Talking Politics Through Art With Dr. Keith Hennessy, UHM Kennedy Theatre

The University of Hawai'i at Mānoa's Department of Theatre + Dance have announced an upcoming live speaking engagement with queer dance artist and activist Dr. Keith Hennessy on Friday January 22, 2021 via Zoom.

Using recent contemporary performance projects as examples, Hennessy talks about the potentials and limitations of art to address concerns of decolonization, white supremacy, queer and POC futurity, and the crises of democracy. Hennessy's work centers collaboration, especially across lines of difference, power and privilege. The work explores the tensions between indigeneity and diaspora, safety and risk, healing and provocation. Asking questions like: How can queer and anti-racist ethics be developed as artistic practices? How can cultural practices - art, dance, ritual, ceremony, poetics, healing, food - impact political structures? And what about capitalism...?

A Question & Answer session follows the main presentation. UH-system students, faculty, staff and affiliates are especially encouraged to attend. Attendance is Free of Charge, however, pre-registration is required. Register at: https://forms.gle/TpfoA5B8GnZk1KTK6.

Keith Hennessy dances in and around performance. Born in northern Ontario, he lives in San Francisco since 1982 and tours internationally. His performances engage improvisation, ritual, collaboration, and protest as tools for investigating political realities. Practices inspired by anarchism, critical whiteness, post/Modern dance, activist art, the Bay Area, wicca, punk, contact improvisation, indigeneity, and queer-feminist performance motivate and mobilize Hennessy's work.

Hennessy's 2016-19 collaborators include Peaches, Meg Stuart, Scott Wells, Jassem Hindi, J Jha, Annie Danger, Gerald Casel, Michael Morris, Snowflake Towers (Yoeme, Mayan), Ryanaustin Dennis, and the collaboratives Blank Map, Circle X and Turbulence. Awards include the Guggenheim Fellowship, United States Artist Fellowship, a NY Bessie, multiple Isadora Duncan Awards, and a Bay Area Goldie. Recent gigs include New Tretyakov / VAC Foundation (Moscow), Impulstanz (Vienna), Warsaw Flow Festival, The Lab and Joe Goode Annex (SF), TBA Festival (Portland), Movement Research (NY), American Realness (NY), Velocity (Seattle), Deichman Library (Oslo), Steilneset Memorial (Norway). Keith's 2017-2019 teaching in universities, independent studios, and festivals includes Ponderosa (Germany), FRESH (SF), HZT (Berlin), Movement Research (NYC), Impulstanz (Vienna), Portland State University, Sandberg Institute (Amsterdam), St. Mary's, MA Exerce (Montpellier France), Cornish (Seattle), University of Washington, UC Riverside, San Diego State, and Hollins (VA).

Keith's writings have been published in Canadian Theater Journal, Contact Quarterly, Movement Research Journal, Performance Research (UK), Society of Dance History Scholars Journal, Dance Theatre Journal (UK), Itch, Front, and In Dance. Hennessy directs Circo Zero and was a member of Contraband with Sara Shelton Mann. He is a co-founder of CounterPULSE (formerly 848 Community Space) a thriving performance space in San Francisco. He earned an MFA and PhD from UC Davis. Additional information about Hennessy's collaborative works can be found at: www.circozero.org

2026 Theater Fans' Choice Awards - Live Stats

Best Revival of a Play - Top 3

1. Every Brilliant Thing

29% of votes

2. Death of a Salesman

26.7% of votes

3. Oedipus

9.7% of votes

Vote Now! View Live Stats