• November 26, 2017

    Let’s start from scribbles, let’s start from scraps.

    By Published On: November 26th, 2017

    When given an empty canvas, I stare intently at my toes as I wiggle them, plan which wall to remove and couch to shift were the place mine, examine my palms as I ponder my life as written in wrinkles and wonder which wrinkle is Wednesday's. One might say I do nothing. I certainly do

  • November 21, 2017

    Dancing with Ghosts: A conversation with Randy Reyes

    By Published On: November 21st, 2017

    How do you conjure queer ancestry through a dance performance? How can we form and unform psychic territories held through our lineages? Randy Reyes’s new work borrows Chinese Energetics and systems of improvisation to weave queer ancestral lineages throughout an elaborate number. Lxs Desaparecidxs—created in collaboration with performers Jose Abad, Emelia Brumbaugh, Gabriel Christian, Felix (Sol)

  • November 13, 2017

    Reflecting on Skywatchers: I GOT A TRUTH TO TELL

    By Published On: November 13th, 2017

    A little over a year ago, ABD's Artistic Director Anne Bluethenthal opened one of our weekly Skywatchers meetings by asking: Who has your back? And what does that look like? It was early fall, a distressing time for many as 45’s campaign gained traction (little did we know…), but there was a tinge of hopefulness

  • November 7, 2017

    Why Motherhood?

    By Published On: November 7th, 2017

    We create this piece in exploration of our own lived experiences around nurturing. We honor the different/range of relationships we and other LGBTQ folx have with our gestational/biological mothers. This piece is for our many many nurturers/mothers, including our Trans/(gender)queer/GNC/Two-Spirit selves. Photo from most recent Work-in-Progress showing at Counterpulse SF        Motherhood is

  • November 7, 2017

    Toxin-laced Living Worlds

    By Published On: November 7th, 2017

    Javier has been excited to explore how environmental toxicity connects intimately to the motherhood we inhabit and relate to. She's especially inspired by Mowhawk researcher and midwife Katsi Cook, who below writes of our gestational mothers—the ones who bear us in their womb: Of the sacred things that there are to be said about this

  • November 1, 2017

    The House Managers of CounterPulse

    By Published On: November 1st, 2017

    The House Managers of CounterPulse are the busy bees ensuring our Front of House is running smoothly. These dedicated individuals are seamlessly relaying information among artists and technicians, overseeing our box office ushers, and making sure all our patrons are accounted for. So who are the Managers of The House? Take a moment to read

  • October 25, 2017

    Mother the Verb : Beginnings

    By Published On: October 25th, 2017

    A spark in the (Mid)Night - Entre suor e esplendor Our project, like so many sensuous,  creative acts, first took seed on a humid San Francisco summer’s night. In June 2016 Ivy Monteiro, Javier Stell-Fresquez, and Davia Spain found themselves dancing on the same upper balcony of Public Works Nightclub. JAVIER: why did u notice

  • October 7, 2017

    On change and collaboration…presenting the new CounterPulse org chart

    By Published On: October 7th, 2017

    At CounterPulse, we invite change as our constant, from moving into our new facility to our ever rotating cast of artists and accomplices. We persistently strive to work better together, excited by the way that true collaboration necessitates an aptitude for change. We've updated our org chart to reflect new changes and new ways of

  • October 5, 2017

    Keepin’ it Real…down in the TL

    By Published On: October 5th, 2017

    by Krista DeNio, Skywatchers Artist Facilitator **NOTE: The names of individuals in this post have been changed for confidentiality. It all started with having one another’s backs. That’s right. I got your back. Whose got your back? I GOT YOUR BACK. We said, we sung, we danced and we meant it. This past year, Skywatchers focused

  • September 18, 2017

    Judith Butler on Performativity and Performance

    By Published On: September 18th, 2017

    Julie Phelps Interviewing Judith Butler Original Interview conducted on July 18, 2013 On Friday, November 3, 2017, renowned gender theorist Judith Butler will be conversing with Monique Jenkinson, the artist behind the cis-female drag persona Fauxnique in an evening entitled “Ordinary Practices of the Radical Body” at CounterPulse. Let’s take a look back to 2013

  • September 17, 2017

    Combustible: an early retrospect

    By Published On: September 17th, 2017

    So here we are, just before the last performance. It has been 5 exciting performances so far. With all of them going 'perfect'... And of course nothing is never the perfect but those imperfections and the performers response to them make each night unique and different. This is the nature of things. Now let's look

  • September 11, 2017

    Membership Musings from the Development Director

    By Published On: September 11th, 2017

    Development Director Jeanne Pfeffer Big changes happening to the membership program at CounterPulse, people. Big changes. I thought, what is a membership program for Counterpulse? For eight years I’ve been pondering the question, actually. What is membership for a community based, performing arts center? It is in the words community and arts. Members