Ask me about my SECRET!

the dada cabaret
(NON) TRADITIONAL CABARET – 8:00PM
on the UC Davis Campus
Bum, bum, listen to the drum
Bring your picnics, blankets and start to hum
As you walk down Hutchison –
past music, art & theatre,
In front of Mrak you will be able to see, hear and feel her.

Tomorrow belongs to DADA!

Gosh, we've come so far and there's plenty to do before the big event tomorrow. I am super excited about the possibilities around this event and that's what keeping me going. Well, that and lots of caffeine.

Yesterday we rehearsed the Hugo Ball Does a Dance piece and were visited by the lovely people at The Davis Enterprise. We finally moved that dance out of the studio and into the world and I must say it felt GREAT. Getting to feel my feet on the grass doing the movement, as well as trying on the pebbled concrete on for size. The concrete is definitely not my favorite, but the balls roll more and they take a life of their own.

I also moved a piano yesterday with a good bit of help from some guys from TCS and then I met with most of the cabaret artists in the SECRET location to go over how this crazy cabaret will go. Since most of the performers have not worked together we are all a little anxious, but know the spirit of Dada will guide us through.

For those attending the daytime event tomorrow, just know it's gonna be HOT. Wear plenty of sunscreen and drink lots of water. And be prepared to get your hands dirty for DADA!

help, I just realized that the anti-spectacle is indeed a spectacle

Yes it's true. My DADA needs a MAMA, but not in a heteronormative way, or even in a way that supports the idea of binary gender. My DADA also needs a ZAZA and a MEEMEE, a QUSO and a WEBFART.

What am I trying not to say?
Help, I just realized that the anti-spectacle is indeed a spectacle.

Most specifically I just realized that I am being interpellated by cultural studies texts that challenge the hegemonic culture making machinery. What does that mean? I mean that just when I think I'm resisting, or conspiring an "alternative", I realize that the university, the books produced in academia, and the language that we speak to critique hegemony, spectacle, and ideology are all spectacular distractions shouting, "Hey you, look over here!" Just when we get an embodied awareness of the matrix, we get seduced back into the fold, the plié, the crease, the contraction.

Cultural studies texts induce an internalized and masochistic prison industrial complex, including panopticonic surveillance structures, inescapable tortures, punishments, and incarcerations. The room has no windows. Only a ceiling open to an infinite sun, camera, eye. 24/7 people, I'm talking 24/7.

And I'm an artist. A performance artist past the edge of a nervous break (dance). No one understands me. Which is predetermined. We/they want it that way. And I am only now understanding how deeply embedded this failure is. But embedded does not equal embodied. The msm journalist in Iraq is disembodied, cut off from the socio-political body, in a way that should seem familiar to contemporary artists.

So I'm approaching DADA in Davis with some trepidation, some concern about my nostalgic formulations. Isn't nostalgia a further embedding of the ideology that is cyborg-izing what remains of the living tissue that was my bodymind. Ouch, why doesn't cyborg-izing hurt? Why isn't the surgery of interpellation leaving visible scars at the corporeal points of entry or exchange. And how are these points of contact, penetration, and embeddment, anything but the primary material of my dancing, where dancing is the live moment presence of the dance, the making of the dance, the embodiment of the dance?

So I refuse to dance DADA. I will speak to the dead object that is alive with fetishistic vibrancy. I will share my concerns with whoever can hear me. I know that the ear has not kept up with the eye, i.e., the ear listens from a more archaic paradigm than the eye, cyborgized at a faster rate by visual technologies and the languages that support them. So that means I will also sing, sound, moan, whisper, grate, shift, burp, scratch, vibrate and resonate.

Saturday. Davis. 90 degrees in the shade. I'll see you there wearing shades, dishing shade.

Keith X Hennessy

T-minus 10 days and counting...

Yesterday, I had a meeting with Tom Munn, the lighting faculty member in the Department of Theatre and Dance to talk lighting for the evening cabaret. I don't think he would admit it, but I saw him getting pretty excited. When we walked into the secret location, his mind was cranking. I saw him walk the space like a private investigator. Making sure there were plenty of outlets and how the placement of the stage could affect the placement of the lighting instruments. He sees lots of red rope lights and a simple lighting plot that can be used for the entire evening without change. Simple.

Praba Pilar my partner in crime for the evening portion will be guiding the scenic elements. I am thinking swarths of rich fabric to really warm up this cool space. We also talked yesterday about using the 2 foot risers from the department of Theatre and Dance to create a small stage area. Since the audience is on one level and the ground is not level in all areas, I want to make sure everyone can see.

Thank god I have a team of Alpha Phi Omega volunteers to help that morning. One of my DRA 10 students, Maverick Bohn, is on the task of finding DADA images and quotes to put on the volunteer hats. I will check in with my ladies from the Prytanean Society today to see how their presentation went yesterday. It would be great to have more hands on deck.

Now, the chick from the Cal Aggie Band-uh just needs to call me back...

Updating the world

Many thanks to Chad Sniffen who drafted the latest press release and is sending it out to the world. We decided to keep the detail on the website so I am hoping to get some inquiries from those newspaper types soon.

I sent a bunch of updates for the website to Kathryn Ricoli a few days ago, and in my excitement I keep checking to see if they are up. They aren't. But I did hear from her last night and she should be working on them today.

I am also making a little progress with the artistic events. We are performing a bit (if not all) of Brian Griffin's The Zurich Plays. I just need to cast it - and offer extra credit to my DRA 10 students -- to do a scene or 2.

Makin' the Map

Just came from a meeting with Jessica Bender who is designing the map. We met over some tea and with her inspirations from some Dada graphic design, she will be creating the event map and listing of events.

We had a spirited conversation and it looks like she will incorporate the bowler hat image that we will be using with our volunteers. We both got super excited as we continued to brainstorm and throw out ideas.

We also discussed the "Do It Yourself" Dada tables that will be at each of the 4 afternoon venues. I talked with Sarah Kendrick and Jamie Kumpf on Friday about having a painting station, but after further consideration that has "messy disaster" written all over it. Jessica and I decided on doing Hannah Hoch inspired photomontages instead. And that's great because my good friend Angela Mitchell will be coming in from Atlanta and exhibiting her modern take on a photomontage using images of women in the Iraq war.

I am also working on a big overhaul of the website. I sent new information to Kathryn Ricoli this morning and the super generous Chad Sniffen wrote a draft of the press release. I just made some changes and sent to a group of proofreaders before we send it out into the universe.

Gosh, this event is actually going to happen! How exciting is that?

The Countdown Continues

Gosh, there's so much to do. It's a little overwhelming. However, today I met with Christina and Kirti, the service leaders from the Prytanean Women's Honor Society on campus. The meeting was mostly with Christina and Kirti joined us between meetings. I explained the festival in detail and talked about volunteer opportunities for the membership. Actually, I thought the meeting to the membership was yesterday, but after no one showed up I rode my bike home and looked at the correct date in my email. 

Anyway, as I spoke about tasks of posting flyers, setting up the cabaret and the afternoon walking tour, I saw Christina's mind go. She got so incredibly excited and thought of numerous ways for the entire group to get involved. While we met I call from Vanessa at Davis Commons who passed on the number of her contact with the CalAggie Band-Uh. They apparently are having a fundraiser on May 16th and want to use Davis Commons together. With my love of marching bands, I am super excited.

I am optimistic that we will have plenty of help. Just as I am optimistic that the city will be overrun with Dada art and performance.

We are on our way!