Until then . . . here's an article about somebody we ought to know about (yes, I think we are getting way off direction . . . we are here to express ourselves through art, not be the social justice nazis of the free speech board).
Dance, art and spoken word combine in a multicultural tribute
When her father, Josef Sarreal, died in a traffic accident last year, Jennifer Tehani Sarreal looked for a fitting tribute for him.
Josef was a stock photographer who also did art photography, so part of tonight's program at Awakenings Coffee House in Lomita is devoted to an exhibit of his work.
But there's a lot more than that, because there's a lot more to Jennifer Tehani Sarreal, 25, a Long Beach performer and educator.
She began dancing at age 8 and in 2008 won the fusion category of the Belly Dancer of the Universe Competition. Her other dancing specialties include ballroom, Latin, hip-hop, salsa, Polynesian (including fire poi), West African and Filipino.
Sarreal does educational programs in public schools, libraries and museums that center on dance anthropology (she has a bachelor's degree in anthropology from Cal State Long Beach), incorporating sociology, history, arts, spirituality and social activism.
Tonight, after a warm-up performance by champion juggler David Cousin, a friend of hers, Surreal will do her first one-woman show, titled "Tradition and Fusion." It begins with a spoken-word piece on the theme "Why Art Matters." Sarreal (pronounced surreal) is also a freelance writer about art.
"It's the most powerful way to connect people," Sarreal, whose heritage includes Spanish, Filipino, Portuguese, Irish and French, said in a phone interview this week. "It builds bridges between gaps such as culture, language, gender and religion."
Sarreal described what she does as "artivism," a combination of art and activism.
After the spoken piece comes a traditional Middle Eastern belly dance, part of which involves her balancing a scimitar on her head. Then there are a couple of Polynesian fusion dances, an original speak-song performed with ukulele that takes a funny look at her first visit to the Philippines, in 2007.
Afterward, she'll dance an auna hula, "Wanting Memory," by Kealii Reichel, which talks about using memories of a loved one to move forward.
Awakenings, which is an event space on the site of a former coffee house, doesn't allow pyrotechnics, so Sarreal's fire poi Maori dance from New Zealand will feature silk strips emblematic of flame coming out of the sacks at the end of the long strings she uses, rather than fire.
The show concludes with a fusion dance that mixes Latin, hip-hop, belly dancing and Polynesian dance.
Admission is $15, with funds benefiting the Josef Sarreal Foundation that Sarreal is in the process of setting up. She wants to provide free visual and performance art workshops for children and teenagers in select cities around the world "with the goal of empowering youth through creative expression."
Funds also will go toward humanitarian and environmental aid in areas near her art projects.
Sarrealism 2009
What: Exhibit of photos by Josef Sarreal and a one-woman performance by Jennifer Tehani Sarreal.
When: Tonight; photo exhibit opens at 7, with juggling by David Cousin at 7:45 and the dance performance at 8.
Where: Awakenings Coffee House, 24100 Narbonne Ave., Lomita.
Cost: $15 donation to the Josef Sarreal Foundation.
Information:
(562) 230-9194, www.dancingtehani.com.
Al Rudis (562) 499-1255 al.rudis@presstelegram.com
6 comments:
Our Art is an expression and an extension of ourselves. I live this, hence my choice in this approach with the free speech board. The difference between my opinion and yours of this matter is that I was investing my time in placing a wonderful curiosity towards Rebel Arts...You on the other hand wasted your time battling with a fellow member only to achieve hostility and further perpetuation of this "ignorance" you so dimly referred to. Far too often our Artistic extension can be misinterpreted. The fact that "Fuck" became the theme of the board shows me just how blindly these folks read my expression. Did I...Gain attention? No press is bad press.
Remember our mission statement:
"To bring motion and momentum to the student/human voice through the vehicle of the arts."
How I attain this motion and momentum should be least of your concern so long as I am successful in the cause...I believe I was. What I did was align and prep my canvass with beauty and hate and sweet caramel.
-T.J. Brady
What? Nothing about Jennifer Sarreal?
There has been a suggestion that we "Make the board a bit more "ARTISTIC?" "More thought provoking..."
I do believe that some did not look past the "FUCKS" to the wonderful and very real exchange of ideas that was going on--that is until members of one department took it upon themselves to "COVER UP" (GAG)(FUCKTAPE) the speech of others. THE PEN IS MIGHTIER AND FAR MORE COURAGEOUS THAN THE WALLPAPER.
The amendment and the board are not just about what you or me are wanting us all to think, but about what this great plurality of people thinks---from the loudest and most brash to the quiet and the meek. If we "COVER UP" and tear down that which we do not care for--if we make unilateral decisions to end the discussion, we are the Chamber of Commerce cleansing the building of protest signs against China. We are the gallery that removed student political speech from its walls (for artistically suggesting that Obama is a NAZI). We are the heirarchy that needed wood, fabric, curtain rods, and warning signs to protect us from what Luke termed--"the breasts that fed thee and the womb that nurtured thee.
Art is speech and is not intended to be neat---it is wild and oft provokes not the thought we want it to, but thought that has never crossed our minds. This is, in part its value--it makes our tiny, little worlds bigger.
Free Speech and Art are "brothrs of the same mother." She is a real good mom, the kind folks die for-- her name is LIBERTY. Let us honor her.
Dying for Free Speech is awesome. Dying for Liberty is righteous.
Dying for Profanity is stupid.
Dying for Pornography is putrid.
The bad word in "Fuck the Government" is "Government" -- or didn't anybody notice?
The definition of intent behind the Week of Fuck fell only on the choir's ears, and nobody outside the church could hear the clarion call to arm up and rebel, because everyone was in a fuss when Bacchus rang the crackered bell, and shouted as he posted up: "Fuck you all, I'll do what I like."
Of course, the above is poetically licensed into fiction to enhance the message, but the message is spot on: nobody changed their mind on the issue because the issue was not discussed, only shouted about. that can be fixed today when the new paper is put up, and a new beginning is done.
The problem is that many have died for what others have deemed to be the profane and/or the pornographic.
We would be hard pressed to find something that men won't kill each other over . . . killing is part of what we do and usually has no relation to the reasons given.
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