Call for Musicians

I have been looking for musicians for a new piece I'm going to start working on soon, a piece related to Filipino identity and intersectionality, and so far it's been *crickets.* It has been challenging to find other Filipinos in the performing arts here on the East Coast. It's not that I am trying to only work with people who share my culture (in fact, I believe in sharing culture with others, which is why I think that cultural appropriation is a more nuanced issue than simply being wrong...more on that at some point in the future), but I think I should try my best to see if there are other artists who can identify with the issues the piece will explore and REPRESENT! Filipinos are underrepresented in the performing arts, so here I am, adding my voice and trying to make the voices of others heard. I am ultimately open to working with anyone, any race, gender, etc., because, as I mentioned, I think we should share culture with one another, and ultimately this piece is about just one of the many things humans experience on earth. But I just need to TRY to see who's out there, beyond my own close circle of colleagues.

Below is a call for musicians that I am posting on other artist sites. Please feel free to share with anyone you think may be interested. Thanks!

Seeking Musicians for Multidisciplinary Project

Sugar Vendil and her artistic team are currently seeking musicians to collaborate on and perform in a new multidisciplinary piece based on racial identity, specifically centering on Filipino culture and colonization. The work will integrate live music, movement, and fashion (costumes). Musicians must be comfortable with dance/movement, since the piece will involve Filipino folk dance, as well as playing keyboard instruments such as a melodica or toy piano. The work will be directed by Sugar Vendil, with music composed by both Vendil and Trevor Gureckis, and choreographed by a Filipino folk dance specialist (will be announced at a later date).

This will involve a collaborative process, e.g., workshopping, going to a residency outside of the city, rehearsals, etc. Schedules will be determined well in advance and artists will be compensated for their time. The first workshop will take place in April 2017. To learn more about Sugar Vendil's work, visit her website.

If you are interested, please contact us through this form with the following information by November 28, 2016 :
1) An introductory message, detailing your interest in the project
2) Bio
3) Links to performances (video and/or audio)
4) Website

Please use the same form above to contact us with any questions.

Rite of Passage at Federal Hall

I had started this blog post and completely forgot about it. The farthest I got was inserting an image then saving the draft. Anyway. A couple of weeks ago I saw performance artist Erin Helfert's Rite of Passage at Federal Hall with sound design by composer Nina C. Young. Helfert stood in the center of the circular hall, where she would turn towards different directions of the space, and repeatedly recited a monologue about her rape and her 5-year struggle to seek justice for it. (You can read about her experience in more detail here.) 

Rite of Passage was powerful while it remained relatively simple. There were no other visuals aside from the artist herself, speakers, the space we were in, and other spectators. Helfert’s monologue, spoken into a microphone with live processing and electronics manipulated and created by Young, referred to “this body” and what it endured, the body that we were seeing right in front of us. To me, she was like a medium, channeling the past and speaking of it with both emotion and distance. The format of the piece itself, taking place in a government building, an amplified voice talking to strangers, took us back in time to the days of the trial. In her Chime for Change piece, Helfert writes: “Countless times, I’ve had to repeat the details of my rape before a room full of strangers, often into a microphone, the speakers blaring to a crowded courtroom audience.” 

It was a gray day when this took place and I was almost too lazy to leave the apartment but I’m so glad I did. I was moved by how Helfert, with Young, both created something beautiful and demonstrated great strength after such an ugly and horrific experience.