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Past Events
An interdisciplinary project between Dance, Digital Media, the Pearlstein Gallery, the Writer’s Room, and students from West Philadelphia High School and lead artist and Rankin Scholar, Maria Bauman.
An interdisciplinary project between Drexel University’s Dance Department, Digital Media, the Pearlstein Gallery, the Writer’s Room, students, multiple community groups including West Philadelphia High School and Rankin Scholar-in-Residence, Maria Bauman. During a three-week research-based residency Maria Bauman alongside Audrey Hailes and Drexel community collaborators will co-create an interactive installation; Womb: The Black Wealth Project. And on April 27th collaborators will share an activation of the installation. The project explores various manifestations of luxury, spaciousness, wealth and abundance and is rooted in community mapping and research including Jillian Hernandez’s Aesthetics of Excess: The Art and Politics of Black and Latina Embodiment, Tricia Hersey’s Rest is Resistance, and using autoethnography as methodology.
Photo credit: Chris Cameron
Our Artistic Director, Maria Bauman, is choreographing and performing in The Motherboard Suite! This premiere brings to life a suite of music by musician, poet, actor Saul Williams. Directed by Bill T. Jones, this non-linear work is performed by Saul and his musical collaborators, and features seven choreographers. Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Jasmine Hearn, Shamel Pitts and Seattle choreographer Jade Solomon Curtis.
Photo credit: Maria Baranova
This 3 day symposium invites former students, scholars, colleagues, and interested community members to the launch of the William R. Jones Papers, to continue the discourse of his legacy and thinking. In addition to the archive unveiling, a series of performances and panels will showcase original research on his life adding to the archival context for the published literature on Dr. Jones’ work.
During her second residency, Bauman, along with collaborators Audrey Hailes, Olivia Mozie, Rhapsody Stiggers and Embedded Writer/MANCC alumnus jumatatu poe, will further dive into her relationship with Dr. Jones as a former student, questioning and reconsidering her own assumptions about art making and socialization through engaging with Dr. Jones’ extensive collection of archived materials.
As part of Bauman’s creative process, she aims to explore Dr. Jones’ archives more extensively and create a representation of her residency time with his work through a presentation of physical scholarship as part of the January 2023 Dr. William R. Jones Symposium, hosted by FSU’s Special Collections and Archives, College of Fine Arts, and Department of Religion. She also intends to create a ‘zine as a passport into a constellation of thinking that includes images from both residencies and the eventual performance work she’ll be creating, with words crafted by poe and from interviews with Bauman and collaborators Audrey Hailes, Olivia Mozie, and Rhapsody Stiggers.
Photo credit: Chris Cameron
Desire: A Sankofa Dream, by Maria Bauman and MBDance, is a site-responsive, immersive performance-ritual built around Black Queer survival techniques such as place-claiming and world-building. It presupposes a world wherein our ancestors are unicorns who have come back to remind humans of our possibilities and agency. Choreographer and writer Maria Bauman reimagines Desire for each new site it inhabits, making it unique every time it is offered. In the tradition of the Radical Faeirie network and of Black & Brown queer youth claiming and co-creating Christopher Street Pier in NYC, the inhabitants always affect the space. This exciting piece of embodied speculative fiction includes a Cat’s Cradle-like yarn installation that creates fractals and portals. With Desire: A Sankofa Dream, Bauman and MBDance conjure a new site and choreography for dancing and speaking with, through and in spite of the possibilities and obstacles of the installation—a site of world-building and choice-making.
This 2022 version of the work at BAX will be danced by MBDance associate artistic director Audrey Hailes with Maria Bauman and it is the kick-off to the QTPOC Sankofa Dreaming weekend festival.
Please note, this event will be filmed as participants move through the space. However, participants who would like to opt out of filming may do so, and they will be given a wristband for the duration of the performance.
Timing & Space Details:
This is a live performance in the BAX Theater. Masks and proof of vaccination are required for the in-person event.
Covid Notes:
All performers and audience members must show proof of vaccination upon admission. Audience will remain masked for the duration of the showcase. Performers who will be maskless are required to submit a negative COVID test within 48 hours of the performance.
Accessibility :
BAX is on the second and third floors of the building with stairwells that extend from the ground floor entrance to the building’s third floor. There is no elevator or ramp at this time. BAX is actively working on an extensive accessibility initiative and is committed to implementing ADA-compliant solutions that open the spaces to all.
There will be ASL interpretation at the performance.
Questions or access needs? Email: info@bax.org.
Desire: A Sankofa Dream is a site-responsive, immersive performance-ritual built around Black Queer survival techniques such as place-claiming and world-building. It presupposes a world wherein our ancestors are unicorns who have come back to remind humans of our possibilities and agency. Unique every time it is offered, choreographer and writer Maria Bauman reimagines Desire for each new site it inhabits, in the tradition of the Radical Faeirie network and of Black & Brown queer youth claiming and co-creating Christopher Street Pier in NYC. This exciting piece of embodied speculative fiction includes a Cat’s Cradle-like yarn installation full of fractals and portals. With Desire: A Sankofa Dream, Bauman and her company MBDance conjure new sites and choreography for dancing and speaking with, through and in spite of the possibilities and obstacles of the installation—a site of world-building and choice-making. More information at www.desire.maria66.sg.com
Registration required. Proof of vaccination and mask-wearing are required for this performance.
Presented by Queensborough Community College with support from CUNY Dance Initiative, Desire: A Sankofa Dream takes place on May 30th at 7PM EST via Zoom. Registration is required.
Created and directed by celebrated choreographer Maria Bauman, Desire: A Sankofa Dream is a performance-ritual built around Black Queer survival techniques developed long before our current pandemic but wholly relevant as we try to survive and thrive in this time of sickness, anger, isolation and insistence on improved ways of life.
Artistic Director Maria Bauman, with assistance from MBDancer Audrey Hailes, has been working with dance students from Queensborough Community College. Working with those students both on Zoom and outdoors in person is a pleasure. Through an original MBDance piece made just for them, the cast is exploring themes of discernment, conflict and what is worth holding steadfast for. MBDance has commissioned musician Ashley Phillips for an original score.
*Registration is required for performance
Artistic Director, Maria Bauman, is featured as a choreographer in The Motherboard Suite.
The Motherboard Suite brings to life a suite of music by musician, poet, actor Saul Williams. Directed by Bill T. Jones, this non-linear work is performed by Saul and his musical collaborators and features six choreographers – Maria Bauman, Kayla Farrish, Marjani Forté-Saunders, d. Sabela grimes, Jasmine Hearn, and Shamel Pitts.
Our world premiere of Desire: A Sankofa Dream takes place on Friday, January 22 and Saturday, January 23 at 7PM EST via Zoom.
Created and directed by celebrated choreographer Maria Bauman-Morales, Desire: A Sankofa Dream is a performance-ritual built around Black Queer survival techniques developed long before our current pandemic but wholly relevant as we try to survive and thrive in this time of sickness, anger, isolation and insistence on improved ways of life. Desire: A Sankofa Dream is co-commissioned and co-presented by BAAD! and 651 ARTS.
World Premiere!
Part I: Friday, January 22, 2021 at 7pm ET
Part II: Saturday, January 23, 2021 at 7pm ET
TICKETS ON SALE NOW!
Admission: $5, $10 and $20
This is a two-part event, and the admission cost covers both Parts I and II.
Admission is priced at a sliding scale to ensure affordability across all economic levels.
MBDance has been invited by Stonewall National Museum and Archives an organization dedicated solely to LGBTQ+ history, civil rights, arts, and culture to lead a 45-minute zoom discussion with artistic director Maria Bauman-Morales and the Executive Director, Hunter O’Hanian at the Stonewall Library to discuss Maria’s role as artistic director of MBDance, and maintaining queer wellness and community care in the dance world despite the current pandemic.