REPERTORY: SEASON 5
APPROPRIATE?
LV Dance Collectiveʼs 5th Home Season
Premiering in August 2nd-4th, 2018
Dance Mission Theater
“Liquid State” is a dance performance depicting the water crisis throughout the world as global
corporations continue to make record profits selling bottled water.
“Sales of the leading bottled still water brands in the United States in 2016 (in million U.S.
dollars): Private Label ($2,310.88), Dasani ($1,072.97) and Aquafina ($1,044.64).” - Statista
“For nearly two weeks, the Syrian capital and its vicinity have been afflicted by a water crisis
that has left taps dry, caused long lines at wells and forced people to stretch whatever thin
resources they can find.”- New York Times
These alarming sentiments have inspired LVDC's work, Liquid State; it depicted the
juxtaposition of these global issues.
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
CONTACT: Martha L. Z. Pamintuan
510-921-7600
APPROPRIATE?
LV Dance Collectiveʼs 5th Home Season
August 2nd-3rd, 2019 @ 8pm & August 4th, 2019 @ 2pm
SAN FRANCISCO, May 23, 2019 – In Valentino’s 2016 “Tribal Africa” fashion show, models predominantly white strutted down the runway wearing cornrows, Austrian model Nadine Leopold took to the catwalk wearing a Native American headdress designed by Victoria’s Secret, and Givenchy’s “Chola Victorian” production, was influenced from the “Chola” culture, who are women from the Mexican-American urban subculture. Cultural Appropriation is nothing new in the fashion world and media. However, in LV Dance Collective’s 5th Home Season Production titled: Appropriate?, we will challenge that question: “Is it appropriate or not?”
“Appropriate?” is an examination of Cultural Appropriation, which is a phrase used when an established culture adopts elements from another culture, usually a minority culture. Asking the questions: “Why is it so offensive?”, “Who indeed profits from it?”, “Can there be a proper occasion to appropriate?”, and “What are some imprecations that can emerge, specifically for the minority societies?”. LVDC will explore this controversial matter, by utilizing modern dance vocabulary and indigenous rooted movement. LVDC’s Artistic Directors, Kao Vey Sebastian Saephanh, an Asian man born in Thailand whose ethnicity is Mien (an indigenous tribe from China), and Martha L. Z. Pamintuan, who is half Salvadorian and half Nicaraguan, will pilot the audience with sensitivity and compassion of misappropriation through the lens of minorities.
Cultural Appropriation is certainly controversial; in most instances misappropriation happens when a fashionable culture appropriates for profit borrowing from disadvantaged minority societies. Such examples were stated above—Valentino borrowing from African culture, Victoria’s Secret taking from Native American society, and Givenchy appropriating Mexican-American urban subculture. The layers of judgement from communities will continue to manifest with different opinions and will be debated on. However, that is not our focus. The purpose of this work is to serve as a reminder of the importance of holding cultural heritage. When seeing “Appropriate?”, we hope the audience will recognize the value of cultural respect and sensitivity for traditions outside of their own.
WHEN: August 2nd-3rd, 2019 @ 8pm & August 4th, 2019 @ 2pm
WHERE: Dance Mission Theater, 3316 24th St, San Francisco, CA 94110
PRICE: $22 Advance, $25 at Door
TICKETS:https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/4255031
LV Dance Collective, winner of the 2014 sjDANCEco ChoreoProject Award for Best Choreography, is a Contemporary Dance Company based in San Francisco, CA. LVDC’s choreographic works have won many invitational opportunities and/or have been commissioned: Grace Cathedral, Boston Contemporary Dance Festival, Latinas Art Foundation, Yerba Buena Nights, SJDANCEco, ODC Pilot 63, Summer Performance Festival, and PUSHfest to name the least; and has been featured in The Boston Globe, SF Arts, East Bay Express, the online publication of Teacher Magazine, and Dance Magazine. Allan Ulrich, dance correspondent for the SF Chronicle, described LVDC’s work to be filled with “intelligence and intensity” and “strikes sparks”. For more of LVDC’s credits and bio please visit: www.lvdancecollective.com.
