Support Local Artists this Weekend: The Show Must Go On

photo credit – James Courtney.

My friend Ophelia Coeur De Noir, who is a burlesque dancer, and was probably more shell shocked than I was over this election, contacted me yesterday. She has a big show tonight at DNA and was hoping I could come out to support her. She said  “We are struggling right now. The election has everyone all shook up, which I understand, but the show must go on!”. Later in the day I spoke to a friend who had just returned from Poland and had visited Auschwitz. He told me about an exhibit he saw there on art that the concentration camp prisoners had produced, including a theater piece that subtly mocked the Nazis, and was performed with Goebbels in the audience. I was moved by how even in the face of certain death, people used art to strike back at their oppressors. This turned into several conversations over the course of the day on how the arts have served as a form of dissent and subversiveness, as well as a way to heal and create community in the most divisive and oppressive times.

As we approach the end of this shocking, mystifying week, consider getting out and supporting the local artists and performers who entertain us and make us think. You may find inspiration, dissent, or maybe just a laugh to help you move forward.

Here are a few suggestion to get you started:

Friday

– Hubba Hubba Review, DNA Lounge, 375 11th St 9:30pm DO YOU EVEN *BURLESQUE*, BRO?? Get ready, ‘cuz the world-famous Hubba Hubba Revue is about to BRO YOUR MIND! Join us as we bring our wildly popular BRO-show to the BIG stage for the very 1st time! Don’t miss this hilarious, full-scale, spoof of the world of Jager shots, tank tops & Axe Body Spray!

– Mortified, DNA Lounge, 375 11th St 7pm Get to DNA early and catch two shows! For over 10 years, Mortified has been the bay’s most outlandish, unique, and hilarious show! Witness adults sharing teen diaries, poems, letters, and more…in front of total strangers!

– San Francisco Transgendered Film Festival Roxie Theatre, 3117 16th St, Fri-Sun The world’s first and longest running transgender film festival, the SFTFF announces its 15th festival of international transgender film. From sexy shorts to inspiring animation, from gender-busting music videos to hard-hitting documentaries, SFTFF 2016 truly has something for EVERYONE!

– Mark Flood: Paintings from the War for Social Justice Ever Gold [Projects] 1275 Minnesota St. Reception 6-9pm Part prankster, part biting cultural commentator, Houston-based artist Mark Flood continually challenges the questionable values held dear by our society. Having begun his artistic career as a member of legendary San Francisco rock band Culturcide, Flood’s role in the punk scene now carries over to the art world. Critical of compromise, he uses his practice as a way to examine the oftentimes insane world of art — from grant-making agencies and bureaucratic museums to passionate collectors and prickly critics.

Saturday

– SF International Hip Hop DanceFest  Palace of Fine Arts Fri-Sun The 18th annual San Francisco International Hip Hop DanceFest (SFIHHDF), showcasing 11 electrifying hip hop dance companies from around the world. The first ever festival of its kind that honors the artistry of hip hop dance in a non-competitive environment.

– Shadow Dance Oakland Metro Opera House, 522 2nd St Oakland 7:30pm ShadowDance is a place where the shadows meet and come to play and entertain… A darkly intense, heart-pounding journey into the silhouette of night featuring some of the best performance artists, musicians and DJs from the Bay Area and around the world!

Sunday

– Dances Under the Crescent Moon Mission Cultural Center 2868 Mission St 3pm “Dances Under the Crescent Moon 3” — a special evening of Women’s Dance of the Orient The ANAR DANA SF Bay Area Project presents dances spanning three continents, in the culmination of a 14-month intensive training project with internationally-acclaimed dance ethnologist Helene Eriksen.

– San Francisco Symphony Youth Orchestra Davies Hall 201 Van Ness 2pm Christian Reif makes his debut as the Wattis Foundation Youth Orchestra Music Director and leads the ensemble in Shostakovich’s Sixth Symphony, Sibelius’ lyrical Violin Concerto, and more. Don’t miss these concerts, performed by more than one hundred of the Bay Area’s most talented young instrumentalists.

– Cobb & Boldt Poetry Performance Artist Television Access 992 Valencia 5pm Poetry reading and performance by Allison Cobb and Lindsey Boldt

– Dianna Brown and Friends Mariposa Studio, 2808 Mariposa 5pm Diana Brown in performance, solo & with Dan Wilson as “Bingewatch”, creating a fully improvised pilot of a show you’ve never seen but would watch the hell out of, with John LeFan in the classic Abbott & Costello routine “Who’s on First” Susan Jackson (Southern Railroad Theatre Co.) performs a monologue. John LeFan opens with original songs.