BAAD's Women's Festival Returns

The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance presents BAAD! ASS WOMEN 2012, its twelfth annual cultural festival celebrating the empowerment of women through art, culture and performance.  The festival, which includes twelve evenings of dance, theatre, film, music, poetry and prose, self-defense and dance workshops, opens on Friday, March 16, 2012 with two provocative documentaries celebrating the lives of African American women and culminates on March 31 with the celebrated performance artist Rhodessa Jones.

The festival takes place at BAAD!, 841 Barretto Street in the South 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, Bronx Cultural Card holders and NALAC (National Association of Latino Arts & Cultures) members. Ticket offers cannot be combined.

BAAD! is a 70 seat workshop and performance space that presents works by established, evolving and emerging choreographers, playwrights, poets, musicians and artists that are empowering to women, people of color and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) communities. 

 

The schedule for the shows and events is as follows:

Friday, March 16 at 8pm – Free

Kick Off Event!

B.D. WOMEN and STANDING ON MY SISTERS’ SHOULDERS

B.D. Women is a celebration of the history and culture of Black lesbians. Interviews feature Black women talking candidly about their sexual and racial identities. These contemporary views are interwoven with a dramatized love story, set in the 1920s, in which a sultry romance develops between a gorgeous jazz singer and her stylish butch lover. This film is by Inge Blackman.

The award-winning documentary Standing on My Sisters’ Shoulders takes on the Civil Rights movement in Mississippi in the 1950’s and 60’s from the point of view of courageous women who lived it and emerged as its grassroots leaders including Fannie Lou Hamer, Annie Devine, Unita Blackwell, Mae Bertha Carter, and Victoria GRay Adams who are lesser known, but without their efforts the movement in Mississippi would not have been possible. This film is by Joan Sadoff, Dr. Robert Sadoff and Laura J. Lipson.

BAAD! will lead a discussion after the screenings on lesbian representation in the Civil Rights Movement.

Saturday, March 17 at 8pm - $20

Soul Dancing!

MUSICAL AMAZONS

Ganessa and Tiffany James lead a tribe of singers and musicians who own the stage with their musical power including X Factor’s ReIna Williams, rapper Sargenta G and trumpet diva Gia Jordan and The Violence.

Friday, March 23 at 8pm - $15

Raw Latina Identity Politics!

DONDE HAY VIDA, THERE IS ART

With Alexis M. del Sol and Alison Vasquez

This collaborative project is an incisive expression of the Latina experience in the U.S. Using the powers of dance, theater and video Alexis M. del Sol shares her navigation of her Latina identity as she spins the audience through her kitchen, the dance floor and through family testimonios, while  

Alison Vasquez delivers her theatrical performance of identity politics as witnessed by three generations of Mexican American women.

Saturday, March 24 at 8pm - $20

Sensational Evening of Dance!

EVOCATIVE EXPRESSIONS: BAAD!Ass Woman 2012 Dance Concert

The BAAD!Ass Women dance concert showcases a line-up of choreographers and a mix of contemporary dance and performance forms.  This year’s artists include Cashel Campbell, Keila Cordova, Jessica Danser, Kristen Hatleberg, Toni Renee Johnson’s Maverick Dance Experience, Djuna Passman, Megan Minturn, Noele Phillips and Danielle Russo.

Sunday, March 25 at 1pm-3pm – Free

Honoring an icon!

WIKI-FREDIA: Brunch and Celebration

Since 2008, BAAD! has celebrated the life of the dynamic Freda Rosen, a Freedom Fighter, Political Leader, Writer, Life Coach and Bronxite who was pivotal to its creation and development.  This year the event celebrates Freda by harvesting personal stories and launching her Wikipedia page. Event will include a brunch topped off by a big chocolate cake.

Friday, March 30 at 8pm -  suggested donation $5

Powerful Poetry!  Prolific Prose!

MIGHTIER THAN THE SWORD: Poets & Writers

This group of queer Latina writers “bring it!” with an evening of poetry and prose with Janis Astor del Valle, Amber Atiya, J. Skye Cabrera, Yoseli Castillo Fuertes, Karen Jaime, Katrina Ruiz and Yasmin Peña. 

Saturday, March 31 at 8pm - $20

Closing Night! Not-to-be Missed Performance!

Rhodessa Jones’ LIFE ON THE SWERVE

The award-winning Rhodessa Jones brings her solo theater and performance, Life on the Swerve: Observations from that Place Where the World Weeps, to the Bronx. The show’s the culmination of years of Jones’s work with incarcerated women around the world. Throughout her performance, Jones infuses stories from the women telling their difficult and true stories of drug addiction, domestic violence, murder, and poverty. By splicing video clips of the real women she has worked with into the live performance Jones makes the characters readily available and relatable.

DANCE and MOVEMENT WORKSHOPS 

Saturday, March 17 from 2pm - 4pm - $20 at door/$15 in advance

KIKI'S SEX, SWEAT, AND STILETTOS WORKSHOP

Kiki of Kraven Seneca Dance Company will mix it up to the works of the powerful, soulful, strong songstress: Beyonce (but, of course). A high energy dance class full of intense movement paired up with stilettos!  So ladies (or gents or all peoples) bring your pumps, or just bring your A game and dance in your bare feet ‘cause we gotta room full of sexy people, high energy choreography ready to "Hold up bring the beat back!”

Wednesday,  March 21  from  6:30-8:30pm – Free

BAAD! ASS KICKING/SELF-DEFENSE CLASS

Brooklyn's Center for Anti-Violence Education jets up to the Bronx to teach a free two hour self-defense class geared for women, transpeople and adults.  This Introduction to Self-Defense is for all ages and all bodies and includes verbal self-defense, physical self-defense and strategies for prevention. Wear loose comfortable clothes. Space is limited.  Reservation is required. 

Thursday, March 22 from 7pm - 9pm - $20 at door/$15 in advance

AMIN'S THE GENIUS OF JANET WORKSHOP

Wanna dance like a legend...?

Join Amin Jai of Kraven Seneca Dance Company for an action packed class full of iconic moves that were performed by Janet... Miss Jackson if you're nasty! From "Nasty" to "If" to "Feedback" to "Rhythm Nation," Janet Jackson’s moves to her hits have been re-created by millions of people around the world, and this is your opportunity to emulate Janet's movement revolution.

Wednesday, March 28 from 7pm - 9pm - $20 at door/$15 in advance

NOELE'S WEST AFRICAN DANCE WORKSHOP

Kraven Seneca Dance Company’s Noele Phillips leads this class of West African Dance which consists of different folkloric dances of the African diaspora from different countries of West Africa (Ghana, Guinea, Mali) and tribes. It includes Heavy Drum beats, playful, energetic movement, high jumps, rapid pulsations of the upper and lower back and acrobatics. After a warm-up, instruction and dancing combinations across the floor, the class will culminate in a circle where participants can dance their own solo.

Thursday, March 29 at 5:30 and 6:30 – by donation

YOGA – A Benefit for Animal Rights

Two yoga classes will be presented as a benefit for Save the Rhino! a Rhinoceros conservation organization.  At 5:30pm Shizu Homma will teach a flow/asana class and at 6:30pm Michele Cappello will teach a Kundalini Yoga class. Both classes are donation based, and all proceeds will go to Save the Rhino!  Let’s get together for a community of spirit and shakti and to help these endangered friends!

Saturdays, - March 17, 24 & 21 from 9:30- 11am/$7 per class

Capoeira Dance with “Bronx” of Ginga Mundo

Bronx native Moses McCarter lead an all level class in this folk dance that ritualizes movement from martial arts, African dance and acrobatics. 

The BAAD! ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL received support from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, Councilwoman Carmen Arroyo, The New York State Council on the Arts, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation and The New York Community Trust.  BAAD! and AATT receive support from The NYC Dept. of Cultural Affairs, The Lambent Foundation, The Union Square Arts Grant, The Bronx Council on the Arts, and private donations.