In the gallery

Embodying Utopia is a project created to give queer people the space to imagine what an ideal world would look like for them. Crystal Vielula selected four incredible queer Bay Area dancer/choreographers to imagine queer utopias that were safe and joyful. In response to their answers, she created collages of each of their imagined landscapes. Those collages were projected onto them as they danced so that they could embody their personal utopia. From the collages, Vielula created 3-D portals to each utopia inviting viewers into the dancer’s dreamland. The dances were filmed by Charlie Stellar and turned into dance films that will be playing inside each portal. Join us for a celebration of queer joy for everyone!

RSVP to the Opening Reception: Thursday, October 3, 2024, 5-7PM

Come see the exhibition at one of our shows or email zoe@counterpulse.org to coordinate a viewing time.

About Embodying Utopia

Crystal Vielula

Crystal Vielula is a queer San Francisco based artist and art educator. Vielula has been involved as a muralist with Clarion Alley Mural Project for over 10 years and her current LGBTQ Pride mural is one of the most photographed in the city. She was a recipient of the 2022/23 SFAC individual artist grant. In spring of 2022 she worked on a soap box car for the SFMOMA soap box derby which was also exhibited at the Exploratorium’s tinkering exhibit in the summer of 2022. In 2021/2020 she completed multiple murals in San Francisco and has created a series of designs for pubic trashcans for the Lower Polk, Tenderloin, SOMA and Yerba Buena Community Benefit Districts. She illustrated the children’s book “A More Graceful Shaboom” by Jacinta Bunnell published in 2020. In 2019 she was selected as a MUNI artist. Her work has been profiled by the San Francisco Chronicle, The Fight Magazine, KQED Arts and Broke Ass Stewart. She had a reoccurring column on the Bold Italic featuring interviews and illustrated portraits of interesting people in San Francisco called Drawn from the City and she is the creator of 5 self-published coloring books. She works with a variety of mediums including but not limited to collage, painting, pen and ink, acrylic, textiles, ceramics, dance and performance.

Collaborating Artists:

Charlie Stellar, Videographer

Today, Charlie Stellar makes dance films, but she did not start there. Charlie began with music as a child. She moved to Eugene OR originally as a classical percussionist to study at University of Oregon. She was soon seduced by dance and choreography at Lane Community College and danced non stop for 5 years studying under Bonnie Simoa. Life continued to take it’s twists and turns which led her to pursue modeling, photography, drawing, electronic music, performance art, collaging, editing, etc. These pieces all lived separately until she stumbled across dance film. Then she could use all the artistic skills at once! Rejoice! Charlie films, directs and edits her films. Her pieces have been screened at dance film festivals around the world. In addition to dance film as art, she also creates dancer reels, dance company promo videos, music videos, fashion films, and commercial projects using dancers. When she’s not working on her films, you can find her being silly with her husband, 3 year old son and their animals at home in San Francisco.

Brooke Terry , Dancer/Choreographer

Brooke Terry (she/they) is a dance artist, instructor, choreographer, and movement investigator. Native to St. Louis, Missouri, Brooke trained at COCA, with mentorship of Antonio and Kirven Douthit-Boyd, with summers spent at The Ailey School, Dance Theatre of Harlem, and Kansas City Ballet.

In May of 2022, Brooke graduated Summa Cum Laude from the Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA program at Dominican University of California, with a Psychology Minor, Honors Program Certificate, and Departmental Honors. Here they had the opportunity to work with Sidra Bell, Gregory Dawson, Maurya Kerr, Dexandro “D” Montalvo, and more.

Brooke has worked with dawsondancesf, REYES Dance, Joe Goode Performance Group, Xochipilli Dance Company, as faculty for the TEENS at LINES program and as a creative consultant for DETOUR Dance’s We Build Houses Here. Brooke looks forward to their continued exploration, while continuously sharing their experiences as an emerging Black Queer individual navigating the world of today through dance, joy, and gratitude.

Janesta Edmonds, Dancer/Choreographer

Janesta Edmonds (they/them) is a multidisciplinary artist working in dance, film, collage, visual art and poetry. Tapping into traditional ritual from the African diaspora, they aim to inspire transformation and healing, to manifest a world where queer Black individuals can exist in their own skin. Edmonds has performed throughout the Bay Area. They also worked for two years on the curatorial team of Failed Films, a DIY film festival held in Los Angeles. Currently they work with Epiphany Dance Theater helping to produce live and virtual performances like San Francisco Trolley Dances.

Hector Jaime Dancer/Choreographer

Héctor Jaime (They/She/He) was born and raised in Mexicali, Baja California, México. They began their training with Manuel Torres in El Centro Estatal de las Artes (CEART) and attended a couple of summer intensives in the US throughout high school. They were one of the recipients of The Herb Alpert Foundation Scholarship when they attended the California State Summer School for the Arts (CSSSA) in 2015. Héctor graduated from the Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet BFA Program in San Francisco affiliated with Dominican University of California. Post graduation, they had the opportunity to be a member of Sean Dorsey Dance, Dawson Dance SF, and Detour Dance Company. Héctor has always been inclined to teaching and became a teaching artist with the Alonzo King LINES Ballet’s HeART with LINES program. Héctor is now a ballet and contemporary instructor at Stapleton School of the Performing Arts. In 2022, Héctor became part of the LatinXtensions Cohort, a 12-month program advising emerging Latinx dance artists in developing their professional artistic practice. This encouraged them to start their own company “Xochipilli Dance Company” based in the Bay Area. XDC has now premiered work in different residencies since its foundation including Deborah Slater Dance Theater summer residency in studio 210, Festival of Latin American Contemporary Choreographers (FLACC), BBQueer Dance Festival, PUSH Artist in residency, D.I.R.T 2023, Stapleton School of the Performing Arts Choreographic Residency and Queering Dance Festival.

Jocquese Whitfield, Dancer/Choreographer

Jocquese “SirJoQ” Whitfield is a dancer/performer/choreographer/MC born and raised in San Francisco. They are the first Vogue instructor of San Francisco and has been teaching their Vogue & Tone classes since 2010. Starting their career steeped in the improvisation of freestyle hip-hop, Jocquese has added modern, classical, and Diasporic dance traditions over the last several years. They were voted “Best Dance Instructor” of 2014 by the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Vogue & Tone was also featured in the San Francisco Chronicle & MTV’s hit show, The Real World.

They held the title of Mr. Gay San Francisco from 2021-2022 under The Imperial Council of San Francisco.

A shape-shifter, Jocquese challenges assumptions of sexual identity in dance as they play with both “masculine” and “feminine” aspects.

Jocquese’s current movement vocabulary revisits the bold, rebellious statements of the 1980’s as expressed through fashion, nightlife, and a love of the abstract.

Jocquese is currently signed to Molly House Records and has opened for as well as performed alongside artists such as: Mykki Blanco, Zebra Katz, M.I.A., TT the Artist, Charli XCX, Jenna Redd Foxx, Big Freedia, MikeQ, Perfume Genius, and Micah Tron. Jocquese has collaborated with: Swagger Like Us, Double Duchess, Honey Mahogany, Scissor Sisters, Leiomy Maldonado (Amazon Mother, Legendary), Benny Ninja, Javier Ninja, Stern Grove Festival, The Asian Art Museum, The Museum of African Diaspora, Benefit Cosmetics, San Francisco Symphony, The Contemporary Jewish Museum, The Berkeley Art Museum, Levi Strauss & Co., The New York Times, San Francisco Giants, Visa Inc., Wish, and Alaska Airlines.

Featured Image: All of the photography and visual art in the submitted photos was done by Crystal Vielula.

The project is a collaboration between Crystal Vielula, Charlie Stellar, Jocquese Whitfield, Jansta Edmonds, Hector Jaime, and Brooke Terry.

This project was funded by the San Francisco Arts Commission and supported by CounterPulse. A special thank you to Justin Young, Jeremy Dalmas, Sam Haynor, Harley Wood, and Mike Huff.