Queerings is a spring of workshops led by queer-identifying artists/ practitioners/ guest speakers who can offer their expertise, knowledge, and artistry with people interested in taking a class online. This comes in the form of virtual, 1-hour workshop sessions open to the public where guests share a bit about themselves and a class designed in whatever format they would like.
These classes are donation-based with the hopes to raise funds to support LGBTQIA+ homeless youth in LA, while offering the opportunity for other queer participants to learn from artists and guest speakers in their field. SBLA will compensate all artists with a stipend of $100 + a portion of funds raised from participants’ donations. Our first iteration of this series will be held virtually through zoom as we continue to maintain COVID-19 precautions.
Meet the Artists
Steve Rosa
April 1st 6:30 – 7:30PM
Class Description
Puteria con Steve is an introductory non gender specific salsa dance class.
Bio: Steve Rosa completed his Master of Fine Arts in Dance from the University of California, Irvine in 2015. His emphasis was in Dance and Technology and he created works that centered on issues of diversity and equality. Rosa also completed his Bachelor of Arts in Studio Art (Photography), with a minor in Visual and Performing Arts Education, from the University of California, Los Angeles in 2011. He is an alum of Cypress College (A.A. in Dance and Dance Teaching Certificate), and Cerritos College (A.A. in Photography), where he received various awards, and currently serves as adjunct faculty at both institutions. Select collaborations include UCI Drama Dept. and no)one. Art House as a projection designer, photographer, and video artist. He premiered a new interdisciplinary work titled “¿en la boca, outta the mouth?” which was performed at de Color-Es 2018, produced by Primera Generación Dance Collective. Additionally, Rosa was a choreographer for “On The Beat: Feeling Body,” an experimental documentary short film. Rosa’s newest collaboration with Justin Morris produced video work “untitled:mouth” which explores the intersections of the digital and analog body, premiering in Gold Series No. 3 – 2020. Currently, Rosa is the co-director of Maha and Company, a non-profit dance company dedicated to cultural awareness through movement exploration and performance. He also serves as an Assistant Professor of Dance at Saddleback College where he teaches both studio and lecture courses, co-directs “WinterDance” and “Dance Collective” productions, and is director of the annual Saddleback ScreenDance Festival.
José Richard Áviles
April 8th 6:30-7:30 PM
Radical Embodiment
Class Description:
Radical Embodiment is a session rooted in Somatics, the study of embodiment. This session dives deep into the relationship between self and the spirit of the body. Together, we will explore the connection between our head and our tail as a manifestation of queer spirit, Participants will learn the anatomy of their spine and identify any points of disconnect and compassionately breathe back into their spine.
Bio: José Richard Áviles (@soynalgona) is an Urban Planner, Social Worker, and internationally touring Performance Artist native to South Central. Áviles work explores the relationship between space, place, and body. Their first piece Callejera explored the connections between being from the hood and a femme. Áviles’ current research interest lies in the relationship between behavior and the built-environment, city consciousness: and community engagement.
Jeremy Guyton
April 15th 6:30 -7:30 PM
Class Description
Free//Style Lab “They tried to bury us. They didn’t know we were seeds” . This workshop is an embodied manifestation of Afro//queer liberation, taking root on the club dance floor and blasting off to another dimension. Participants will engage in a free//style meditation, charting blueprints for the future and exploring club choreographies circulating through our bodies.
Bio: Jeremy Guyton is a performer, choreographer, director, educator, alchemist, and dreamer. Born and raised in Los Angeles, he was first introduced to movement styles birthed in his hometown: krump and jerking. The vibrations of the city in which he was raised set the foundation for his movement vocabulary. Upon graduation from high school, his curiosity led him to the Mid-Atlantic, where he studied theatre at Georgetown University. In 2008, he moved to New Orleans and traced lines from jerking to buckjumping to wu-tanging to evolve as an artist and creator. He is currently working toward his MFA in Choreography at Florida State University. He has recently worked with Solange Knowles, Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Kesha McKey, Leyla McCallah and Kiyoko McCrae, Maya Taylor, KM Dance Project, Junebug Productions, B.U.K.U. Dance Krewe, and Goat in the Road Productions.
Justin Morris
April 22nd 6:30-730PM
Class Description
Using black “party/social” dances (think the cha cha slide, the wobble, etc) to prompt joy and community . There may be a part where we improvise our own Social Dances
Bio: Justin Morris began his dance training at Riverside City College in multiple genres including modern, jazz, ballet, and hip-hop. Justin has performed in numerous choreographic works presented in the Inland Empire, the greater Los Angeles area, and nationally. These works include Collaborations with Jay Carlon, Sue Roginski and Kirsten Johansen. They have performed in works created by Kevin Williamson, Alex Shilling, Colleen Thomas, visual artist David Lamelas, Rebecca Bryant, Rosa Rodriguez-Fraiser, and Summation Dance Company. Justin holds a Bachelor of Fine Arts from CSU Long Beach’s Department of Dance and is a current faculty member at Renaissance High for the Arts in Long Beach.
Sunni Meador
April 29th 6:30-7:30PM
Class Description
Sunni is offering a class where you use tarot, astrology, and numerology to figure out your life’s purpose or direction. They will do this by teaching you to look at your life path number, your north and south node, and your tarot birth cards to understand what you are here to accomplish in this life. You will need your birth chart and if you are missing information that is ok. You will use this calculator to find out your birth tarot cards here: https://tarotschool.com/Calculator.html.
Please also have a notebook, or web notes, ready for there will be some journaling.
*Workshop worksheets will be provided in the session*
Bio: Sunni is a pastel punk spiritualist who enjoys rabbit hole searches and the collection of facts. They collect sweet nothings that have emotional attachments and have an affinity for good looking cats. They are a non-binary tarot reader, a forever student, and go by they/them. They have been practicing tarot for 3+ years and dabble in numerology and astrology. They are a current Master in Social Work student focusing on trauma. They hail from Riverside via Oakland California where the desert has lent her powers to teach them about the beauty in stillness and nothing.
This project is supported by the Los Angeles County Arts and Culture Organizational Grant Program 2020-2021.
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