transfabulous arts festival
after friday's conference, i enjoyed catching some of the weekend transfabulous arts festival programme
i missed last years' festival, and was determined to catch this years... tho as the weekend drew closer i was aware that i would need to realistically limit how much of it i went to, and decide on a day to day basis whether i would go at all.
as it panned out i managed my realistic projection of catching the evening performances both days *smile*
'saturday night at transfabulous' focussed on the spoken-word. first up were the transmen's voice project ftm spoken-word choir, conducted by john tucker, who delighted us with their own take/twist on a few fairly well known pieces. ignacio rivera rather spontaneously performed a 10 min piece, introducing us to 3 characters/short extracts from their show. i really enjoyed how they embodied each character, defining them superbly with the use of only minimal props. and i enjoyed their enjoyment of their performance/performing *smile* the latter half of the evening was given over to kate bornstein who read from a number of their writings, and had me totally sapiosexually crushing on them[0] - the imagery within their wordsmithery got me, the way some words/ideas were placed after/alongside the other, and i found much of it tangible[1]. i've read some of their work in the past, but i'd not heard them speak/perform it before this weeked - they spoke at the opening and closing of the 'trans with pride' confrence on the friday, which gave me some sense of how they present/use words in spoken performance, and had my tired self motivated to make it back down on the saturday evening. very much a 'queer and pleasant danger' *winky smile* i left really energised *grin*
on sunday night parallelgirl joined me for 'the genderqueer playhouse'. such a varied offering - a collection of diverse pieces and performers, beautifully held together by josephine wilson's cuntinuity continuity announcements (and presence). all of it/them was/were fabulous *grin* tho three of them particularly got me: josephines monologue touched me/my teenage self, and made me cry suddenly, surprisingly and strongly. jason's story and celebration of his moobs made me laugh a lot, and reminded me of how much i've enjoyed the fairly recent defining/exposing of the 'moob', in its ability to reassure me of the variety of gendered body types. and thomas was lovely to listen to - exploring his changed voice, and reminding me of how i look forward to attempting to sing when/assuming my voice deepens[2]. and then the weekend was suddenly and so soon over *sigh* and parallelgirl and i were needing to away swiftly, for they had further journeying ahead of them once back at mine.
the event was so much more than the sum of its parts[3] - the whole event having a most beautiful open friendliness, a real sense of community, and such a buzz/energy *grin* information, activism and art... and their intersections. and so many good incidental conversations and contacts, including (but not solely comprising) charlottecooper and their K and S, and foibey *smile*[4]
[0] that and they were the most charming of flirts *blush* *grin* i enjoyed their presence, performance, and conversation on many levels *smile*
[1] yay! what my brain does with sight and sound and other senses *smile*
[2] having always struggled with being comfortable in the voice that has been mine to date.
[3] yay synergy!
[4] and one encounter which slightly unsettled my sunday, with a past girlfriend whom i'd not seen for at least 5 years (yes, we'd parted with the explicit intention of not keeping in touch)
i missed last years' festival, and was determined to catch this years... tho as the weekend drew closer i was aware that i would need to realistically limit how much of it i went to, and decide on a day to day basis whether i would go at all.
as it panned out i managed my realistic projection of catching the evening performances both days *smile*
'saturday night at transfabulous' focussed on the spoken-word. first up were the transmen's voice project ftm spoken-word choir, conducted by john tucker, who delighted us with their own take/twist on a few fairly well known pieces. ignacio rivera rather spontaneously performed a 10 min piece, introducing us to 3 characters/short extracts from their show. i really enjoyed how they embodied each character, defining them superbly with the use of only minimal props. and i enjoyed their enjoyment of their performance/performing *smile* the latter half of the evening was given over to kate bornstein who read from a number of their writings, and had me totally sapiosexually crushing on them[0] - the imagery within their wordsmithery got me, the way some words/ideas were placed after/alongside the other, and i found much of it tangible[1]. i've read some of their work in the past, but i'd not heard them speak/perform it before this weeked - they spoke at the opening and closing of the 'trans with pride' confrence on the friday, which gave me some sense of how they present/use words in spoken performance, and had my tired self motivated to make it back down on the saturday evening. very much a 'queer and pleasant danger' *winky smile* i left really energised *grin*
on sunday night parallelgirl joined me for 'the genderqueer playhouse'. such a varied offering - a collection of diverse pieces and performers, beautifully held together by josephine wilson's cuntinuity continuity announcements (and presence). all of it/them was/were fabulous *grin* tho three of them particularly got me: josephines monologue touched me/my teenage self, and made me cry suddenly, surprisingly and strongly. jason's story and celebration of his moobs made me laugh a lot, and reminded me of how much i've enjoyed the fairly recent defining/exposing of the 'moob', in its ability to reassure me of the variety of gendered body types. and thomas was lovely to listen to - exploring his changed voice, and reminding me of how i look forward to attempting to sing when/assuming my voice deepens[2]. and then the weekend was suddenly and so soon over *sigh* and parallelgirl and i were needing to away swiftly, for they had further journeying ahead of them once back at mine.
the event was so much more than the sum of its parts[3] - the whole event having a most beautiful open friendliness, a real sense of community, and such a buzz/energy *grin* information, activism and art... and their intersections. and so many good incidental conversations and contacts, including (but not solely comprising) charlottecooper and their K and S, and foibey *smile*[4]
[0] that and they were the most charming of flirts *blush* *grin* i enjoyed their presence, performance, and conversation on many levels *smile*
[1] yay! what my brain does with sight and sound and other senses *smile*
[2] having always struggled with being comfortable in the voice that has been mine to date.
[3] yay synergy!
[4] and one encounter which slightly unsettled my sunday, with a past girlfriend whom i'd not seen for at least 5 years (yes, we'd parted with the explicit intention of not keeping in touch)