Mark DeGarmo Broadcasts Festival For Social Change

Mark DeGarmo Dance welcomes 138 artists and scholars from 18 countries and 12 of 24 time zones to present their original works in its Virtual International Arts Festival (VIA) for Social Change held on Zoom on Tuesday, Wednesday, & Thursday October 27, 28, and 29, 2020 at 7PM Eastern Time. Separate tickets available by donation for each evening.

The international festival creates a space for artists, scholars, and audiences to share, respond, and reflect beyond traditional, commercial performance spaces that often exclude people and limit access. Tuesday's Massive/Microscopic Sensemaking (Melbourne-based): An International Video Series presents a set of short experimental videos created by collaborative teams of scholars and artists.

On Wednesday, founder and director of indigenous Grupo Folklórico P'urhépecha in Michoacán, Mexico, José Alberto Velázquez Campoverde, presents selections of traditional dance work performed by the youth group. On Thursday, Mark DeGarmo Dance presents the Global edition of its Virtual Salon Performance Series 2020-2021, dance works-in-progress with a facilitated audience response, to begin the series' upcoming season.

"We are excited to connect with our local, national, and global colleagues reflective of our BIPOC and inclusive reality and to experience the possibilities explored by these artists and scholars for contributing to our societies," says Mark DeGarmo, the festival's curator, host, and facilitator.

Mark DeGarmo Dance recognizes the impact of COVID-19 on global artists and our communities and is committed to offering opportunities for artists to safely share and develop their work. Through virtual programming, MDD connects the embodied imaginations of the international arts and scholar community.

About the Curators, Artists, & Scholars

Tuesday (10/27)

Anne Harris is an American-Australian artist, academic, and Director of Creative Agency research lab.

Annette Markham is an ethnographer, critical pedagogy scholar and professor at RMIT in Melbourne.

M.E. Luka is a Toronto-based award-winning scholar, activist and digital media producer.

Wednesday (10/28)

José Alberto Velázquez Campoverde is the founder and director of the Grupo Folklórico P'urhépecha from that ethnic indigenous group occupying ancestral lands west of Mexico City.

Thursday (10/29)

Rachel Cohen's company Racoco fuses raw materials, absurdist visuals, and quixotic choreography.

Sofia Engelman and Em Papineau are dance artists and co-founders of freeskewl, an experimental, donation-based platform for online teaching.

Dawn States is invested in ways to make dance more accessible after experiencing 2 spinal surgeries.

Teresa Fellion founded Teresa Fellion Dance in 2011, after her work as a choreographer since 2004.

Additional information about the guest curators and all artists and scholars can be found at www.markdegarmodance.org/performance.

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