Yelkaram: Weaving the Ancestral Body Peformance

After two years of creative collaboration with Lenca communities in Honduras, we’re proud to share YELKARAM A DANCE & video-mapping performance by Diana Lara in collaboration with Isadora Paz and Gabriel Vallecillo. This piece is the result of deep creative engagement from all our collaborators that we're excited to share with you all!Performers: Diana Lara, Isadora Paz Taboada, Ronice Stratton, Kristen Rulifson Video-mapping: Gabriel Vallecillo Márquez DATES: * Friday, June 20 at 7pm * Saturday, June 21 at 7pm * Sunday, June 22 at 2pm TICKETS: https://odc.dance/wovendances [https://odc.dance/wovendances] ODC Theater: 3153 17th Street San Francisco, CA 94110 Yelkaram is a dance and video-mapping performance that focuses on Honduran Lenca indigenous rituals about weaving traditions and nature protection reinterpreted by a group of artists with Honduran heritage. The performers traveled to Lenca indigenous communities and collaborated with Murilpaz, a Lenca women indigenous organization, to exchange somatic explorations and rituals in rivers, mountains, and weaving workshops. The performance is inspired by this experience and explores the connection between touch , movement and ancestry. The piece celebrates the strength of the Lenca women to recover and safeguard their traditions and natural resources in the face of extractivism. ABOUT THE PERFORMERS Diana Lara (she/her) is a choreographer, performer, and somatic movement educator born and raised in Honduras. Her choreographic work is influenced by contemporary dance, contact improvisation, Body-Mind Centering training, and Latinx culture. She creates choreographies that explore the effects of coloniality, religion, and gender on the body, and that generate rituals to peel layers of oppression. She is nurtured and committed to create work in collaboration with artists from different disciplines, and to generate containers that allow US to value and enjoy the creative process. Her choreographies have been staged in SAN FRANCISCO Bay Area venues including the Mission Cultural Center for Latino Arts, NohSpace, Dance Mission Theater, Moments Notice, Counterpulse, The Garage, and Safe House Arts; and in Mexico City, Canada, Honduras, and Germany venues. https://www.dianalara-somatics.com/ [https://www.dianalara-somatics.com/] Isadora Paz Taboada (she/they) is a Honduran-Argentinian choreographer and performer, co-founder of DA escenica, an independent collaborative project based in Tegucigalpa, Honduras. She has been a resident artist at ADF Durham, NC and the National Choreographic Center in La Rochelle, France. She explores community narratives, practices and performances promoting collective inquiry and intercultural dialogue through dance and performance. https://www.facebook.com/daescenica/about [https://www.facebook.com/daescenica/about] Ronice Stratton (she/they) is a dance artist living on Ohlone land in Oakland, CA. Dance has become her highest expression—releasing what she holds within, in connection with others and the Earth that holds her. Part of that work includes Ro's continued exploration of her Honduran identity, digging up its pain and joy, finding lost lines through her dance. Ronice is currently a company artist with Dancing Earth–a BIPOC dance company centering humans’ connection with ecology, led by the artist director Rulan Tangen. They debuted the production “Eco Elegies - Ritual of Re:Mix” in September 2023 in Yelamu (SF) at the Dance Mission Theater and had community performances of the work at SNAG Magazine's anniversary celebration and the multicultural Mosaic Festival in San Jose. Ronice will partake in the company’s teacher training and artivist program in 2024, which includes a tour in Mexico. Kristen Rulifson (they/them): dancer/choreographer/organizer/housing advocate. Their work is influenced by their aquatic practices of free diving, aquatic therapy, and aquatic dance as well their land-based practices in contact improvisation, axis syllabus, and contemporary dance. Kriss’s current research engages with life cycles involving grief, decay, and rebirth. They are a Co-Director of Twin Moons Productions, a process-oriented and nomadic collective that merges aquatic and somatic practices into immersive performance experiences. Kriss is invested in queer emergent practices, fantastical metamorphosis, and disintegrating colonial imprinting. Their performance work and teaching expand between SF Bay Area (USA), Berlin (Germany), and Bordeaux (France). www.kristenrulifson.com ABOUT THE VIDEO ARTIST Gabriel Vallecillo Márquez is a Honduran multidisciplinary artist. He started as a poet then moved onto video poetry, video-jockey, 3d projection mapping, live cinema, video and VR installation, documentary film and video performance. His video art installations have been featured at Biennials in Ecuador, Panamá, Nicaragua and Honduras. His artworks have also been exhibited in Cuba, Italy, USA and Germany. Gabriel is currently based in Berlin. https://www.gabrielvallecillo.com/ [https://www.gabrielvallecillo.com/] https://liminal-space.art/ [https://liminal-space.art/] MURILPAZ, The Organization of Indigenous Lenca Women of La Paz brings together women from 8 municipalities in the department of La Paz, in central Honduras. Its mission is to empower indigenous women to be resilient and adapt to changes while simultaneously preserving their identity and cultural heritage, and defending their rights and autonomy. Their work focuses on providing support and strengthening the capacities of its members in areas such as indigenous rights, climate resilience, and economic autonomy. They actively engage with communities through Community Indigenous Councils and their families. Additionally, they have carried out various research and planning initiatives to protect the environment, manage climate change, and develop productive projects, such as coffee cultivation, vegetables, and orchards in their communities. With the generous support from the San Francisco Arts Commission, ODC Theater, and the International Co-production Fund Goethe Institute. Also check out other Arts events in San Francisco [https://allevents.in/san-francisco/art] , Entertainment events in San Francisco [https://allevents.in/san-francisco/entertainment] , Performances in San Francisco [https://allevents.in/san-francisco/performances] .