BAAD's Annual Women's Fest Begins March 12

The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance forges forward with the 15th annual BAAD!ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL, celebrating the empowerment of women through art, culture and performance. The festival includes evenings of dance, theatre, film, poetry and performance, and begins with a special dance master class on March 9 and opens on Thursday, March 12, 2015 with a scorching evening of poetry and stories of lesbian love. The festival takes place at BAAD!, 2474 Westchester Avenue in the Westchester Square section of the Bronx. Ticket prices vary from free to $20. Participants can take advantage of the Five for $5 special (you and four "girlfriends" make a group of five and pay only $5 each with a prior reservation.) BAAD! offers discounts to BAADGE cardholders, BCA cardholders and NALAC members, and free admission to residents of 10474 and 10461 zip codes. Ticket offers cannot be combined.

The schedule for the shows and events is as follows:

Thursday, March 12 at 7pm (opening night) / Free
LES HISTOIRES D'LESBIAN AMOUR / THE STORIES OF LESBIAN LOVE
An evening celebrating and preserving lesbian stories. Honoring lesbian WOC writers and artists who have come before us. Intersecting activism, art, hip-hop, poetry, prose, theatre and lesbian love with Sargenta G. Deyanira Garcia, Erica Doyle, Sarahi Almonte, Tamara G. Saliva, Nivea Castro, Meriam Rodriguez, Patrice Payne and Amber Atiya. Curated by Alicia Anabel Santos and Yoseli Castillo.

Friday, March 13 at 8pm / $20
SOLE SISTERS
The BAADAss Women Dance Concert is a no-holds-barred, 10 choreographer takeover of BAAD! followed by "a dance until you stop" after party so the audience can move and groove, too. The choreographers from the Bronx and beyond include: Bgirls Rokafella and Mantis from Full Circle Souljahs, Erin Cairns Cella & Dages Juvelier Keates, Shizu Homma, Rebecca Lloyd-Jones, Fatima Logan, Yvette Martinez (from Retumba!), Megan Minturn, Sydney L. Mosley, Leslie Parker and Mary Sofianos.

Saturday, March 14 at 8pm / $15
Susana Cook's CONVERSATIONS WITH HUMANS
"We are here. We are Queer. And we are entering the narrative." Theater and performance artist, Susana Cook's new work convolutes the linear trajectories of life in this hyper ritualistic drama, where graduation, marriage, baptism, death and aging speed up, overlap and move around the pattern of historical repetition in a spiritual/schizophrenic way. Cast includes Sofia O.C, Moira Cutler, Julian Mesri, Florencia Minniti, Alyssa Harley, Jo Roberson, Jeremy Barker, Santiago Venegas and Susana Cook.

Thursday, March 19 at 8pm / Free
REACHING FOR THE MOON
This Brazilian bio-drama is about the passionate and tumultuous love affair between American poet Elizabeth Bishop and the Brazilian architect Lota de Macedo Soares, set mainly in Brazil from 1951 to 1967. Directed by Bruno Barreto. Evening is hosted by poet/writer/filmmaker Alicia Anabel Santos and will include a short documentary "Sex! We talk about it!" film by Yoseli Castillo.

Friday, March 20 at 8pm / $15
LET ME TELL YOU! - DANIELLE ABRAMS and ANNIE LANZILOTTO with ELIZABETH "MACHA" MARRERO
Elizabeth "Macha" Marrero, the celebrated, BAAD!-grown performer, opens and hosts this evening of theater, performance and words. Annie Rachel Lanzilotto, a creative force, rants, chants and reads from her memoir L is for Lion: An Italian Bronx Butch Freedom Memoir, and theater/performance artist Danielle Abrams, presents Bounce Pinky Bounce, her show about coming up a Black and Jewish child of a bankrupt city who blossoms into a light-skinned, freckle-faced voracious queer butch artist with an outer-borough accent sojourning through galleries, delis, stages, and subways --- too light to be black, too black to be seen.

Saturday, March 21 at 8pm / $15
I'M EVERY WOMAN
This eclectic evening presents work by women of the trans experience with host and writer Tyra Allure. From comedy to dance to song, this evening showcases an array of expressions with Katrina Goodlet (comedienne), Leiomy Maldonado (dancer), Olympia Perez (poet/spoken word), Elizabeth Rivera (poet/spoken word), and Sparklez (singer).

Friday, March 27 at 6pm / Free
B! YOUth:
B! YOUth is a new initiative at BAAD! geared toward young LGBTQ people. Event begins with art/culture presentation followed by an open mic, dance off (with a two $25 prizes) and an after-party.

BAAD!/AATT receive support from The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The Lambent Fund of the Tides Foundation, Union Square Arts Grant, The Rockefeller Brothers Fund, The Simon Bolivar Foundation, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The New York Community Trust, The New York State Council on the Arts, Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo, JPMorgan Chase, and private donations.