YACKEZ to Bring LOVE FOR A NEW FUTURE to Philly Fringe/Cannonball Fest
Larissa and Jon Velez-Jackson will be joined by dance artists Esther Baker and Adam Kerbel at the Asian Arts Initiative.
The art-pop musical duo Yackez will perform in Philadelphia for the first time in a decade at the Philadelphia Fringe Festival in a show presented by Cannonball Festival. Yackez, Larissa and Jon Velez-Jackson, will be joined by Philadelphia-based dance artists Esther Baker and Adam Kerbel for the presentation of a new stage show entitled Love for a New Future. Expect a high-energy performance that's appropriate for audience members of all ages, featuring their beloved mascot Yacky.
Love for a New Future will take place at the Asian Arts Initiative on September 9 and 10, 2026, at 5:45 p.m.
“I can't express how much it means to me to be able to perform this show after a series of health setbacks,” Larissa Velez-Jackson, the group's front-person said. “Doing so in Philadelphia, a city where I have so many roots, seems like the perfect place to start a run of shows that are based on this production.”
The piece will feature Yackez's continued exploration of atypical sounds in the context of dance music, as well as delve into themes such as finding purpose in an often confusing world and battling severe illness, all while offering up a critique of popular culture, and politics. Based in disability community practice, the performance invites the audience to rest and groove along in a concert of collective healing.
Jon Velez-Jackson is a songwriter, writer and full-time journalist. Larissa Velez-Jackson is a NYC-based choreographer, multi-platform artist and the director of LVJ Performance Co. Larissa is also a senior fitness specialist and movement/wellness educator, incorporating elder dancers in Yackez's work. In 2016, LVJ was nominated for a New York Dance and Performance "Bessie" award for Outstanding Emerging Choreographer and was awarded the Foundation for Contemporary Art, Grant to Artists award. LVJ received a BFA from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, PA.
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