The Bronx Academy of Arts and Dance proudly presents the 17th Annual THE BAAD!ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL 2017

BAAD! - The Bronx Academy of Arts & Dance forges forward with the 17th annual BAAD!ASS WOMEN FESTIVAL, celebrating the empowerment of women through art, culture and performance. The festival includes evenings of dance, comedy, poetry, music and performance, and this year's title adds the word "nasty" which was used recently to devalue a women's power and brazenness. 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. Visit www.BAADBronx.org for more details.

The schedule for the shows and events is as follows:

Thursday, March 9 | 7PM-9PM | FREE
WOMEN'S SAFETY SEMINAR
co-presented by Recoveries R US, LLC and BAAD!
Join Connie Pacheco, President of Recoveries R US LLC, for an empowering 2-hour seminar providing integral information on rape, and becoming aware of the dynamics of domestic violence, important insights, personal safety tips, and general awareness. Connie is a rape and domestic violence survivor with over 25 years experience in the field working with women and families with training and credential in the latest statistics and information regarding rape and other violent crimes. The second part of the seminar is a hands-on practical self-defense. This seminar is for trans and cisgender women only.

Friday, March 10 | 8PM | $15
WOMEN LAUGH BACK
What do we do in times of turmoil? Get ready, get set, take action, and laugh as often as we can. Comediennes Lisa Harmon, Robynne Kaamil, Kitty Bella, and Elizabeth "Macha" Marrero take over the BAAD! stage for a night of comedy by women who will take you down with one joke. You'll be crawling out of BAAD! with a stomach so sore you'll have abs. The legendary Javon Egyptt emcees the evening.

Saturday, March 11 | 8PM | $20
SOLE SISTERS: Compilation Dance Concert
The BAAD!Ass Women Dance Concert is no-holds-barred. Eight choreographers takeover BAAD!. The choreographers from the Bronx and beyond include: Jessica Danser, Aya Lane, PASSION FRUIT Dance Company, Sari Nordman,Shannon Reynolds, Lily Bo Shapiro and Charmy Wells.

?Thursday, March 16 | 5:30PM-9PM | FREE
ZINISTER
co-presented by Dominican Women's Development Center and BAAD!
ZINISTER is a zine fair for/by people of color and lgbtq+ folks. It is a call for our local artists and cultural workers to disrupt the system through creative resistance. ZINISTER includes a zine-fair, a zine-making station, readings, and more. Current lineup: Dot Zine, The Coalition, Stephanie Rodriguez, Atlas Magazine, The Felt, Stephon Lawrence, Phoebe Glick, Christa Myers, Nicole Acosta, and Catherine Feliz. Feauturing zines by: Neta Zine, miXed and Ana Maria Hoffman.

Friday, March 17 | 8PM | $15
A LETTER TO WHITE AMERIKA
Gringa Loca (Esther Baker-Tarpaga) in a dancing commentary ritual on living in the time of Trump. Ms. Baker-Tarpaga is a performance artist and choreographer who co-directs Baker & Tarpaga Project, a transnational performance project based in Burkina Faso and Philly. She presents work from a current multi-year collaboration with performance artists in Tijuana, Mexico.

Saturday, March 18 | 8PM | $20
GANESSA JAMES & MARIA BAUMAN: PASSAGES
Dynamic choreographer Maria Bauman and seductive songwriter Ganessa James blend their worlds of dance and music to explore constant and sacred transitions and focus on the human condition of vulnerability with love-drenched offerings of body and voice. In addition to Maria and Ganessa, Passages features dancing by Courtney Cook andSanchel Brown.

Friday, March 24 | 8PM | FREE
PAMELA SNEED AND KELLY MCGOWAN: Courageous Conversations
The prolific poet, actress, writer Pamela Sneed and the LGBTQ/Community Activist Kelly McGowan kick off BAAD!'s new series Courageous Conversations: Strategies for Living and Loving in America. Courageous Conversations is a free monthly community/education forum that is a mix of topical talks and resilience workshops led by leading thinkers from the arts, media and politics, followed by a facilitated/open community forum for queer people on how to navigate and thrive as the President and his administration position the chess pieces to dismantle and reverse many hard-fought protections. Sneed has deftly interwoven art and a social stance on the power of women and queer people into her works while McGowan has partnered with individuals and leaders who are working for social transformation in the world as well as in their projects, groups and organizations. These two powerhouses have fostered changed through their art, activism and professional/personal practice.

Saturday, March 25 | 8PM | FREE
BLUE, SABLE, AND BURNING (EXCERPT)
performance and artist talk featuring Jasmine Hearn
co-presented by Bronx Writers Center and BAAD!
Jasmine Hearn's new solo work uses memories of home, travel, and the waters that we visited, and that visited us, as sources for a collage of dance, song, and storytelling. Revisiting imagery from an ongoing collaboration with visual artist and activist Jennifer Myers, Jasmine maps past, present, and future journeys of "the sable venus," a character inspired by Robin Coste Lewis' poem "The Voyage of the Sable Venus." Bronx Writer's Center Director Charlie Vazquez will conduct an artist talk with Jasmine after the performance, regarding the impact of works of fantasy on her work.

Friday & Saturday, April 7 & 8 | 8PM | $20
Davalois Fearon Dance
TIME TO TALK
Davalois Fearon returns to BAAD! with her emerging dance company that uses movement and artistic collaborations to explore a variety of topics. Ms. Fearon, a dancer with the Stephen Petronio Company, is inspired by events, experiences and human connection, which she translates into fluid, physical, and dynamic choreography. For the Spring 2017 presentation, the company will present "Time to Talk," which addresses African American identity and current race relations in American with a hyper focus on the Bronx.

Crowned "a funky and welcoming performance space" by The New York Times, BAAD! is a performance and workshop space that presents cutting-edge works in dance and all creative disciplines empowering to women, Latinos and people of color and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. BAAD! is home to Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (AATT) and the Bronx Dance Coalition and was founded by Arthur Aviles and Charles Rice-Gonzalez in 1998 in Hunts Point. BAAD! moved to Westchester Square in October 2013 to a gothic revivalist building on the grounds of St. Peter's Church.

BAAD!/AATT receive support from The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The SHS Foundation, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The New York Community Trust, The Liberty Fund of the New York Community Trust, The Howard Gilman Foundation, The Lambent Fund of the Tides Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, Councilmember Jimmy Vacca, The Jerome Foundation and private donations.