neverover

An invitation to queer chaos. Produced by BODYSONNET.
Little Boxes Theater. July 23, 2022.

 
 
 

WELCOME

We are excited to share our West coast debut with neverover: an intimate evening of performances exploring youth, celebrating queerness, and examining what it means to be present in chaos. The performance features three distinct works, and commentary by MC Randy Donovan. A central goal of neverover is to highlight the multiplicity of young creatives as self producers, citizen artists, and catalysts for a space that fosters community exchange.

 
 

PROGRAM

  • Performance and Choreography: Moscelyne ParkeHarrison

    Music: Dream Puppy by The Sweet Enoughs, Movement 1 - Live by Mika Vain, Ryoji Ikeda, alva noto, Adagio for Strings Opus 11 by Samuel Barber

    Text: Moscelyne ParkeHarrison

    Recording: Tracie Thompson

    Dramaturg: Shana ParkeHarrison

    Program note: In May 2020 I made a short dance video entitled x dance. I searched 'regret' in my email inbox, and collected words from rejection emails I have received since 2013. Two years later I’m revisiting and expanding x dance to a solo that reckons with pity and meditates on melodrama and the transcendence of no.

  • Choreography: Colin Frederick

    Performers: David Calhoun and Colin Frederick

    Music: Kameron Sheffield

    Costumes: Trey Alexander

    Program note: “When contradictory facts move into close juxtaposition, one of two things happens. If one fact proves wrong, then that's that. But sometimes the contradiction harbors two totally different faces of the same deeper truth. The opposing forces both gain in validity as they converge, and, finally, the universe changes.”

    -John H. Lienhard

  • Choreography: Mia J Chong

    Performers and Co-creators: Alexandra Carrington, Alli Li, Jaime Serra dos Santos, and Saharla Vetsch

    Music: Ladyfingers by Herb Alpert & The Tijuana Brass

    Program note: This work is about the transformative and grounding power of queer love. The collaborative team for this piece is composed of two couples - Saharla and Jaime, and Alex and Alli. Saharla and Alex are both professional dancers, and Jaime and Alli are creatives in other mediums. Through verbal and movement-based storytelling, they will all share their personal experiences of partnership.

ARTISTS

  • David Calhoun (they/them) was born and raised in Omaha, Nebraska. They spent their summers training at LINES Ballet, Ballet West, Kansas City Ballet, Hubbard Street, Martha Graham and Bates Dance Festival. David obtained their BFA in Dance Performance and Choreography, Emphasis in Ballet and Modern, from the Conservatory at University of Missouri – Kansas City in 2017 on full scholarship. After graduation, David moved to San Francisco to join dawsondancesf under Gregory Dawson. Since residing in SF they have danced professionally with ODC/Dance, SFDanceworks, Ballet22, Wylliams/Henry, Concept o4 and other Bay Area choreographers. David teaches yoga and dance to all ages with the intention to help others connect to the joy and gift of movement. They are currently a company dancer with AXIS dance company.

    Follow David on Instagram @dvd.calhoun

  • Alex Carrington (she/they) received the majority of her training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the LINES Ballet Training Program. She has danced for Margaret Jenkins Dance Company, tinypistol, detour dance, Kristin Damrow & Company, little seismic dance company, Emily Hansel, and in addition, has performed works by Crystal Pite, Yin Yue, Katie Wong, Andrea Peña, and Nick Korkos.

    Follow Alex on Instagram @alexandra_carrington

  • Mia J. Chong (she/they) is a choreographer and dancer from San Francisco, California, the Indigenous lands of the Ramaytush Ohlone and Muwekma people. She currently dances with ODC/Dance and creatively collaborates with Post:ballet. Mia has received a Princess Grace Award, Chris Hellman Dance Honor, Aninstantia Foundation Grant, LINES Ballet Homer Avila Award, Jacob’s Pillow Ann & Weston Hicks Choreography Fellowship, Metro Film and Arts Foundation Choreography Commission, and Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and nominations for her work as a performer and creator. She received her training from the Kirov Academy of Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, the Ailey School, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, the School at Jacob’s Pillow’s Contemporary Program, and ODC School. Mia has also danced professionally with Robert Moses’ Kin, Dance Theatre of San Francisco, and San Francisco Symphony. This summer, Mia will graduate from New York University with her BA in Social Sciences with a concentration in Organizational Behavior and Change. In the fall, she will continue her studies through the Master of Science in Arts Administration and Cultural Entrepreneurship program at Northeastern University..As a choreographer, Mia creates contemporary dance works throughout the Bay Area with the intention of engaging viewers from all walks of life, honoring collaboration, and celebrating connectivity. Please visit miajchong.com to learn more.

    Follow Mia on Instagram @miajchong

  • Colin Frederick (he/they) is a dancer and choreographer from Warrensburg, Missouri. Colin studied dance at Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, and earned his Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance Performance and Choreography, with an emphasis in Ballet, from the University of Missouri- Kansas City Conservatory. He has danced professionally with Wylliams/Henry Dance Company and Tristian Griffin Dance Company. He is currently a dancer with Post:ballet.

    Follow Colin on Instagram @colin.frederick

  • Randy Donovan Jimenez (He/him) is a 2nd generation, Bay Area native. He is Filipino, Apache and Hawaii. Randy studied cultural anthropology at SFSU and mainly worked on ethnography at different bars in the SOMA’s leather district. Randy has always loved fashion, and thus lives by three rules: 1. Clothes are our armor 2. Clothes have no gender 3. There are no rules. Style is all about self expression and he has always used his wardrobe to challenge social//gender norms. Randy is the MC for neverover.

    Follow Randy on Instagram @ra.nd.yyyy

  • Alli Li (any pronouns) Growing up in LA, I’d always wanted to be an artist. After dropping out of high school and working in service to forge my own path, I worked on various film sets before becoming disillusioned by the intangibility of film production. I soon found the tangibility I was looking for in the labor of love that is cooking. Under the tutelage of longtime Chez Panisse chef Kelsie Kerr, I fell in love with the artistry of farm to table cooking. I am currently the head chef of Friends and Family Bar in Oakland. As a queer safe haven and major date spot, I strive to ensure that the food facilitates beauty, playfulness, and simplicity. I hope that the love and care that I bring to the queer community - and my community at large - is felt in the food. At this point in history, I am honored to have a seat at the table, and humbled to have a plate on it as well.

    Follow Alli on Instagram @gayfieri_official

  • Moscelyne ParkeHarrison (she/her) grew up in The Berkshires, MA. She is a graduate of The Juilliard School where she received the Joseph W. Polisi Award for Artist as Citizen. Moscelyne pursued additional training at Hubbard Street Pro and Walnut Hill School for the Arts and summer workshops including b12, Banff Centre for the Arts, and Jacob’s Pillow.

    Moscelyne dances professionally on the East and West Coast with Post:ballet, David Michalek, Francesca Harper, Liz Gerring, and Helen Simoneau. She is co director of NEFA and MassCulturalCouncil award winning dance collective BODYSONNET.

    She moved to the Bay Area in early 2022 as a company artist with Post:ballet, and faculty member at Berkeley Ballet Theater. Her world premiere say i am you was performed by Post:ballet at BAMPFA in March 2022. Shortly after Moscelyne was named Choreographer in Residence. She looks forward to dancing, teaching, and creating in the Bay Area with Post:ballet, and pinkslip her duo with composer Trey Makler (UC Davis), as well as presenting her solo series please come alone.

    Follow Moscelyne on Instagram @moscelyne_

  • Jaime Serra dos Santos (he/him) is a music producer, recording artist, and DJ from Brazil currently based in Oakland, CA. He currently makes original work under the artist name ‘saint hills’. Learn more at https://www.sainthillsmusic.com

    Follow Jaime on Instagram @sainthills

  • Saharla Vetsch (she/her) is a Somali American independent dance/drag artist born and raised in Minnesota. Now residing in the Bay Area, Saharla has earned a degree in Performing Arts and Social Justice with a concentration in dance from the University of San Francisco. Her work centers around questions and curiosities about individuals’ intersecting identities and how they relate to one another. Saharla was recently a performing artist in Zaccho Dance Theatre's "Love, a state of grace." She currently works with Detour Dance and has participated in their "Up on High" film series. At present, she is a RAWdance Radiate fellow.

    Follow Saharla on Instagram @the_major_s

 
 

LAND ACKNOWLEDGMENT

We would like to recognize the land on which we live, create, learn and commune is the original homelands of the Ramaytush Ohlone people. We honor and respect the many indigenous peoples still connected to this land on which we make art and our new home. Visit native-land.ca to learn more about the land where you reside.

 
 

SPECIAL THANKS

Thank you to our Contemporary Level Season Sponsor: Main Street Hospitality Group.

Thank you Trent Norris and Jack Calhoun for making neverover a reality.

Thank you to Hot Cookie for the generous food donation.
Established in 1997, Hot Cookie is a Castro icon, and has promoted a sense of belonging and acceptance for all forms of sexual expression in their small cozy shop. You can experience the open and accepting community and environment that tourists from all over the U.S. and the world come to San Francisco to experience at their locations at 407 Castro and 1817 Polk.

Thank you to SRJC President Frank Chong for the generous wine donation.
The Shone Farm label creates award-winning wines in Sonoma County, produced by Santa Rosa Junior College. To order more wine or join our wine club, please contact winery@santarosa.edu. 

Thank you to Kristin Damrow and Kristen Damrow & Company for videography supply support.