2007-02-10 20:00:00 23:59:59 Baraka de Soleil's Cabaret @ Patrick's Cabaret Baraka de Soleil Dunderbelly@aol.com; bdunderbelly@hotmail.com 3010 Minnehaha Ave Minneapolis Tickets $8 at the door Studies N Black: a ’black’ history month performative experience curated by Award Winning Interdisciplinary artist Baraka de Soleil"2007 marks a decade for D UNDERBELLY, the underground network of artists of color, Baraka founded in Minneapolis, one cold and blustery white day....To honor this anniversary, he returns to the one of his first experimental artistic homes - Patricks! - and performs with past, present and future multi-disciplined artists of D UNDERBELLY; continuing to reflect the traditions of the African diaspora immersed in an urban contemporary reality."With artists: Tru Ruts Endeavors [e.g. Bailey & Sha Cage]Bernard BrownDouglas Ewart & The InventionsLeann Johnson (in collaboration with Cecile Lewis)Baraka de Soleil/ D UNDERBELLYStefania StrowderCome witness: The visual installation of Artist Leann Johnson; multi-media work of Tru Ruts [e.g. Bailey & Sha Cage]; kinesthetic compositions of Dancer/Choreographer Bernard Brown; textual journey of Interdisciplinary Artist Baraka de Soleil; sonic creation of Musician/Composer Douglas Ewart & The Inventions; and the moving images of Performance/Dance Artist Stefania Strowder.ARTISTS INFO:BARAKA DE SOLEIL/ D UNDERBELLY (curator)biography:Award-winning Interdisciplinary Artist & Curator Baraka de Soleil currently resides in Brooklyn, NY; having been involved in the experimental movement, music & performance art scene, throughout the country & internationally, for the past 15 years. He is excited to return back to Minneapolis - his first artistic home - to continue to support the work of Artists of the Minnesotan African Diaspora. This past fall he received the prestigious Katherine Dunham Choreography/AUDLECO ‘Viv’ Award for Excellence in NY Black Theater. He has been an Artist-in-residence at: Tribeca Performing Arts Center {N This Hous}, Ontological Hysteric Theatre {First Dark Drama} and currently at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (NY) developing Koool-Aid Luv Odyssey which premieres later this month. Baraka is the founder of D UNDERBELLY; which celebrates its tenth year in existance as an ever-fluid underground network of artists of color committed to interdisciplinary exploration through the excavation of ’new’ work & communal exchange. Upcoming endeavors include performances at Baltimore’s Transmodern Festival next spring and travelling to Ghana in July to begin development for WATER MOVES THE SOUL (08). piece being performed: excerpt from Koool-aid Luv Odyssey: a hip trip psychedelic performance journey weaving Afros, raw post-mod moves, electronic-atmospheric music and poetic language.Leann E. Johnsonbiography:Visual Artist Leann Johnson has been involved in crafting art for the past 10 years; creating hand-pulled block prints and monoprints which reflects her cultivated community & heritage. Utilizing Abstract figures and Adinkra symbols, she began producing functional, culturally affirming individualized designed tiles that honor her African forebearers. Leann recently illustrated for the New York Times and continues to freelance on various design projects throughout the Twin Cities. piece being shown:Visual installation/ A Study N Black‘Handcrafting is a touchstone to my past, a tactile way to keep me feeling connected to my African ancestry while embracing the legacies that make me ‘American’. This site-specific installation investigates the intertwined notions of ethnicity and cultural consciousness. Having grown up on one of few African-American farms in Ohio, i am interested in bridging this experience with current reflections of being a visual artist living in Minnesota; placing ‘fields’ of indigenous textiles(mud cloth), abstract markings, glazed tiles with traditional Adinkra symbols, and ‘personal histories’ throughout the Cabaret space to evoke a contrasting hybrid environment that all are welcome to interact with.’biography of collaborator Cecile Lewis:Cecile Margaret Lewis works as an indigo dyer, photographer and textile artist. Her roots in Chicago, Nashville, California, Sierra Nevada and central Minnesota inform her multi-layered aesthetic; The memories and experiences of these variant natural & urban settings fuel Cecile’s need to create. BERNARD BROWNbiography:Bernard J. Brown hails from Los Angeles,CA, where hebegan dancing under the tutelage of Lula Washington DanceTheatre (LWDT); continuing to perform with the company throughout the USA & internationally. In New York, he hasworked with the Doug Elkins Dance Company, Bopi’s Black Sheep/Dances by Kraig Patterson and the Louis Johnson Dance Theatre Ensemble. Currently, Bernard resides in the Twin Citiesarea; most recently seen in productions of Uri Sands/Toni Pierce-Sands’ TU Dance and Shapiro and Smith. Choreographic endeavors include: "Treemonisha" (the only opera composedby Scott Joplin) for the North Star Opera, "Love Songs" and solo compositions at Bryant Lake Bowl. piece(s) being performed:[2 selections; both ‘works in progress’]I. "…my life as an onion…" [a solo]Layered, literally and figuratively, Brown will revisit his first Minnesotan winter as an outsider....Gay Black Male Dance Artist from Los Angeles. Learning quickly that to layer is to be warm; layering also works on other levels (interpersonal, spiritual, protection from the elements including the fabled "Minnesota nice,") among others ponderings. Be apart of the revelation…as he attempts to "peel away…peel away…" the calloused layers built up over the seasons…II. "Com’on now!" [group piece] "Ever laugh because you couldn’t cry no mo’?" I have. Done it all my life…I’m going to attempt to express my inner world through dance (unfiltered). This, like life, will be serious, for keeps and with traces of struggle, joie de vivre and endurance.TRU RUTS ENDEAVORSbiography:Founded in 1997 by e.g. bailey, Trú Rúts Endeavors [www.truruts.com] is a multidisciplinary artistic organization, developing innovative, cutting edge work and projects. e.g. bailey is a producer, spoken word artist, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is Artistic and Executive Director of Trú Rúts Endeavors, which also includes Speakeasy Records––a spoken word, jazz and hip-hop record label––that has released several albums. Shá Cage is an actress, playwright and producer. She is co-founder and member of MaMa mOsAiC, a women-of-color theatre company, and recently received a grant from the Playwright Center to develop a one-woman show about Natchez, Mississippi, her hometown. Both e.g. and Shá, produce and perform in numerous projects in the Twin Cities, both individually and as part of Trú Rúts Endeavors and the MN Spoken Word Association. They also conduct workshops and residencies covering a number of artistic disciplines.piece being shown:a showing of an upcoming multimedia/ film project.DOUGLAS EWARTThe kaleidoscopic talent of Douglas Ewart has expressed itself in so many forms--instruments that double as sculptures, music that combines the traditions of four continents with fresh inventions, masks and costumes fit for rituals ominous or joyous, death-defying improvisations combining master musicianship and acting-that the whole might be mistaken for the work of a small culture rather than one man. Known in some circles as a maker of brightly colored "rain sticks," man-tall "totem flutes," percussion instruments, and panpipes. he has also: crafted leather goods; served as past president of Chicago’s legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM); instructor, lecturer and workshop facilitator; and as a performer of original music with Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, among others. piece being performed:a latest sonic creation by Douglas Ewart & The InventionsSTEFANIA STROWDERbiography:Stefania Strowder is a multidisciplinary performance artist who happens to also work in human services-mental health case management. She is an advocate for social justice and uses her art to promote genuine discourse in the complex and issues relating to ethnicity race, and gender, equity across/between & within cultures. Currently, Stefania is a member of Ananya Dance Theatre, Shandi Dance and Baraka de Soleil/D UNDERBELLY.piece being performed:This movement-based piece "Faces of me" is part of a solo triptych I have created exploring identity. "I carry in my cells, the histories of all the brown women before me. It is my wish/destiny to tell those stories, so they may not be forgotten."This event was last edited on 2007-02-06 14:09:09 pm by admin. ---2007-02-09 20:00:00 23:59:59 Baraka de Soleil's Cabaret @ Patrick's Cabaret Baraka de Soleil Dunderbelly@aol.com; bdunderbelly@hotmail.com 3010 Minnehaha Ave Minneapolis Tickets $8 at the door Studies N Black: a ’black’ history month performative experience curated by Award Winning Interdisciplinary artist Baraka de Soleil"2007 marks a decade for D UNDERBELLY, the underground network of artists of color, Baraka founded in Minneapolis, one cold and blustery white day....To honor this anniversary, he returns to the one of his first experimental artistic homes - Patricks! - and performs with past, present and future multi-disciplined artists of D UNDERBELLY; continuing to reflect the traditions of the African diaspora immersed in an urban contemporary reality."With artists: Tru Ruts Endeavors [e.g. Bailey & Sha Cage]Bernard BrownDouglas Ewart & The InventionsLeann Johnson (in collaboration with Cecile Lewis)Baraka de Soleil/ D UNDERBELLYStefania StrowderCome witness: The visual installation of Artist Leann Johnson; multi-media work of Tru Ruts [e.g. Bailey & Sha Cage]; kinesthetic compositions of Dancer/Choreographer Bernard Brown; textual journey of Interdisciplinary Artist Baraka de Soleil; sonic creation of Musician/Composer Douglas Ewart & The Inventions; and the moving images of Performance/Dance Artist Stefania Strowder.ARTISTS INFO:BARAKA DE SOLEIL/ D UNDERBELLY (curator)biography:Award-winning Interdisciplinary Artist & Curator Baraka de Soleil currently resides in Brooklyn, NY; having been involved in the experimental movement, music & performance art scene, throughout the country & internationally, for the past 15 years. He is excited to return back to Minneapolis - his first artistic home - to continue to support the work of Artists of the Minnesotan African Diaspora. This past fall he received the prestigious Katherine Dunham Choreography/AUDLECO ‘Viv’ Award for Excellence in NY Black Theater. He has been an Artist-in-residence at: Tribeca Performing Arts Center {N This Hous}, Ontological Hysteric Theatre {First Dark Drama} and currently at Brooklyn Arts Exchange (NY) developing Koool-Aid Luv Odyssey which premieres later this month. Baraka is the founder of D UNDERBELLY; which celebrates its tenth year in existance as an ever-fluid underground network of artists of color committed to interdisciplinary exploration through the excavation of ’new’ work & communal exchange. Upcoming endeavors include performances at Baltimore’s Transmodern Festival next spring and travelling to Ghana in July to begin development for WATER MOVES THE SOUL (08). piece being performed: excerpt from Koool-aid Luv Odyssey: a hip trip psychedelic performance journey weaving Afros, raw post-mod moves, electronic-atmospheric music and poetic language.Leann E. Johnsonbiography:Visual Artist Leann Johnson has been involved in crafting art for the past 10 years; creating hand-pulled block prints and monoprints which reflects her cultivated community & heritage. Utilizing Abstract figures and Adinkra symbols, she began producing functional, culturally affirming individualized designed tiles that honor her African forebearers. Leann recently illustrated for the New York Times and continues to freelance on various design projects throughout the Twin Cities. piece being shown:Visual installation/ A Study N Black‘Handcrafting is a touchstone to my past, a tactile way to keep me feeling connected to my African ancestry while embracing the legacies that make me ‘American’. This site-specific installation investigates the intertwined notions of ethnicity and cultural consciousness. Having grown up on one of few African-American farms in Ohio, i am interested in bridging this experience with current reflections of being a visual artist living in Minnesota; placing ‘fields’ of indigenous textiles(mud cloth), abstract markings, glazed tiles with traditional Adinkra symbols, and ‘personal histories’ throughout the Cabaret space to evoke a contrasting hybrid environment that all are welcome to interact with.’biography of collaborator Cecile Lewis:Cecile Margaret Lewis works as an indigo dyer, photographer and textile artist. Her roots in Chicago, Nashville, California, Sierra Nevada and central Minnesota inform her multi-layered aesthetic; The memories and experiences of these variant natural & urban settings fuel Cecile’s need to create. BERNARD BROWNbiography:Bernard J. Brown hails from Los Angeles,CA, where hebegan dancing under the tutelage of Lula Washington DanceTheatre (LWDT); continuing to perform with the company throughout the USA & internationally. In New York, he hasworked with the Doug Elkins Dance Company, Bopi’s Black Sheep/Dances by Kraig Patterson and the Louis Johnson Dance Theatre Ensemble. Currently, Bernard resides in the Twin Citiesarea; most recently seen in productions of Uri Sands/Toni Pierce-Sands’ TU Dance and Shapiro and Smith. Choreographic endeavors include: "Treemonisha" (the only opera composedby Scott Joplin) for the North Star Opera, "Love Songs" and solo compositions at Bryant Lake Bowl. piece(s) being performed:[2 selections; both ‘works in progress’]I. "…my life as an onion…" [a solo]Layered, literally and figuratively, Brown will revisit his first Minnesotan winter as an outsider....Gay Black Male Dance Artist from Los Angeles. Learning quickly that to layer is to be warm; layering also works on other levels (interpersonal, spiritual, protection from the elements including the fabled "Minnesota nice,") among others ponderings. Be apart of the revelation…as he attempts to "peel away…peel away…" the calloused layers built up over the seasons…II. "Com’on now!" [group piece] "Ever laugh because you couldn’t cry no mo’?" I have. Done it all my life…I’m going to attempt to express my inner world through dance (unfiltered). This, like life, will be serious, for keeps and with traces of struggle, joie de vivre and endurance.TRU RUTS ENDEAVORSbiography:Founded in 1997 by e.g. bailey, Trú Rúts Endeavors [www.truruts.com] is a multidisciplinary artistic organization, developing innovative, cutting edge work and projects. e.g. bailey is a producer, spoken word artist, actor, playwright and filmmaker. He is Artistic and Executive Director of Trú Rúts Endeavors, which also includes Speakeasy Records––a spoken word, jazz and hip-hop record label––that has released several albums. Shá Cage is an actress, playwright and producer. She is co-founder and member of MaMa mOsAiC, a women-of-color theatre company, and recently received a grant from the Playwright Center to develop a one-woman show about Natchez, Mississippi, her hometown. Both e.g. and Shá, produce and perform in numerous projects in the Twin Cities, both individually and as part of Trú Rúts Endeavors and the MN Spoken Word Association. They also conduct workshops and residencies covering a number of artistic disciplines.piece being shown:a showing of an upcoming multimedia/ film project.DOUGLAS EWARTThe kaleidoscopic talent of Douglas Ewart has expressed itself in so many forms--instruments that double as sculptures, music that combines the traditions of four continents with fresh inventions, masks and costumes fit for rituals ominous or joyous, death-defying improvisations combining master musicianship and acting-that the whole might be mistaken for the work of a small culture rather than one man. Known in some circles as a maker of brightly colored "rain sticks," man-tall "totem flutes," percussion instruments, and panpipes. he has also: crafted leather goods; served as past president of Chicago’s legendary Association for the Advancement of Creative Musicians (AACM); instructor, lecturer and workshop facilitator; and as a performer of original music with Muhal Richard Abrams, George Lewis, Anthony Braxton, among others. piece being performed:a latest sonic creation by Douglas Ewart & The InventionsSTEFANIA STROWDERbiography:Stefania Strowder is a multidisciplinary performance artist who happens to also work in human services-mental health case management. She is an advocate for social justice and uses her art to promote genuine discourse in the complex and issues relating to ethnicity race, and gender, equity across/between & within cultures. Currently, Stefania is a member of Ananya Dance Theatre, Shandi Dance and Baraka de Soleil/D UNDERBELLY.piece being performed:This movement-based piece "Faces of me" is part of a solo triptych I have created exploring identity. "I carry in my cells, the histories of all the brown women before me. It is my wish/destiny to tell those stories, so they may not be forgotten."This event was last edited on 2007-02-06 14:09:09 pm by admin. ---