Oakland Art Murmur “Ampey!” Animation
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8oFw4eyljY
5
Nov, 2010
2
Nov, 2010
“Ampey!” Animation in Ancestor Costumes
On Saturday, October 30th, the cast of Adia Tamar Whitaker's "Ampey!" took to the streets of San Francisco in full costume and makeup for a fundraising Animation. "Ampey!" premieres at CounterPULSE on Thursday, November 11th. Even if you weren't fortunate enough to see the cast in San Francisco, you can still pledge your support for "Ampey!" by visiting Kickstarter.com
2
Nov, 2010
Animations and Ancestors (2010)
Almost all of our Counterpulse fliers are gone! It’s time to start getting those tickets yall! For the past two months the cast of “Ampey!” and family have been doing short vocal performances on the streets of San Francisco and Oakland to promote our Kickstarter page and our upcoming shows. We call them “Animations”. I learned about this grassroots marketing strategy while on tour with a Haitian dance company in Europe. Here are some shots taken by Alonzo Young at The October 1st
29
Oct, 2010
25
Oct, 2010
Birth of A New Mission Suhani
After the first Work-in-Progress show, I worked with my Nautanki troupe on the suggestions given to us by the audience members and our friends at CounterPULSE, incorporating them into our second Work-in-Progress show. The changes have definitely made our piece more effective, and it now flows more smoothly. In addition, as a result of the integration of the feedback, the piece itself is more accessible to American audiences. The feedback session after our second Work-in-Progress show was once again a
15
Oct, 2010
10
Oct, 2010
Creation
Creating work means following feelings as far as one can as well as using accumulated technique to express those feelings. There is an interaction between the feeling and technique, and each feeds the other. Unless it is a set classical piece, learned technique may not match the feeling/meaning/expression that is desired. So, one has to experiment. For me, the starting point is in the classical training I received. Because the expressive range is so rich, I feel that it is
1
Oct, 2010
Come and Watch the New Extended Mission Suhani Performances!!
One of the major challenges I had in preparing for Mission Suhani this year was finding new actors, as many of the previous actors from last year were not available. This situation is expected when you try to involve community members as actors in a participatory effort like Mission Suhani. Most of these community members are not actors by profession. Instead, they have another job in which they are busy. They are extremely interested in the effort, but they are
23
Sep, 2010
“Ampey!” Animations #1
On Saturday September 18, 2010 the cast of "Ampey!" hit the streets of San Francisco with some short and powerful vocal performances. We performed in front of Rasputin's on Powell Street, Powell and Market, Civic Center and 16th Street BART Stations from 3p to 6p. It was very exciting to see weekend shoppers stop and take notice of our grassroots advertising strategy. We didn't introduce ourselves. We just entered whatever public space we decided to perform in, began to sing and pass out fliers. A special shout out to
23
Sep, 2010
“Ampey!” Kickstarter http://bit.ly/b6FanA
I am very pleased to announce that we launched the "Ampey!" Kickstarter page on Monday September 13, 2010! We've raised $1,140 so far. We now have 79 days left until the end of our campaign. Our goal is $6,500. $73 a day should keep us on track. We're raising funds to assist with the artist fees and production costs of expanding my work. To ensure that we surpass our goal, our Kickstarter page will be up until Sunday December 12,
23
Sep, 2010
The Great Shrinking
First there was a dungeon. Then there was a boat. We died. We survived. We got sick and never quite got better. All of us stayed behind thinking the others had been rescued. We found a way in through the skin and the hair, but haven't found another way to talk about it since. Gunshots come closest.Our tongues were cut off and replaced with shiny new ones. They had motors that made them move all by themselves. They made funny
14
Sep, 2010
Selling It
Sometimes I'm asked what village I grew up in. The answer is a little village of (what is now) 7.4 million people. The idea that I grew up in a ghetto area in one of world's largest cities seems to shock many people. How can the art that I learned and practice be from that environment and not from one of rice fields, palm trees, and poor but happy villagers? The deep origins of my technique are not from the