. Miles  
Music By: Qween Beat Productions, Damian Escobar, Beyonce, DJ Flex, DJ Pillz Galactik Bass, Mother Father Sister Brother (MFSB) and Moulin Rouge Cast

ARTIST BIOS

GAY ASIAN AND PACIFIC ISLANDER (GAPA) MEN’S CHORUS – A significant cultural component of the Gay Asian Pacific Alliance (GAPA) in San Francisco, the GAPA Men’s Chorus was formed in 1989 to provide a showcase for the vocal music talents of gay, bisexual and transgender Asian & Pacific Islander (API) men. Our multilingual repertoire includes songs in Mandarin, Tagalog, Japanese, Vietnamese, Korean, Indonesian, Hawaiian, Latin, French, Spanish, Italian and English, among others. Celebrating over 30 years of achievement, the Chorus promotes GAPA’s goals by highlighting diversity and queer Asian Pacific visibility at its every appearance. https://www.gapa.org/

Lottie Riot hails from Chicago, where direct-talk and casual swearing are norms. She headed West during Y2K to drag king and get an astrophysics degree. Now, she is a lezzie comedienne in the Bay. A proud mixed-chick and soft-butch dyke, Lottie enjoys ‘90s riot grrrl punk music, speaking truth, and flannel. #lesbionic #lezbehonest

AXIS DANCE COMPANY – Founded in 1987, AXIS Dance Company is the nation’s most acclaimed ensemble of disabled and non-disabled performers based in Oakland, CA. AXIS creates virtuosic productions that challenge perceptions and redefine dance and disability. Alongside our artistic programming, the Company provides unparalleled integrated dance education and outreach programs that remove barriers and showcase the beauty of difference. www.axisdance.org/

SHAWNA VIRAGO is a songwriter celebrated for her lyric-based songs. She is one of the nation’s first openly transgender women to perform and tour nationally, and has performed as an out transwoman since the early 1990’s. She has been profiled online, in print and on radio including Bitch, the Advocate, Huffington Post Louder ThanWar, No Depression, Paste magazine, on NPR and PBS. POP DOSE Magazine wrote “In these turbulent times, you may often wonder, ‘Where’s our Bob Dylan? Where’s the bard of the 2010s translating the dicey political and social climate into musical stanzas?’… Enter Shawna Virago.” Virago is also a published writer and her work appears in several anthologies. She is also the Artistic Director of the San Francisco Transgender Film Festival. www.shawnavirago.com

A Bay Area native, ANTOINE HUNTER is an award-winning Internationally known African-American Deaf choreographer, dancer, instructor, speaker and Deaf advocate. Hunter has received the 2019 National Dance/USA fellowship award, the 2018 inaugural Jeanette Lomujo Bremond Award for Humanity, 2018 Isadora Duncan (Izzie) for Bay Area International Deaf Dance Festival (BAIDDF) and SF King of Carnaval (2017). Hunter is on the board of Dance/USA and Drop Labs as an ambassador for Deaf Arts and travels the world lecturing at Kennedy Center’s VSA, Harvard, Duke, National Assembly of State Arts to name a few. Hunter has been featured on the front cover of Deaf Life, in Dance Spirit, Dance Magazine and in Oakland North, 48Hills, CNN’s Great Big Story and KQED Arts. He is former president of Bay Area Black Deaf Advocates and is the founder/Artistic Director of Urban Jazz Dance Company and produces the BAIDDF since 2013. https://www.realurbanjazzdance.com/mr-antoine-hunter.html

Tajah J is a Contemporary R&B, Soul, EDM, and Pop artist. Born and raised in Detroit, Michigan and currently lives in the S.F Bay Area. As a black transgender multi-media artist and activist, Tajah J puts forth her experiences being formerly incarcerated, her love life, and her passion for trans empowerment as the essence of her music. www.tajahj.com/

#kNOwSHADE VOGUE ENSEMBLE with DENA STANLEY:
#kNOwSHADE VOGUE ENSEMBLE is a vogue performance ensemble based out of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania that creates brave, experimental, hyper queer art through visual, dance, and theater. kNOwShade speaks from the perspectives of today’s urban LGBTQ youth/young adults of color with goals to build a diverse community of support for both the performers and their respective artistic expressions. #kNOwShade is currently in its 3rd year of productions since its debut at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater’s 9th Annual New Moves Contemporary Dance Festival in May 2016. https://www.truetpgh.com/knowshade-vogue-performance-ensemble

Dena Stanley is the founder of Trans YOUniting a non-profit organization in Pittsburgh that advocates for the transgender community and provides participants with positive role models, and opportunities for those in need of supportive services. Dena has over 15 years of baking experience, and she is the owner/operator of Maddezsweetz, a boutique bakery which specializes in an array of delicious goods (www.maddezsweetz.biz). The company Dena Operates is also used to help Transgender individuals build their resume and job experience by mentoring through her catering company and offering interning opportunities through a program at TransYouniting. Dena is a fierce advocate for her community, and she serves on the board of the Delta Foundation of Pittsburgh and the steering committees of the International Women’s Day Strike Coalition, TransPride Pittsburgh, and SWOP Pittsburgh. She is also a member of Pittsburgh DSA, and the Trans Justice Program which is a campaign through the ACLU of Pennsylvania. Dena believes that collaboration and conversation with organizations and individuals is the key to educating people about the trans community, who just wanted to be treated with dignity and respect. https://www.transyounitingpgh.org/