This event is sponsored by the Performing Arts Workshop's Seismic Shift Residency and dazaun.dance. Click here for more information about the Performing Arts Workshop and the programing.

The Gathering

Date: Sunday, February 16, 2025

Time: 12:30–3:00 PM

Location: Geneva Powerhouse, 2301 San Jose Avenue, San Francisco, CA 94112

Overall Description:

Join us for The Gathering, an afternoon of creative collaboration and community-building designed for BIPOC artists. This event celebrates movement, dialogue, and connection, offering a dynamic space to explore healing through artistry and movement.

The day begins with Praise| Pleasure Lab, a transformative dance class led by acclaimed performance artist Gabriele Christian (12:30–2:00 PM). Following the class, engage in a thought-provoking panel discussion, The Body as a Sanctuary: Healing Through Movement (2:00–3:00 PM). This conversation will feature inspiring perspectives from artists and thought leaders:

Laura Ellis: Executive Director of the African & African American Performing Arts Coalition and co-producer of the Black Choreographers Festival.

Natalya Shoaf: Renowned dance educator, choreographer, and performer with a dynamic career spanning both education and performance.

Audrey Johnson: A queer, Black, mixed-race dance artist whose work challenges colonized time and space through embodied improvisation.

With more artist to come!

Praise | Pleasure Lab Description:

Activating the edges between Praise and Pleasure, this workshop "Praise | Pleasure Lab" allows the body to be a non-denominational channel for sensory pursuits, laying bare self, heritage, and the macrostructures we uphold cellularly with the goal of co-conspiring new ways to consider each other and ourselves in often painful and hopeless times. This is not quite a class, not quite a rehearsal. This is a chance to stay inquisitive, in a sudden ensemble of eventual no-longer strangers. This workshop will feature: cross-the-floor endurance work, improvisational scores, small partner and group exercises, integrated audio description tactics, and with group consensus, culminating performance. Come with: water bottle, change of clothes, flexible threads, and an open mind.

Why Attend?

Connect with a vibrant community of BIPOC artists.

Learn and move in a supportive and inclusive space.

Be inspired by powerful stories and creative practices.

Cost: Free | RSVP Required

Spaces are limited, so register now to secure your spot!