2024 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative

2024 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative

2024 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative

ODC is proud to announce the 2024 cohort of its Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative. The program aims to ignite constructive momentum in movement practices and careers amongst emerging and established artists in the San Francisco Bay Area. The residency, now in its third year, will support five dance artists/companies from a wide spectrum of cultural backgrounds each with a 30-hour space residency in one of ODC’s studios. These five artists are: Alex Locust, Audrey Johnson, Edie Eve, Héctor Jaime, and Kim Requesto. 

This residency does not require any final product or performance and can be utilized to invest in old practices/develop new routines, create new work, or simply have dedicated space in which to move. Three Guest Curators helped develop, then reviewed applications and curated the cohort of selected artists. ODC is grateful to everyone who applied and welcomes our community to get to know and celebrate this cohort of Space Residency Artists. 

Selected Artists

  • Alex Locust “Glamputee”

    Alex (“Glamputee”) is a drag artist whose work is a love letter to their expansive queerness, Black excellence, and crip magic. They point to disability justice artists and activists as their North Star, celebrating the truth that embodiment looks good on every body and collective access is essential to queer liberation. Alex hopes to serve as a possibility model for other disabled, queer babes wanting to get on stage and share their shine. IG: https://www.instagram.com/glamputee

    photo provided courtesy of artist

  • Audrey Johnson

    Audrey Johnson is a dance artist and plant worker with roots from Detroit, Michigan/Anishinaabe land, currently based in Oakland, CA/Ohlone land. Audrey’s performance, choreographic, and teaching work experiments with improvisation and embodied time travel, in refusal of colonized time and space. 

    Audrey has shared choreographic work in the San Francisco Bay Area and Detroit, MI, and has danced as a collaborator in the companies/projects of artists Gerald Casel (SF), Jennifer Harge (Detroit), Biba Bell (Detroit), Detour Dance (SF), Stephanie Hewett (Oakland), among others. As an educator, she has taught dance as embodied practice at community spaces, dance centers, and youth programs, and is a current faculty member with the LINES BFA Program through Dominican University. Audrey holds a BFA in Dance with honors from Wayne State University, and was a co-founder of Collective Sweat Detroit, an organization holding spaces for dance and dance artists in Detroit founded in 2017. IG:  https://www.instagram.com/the.aud.tm

    photo by Chani Bockwinkel

  • Edie Eve

    Edie Eve (she/they) is a San Francisco based Published Model, Burlesque, Cabaret and Drag Performer. Originally from San Diego, Edie dived into the world of nightlife entertainment 14 years ago when she moved to the Bay Area. Tired of not seeing models and performers that looked like her, Edie Eve is one badass and proud Mexican and Yaqui Indigenous Femme who loves to show the beauty of their culture and background with each performance and photoshoot. She has modeled for several major brands most notably Dark Garden Corsetry and graced the pages and covers of numerous magazines including Bombshell Magazine and Car Kulture Deluxe. She was recently featured in Shannon Brooke's new book, "Instant Idoll." 

    She has performed for over a decade with the Bay Area being her home base. Some of her most notable performances include gracing the Delores Stage at Outside Lands in 2024 and opening for Two Short at a fundraiser at the Hibernia. IG:  https://www.instagram.com/edieeve

    photo provided courtesy of artist

  • Héctor Jaime

    Héctor Jaime (They/She/He) is a shaman of movement and dance artist born and raised in Mexicali, Baja California, México. Upon graduating from the Alonzo King’s Lines Ballet BFA Program in 2021 Héctor has integrated himself into the Bay Area art field. Héctor uses a mixture of different media as inspirations that comes from Mexican history, pictography, sculptures, folklore, music, and poetry to mutate movement into choreographic compositions. These  elements have led them with interest to persist in the creation of dance pieces that can reflect his Mexican culture and how it influences his artistic work. The enhancement of art as a way of healing plays an important key factor on Héctor’s vision on dance composition. Having had the opportunity to learn about Mexican culture's divine supernatural point of view has impacted his approach to dance.  IG: https://www.instagram.com/hector.jaime09 AND https://www.instagram.com/Xochipilli_dance_company 

    photo provided courtesy of artist

  • Kim Requesto

    Kim Requesto is a Philippine born, Mission District raised Cultural Worker and Interdisciplinary Artist based in unceded Ramaytush Ohlone Territory also recognized as San Francisco, California. With an artistic foundation in Philippine folk dance, Requesto has dedicated herself to cultural expression and advocacy through movement, photography, and community outreach. Requesto has been part of the Philippine Folk Dance community since 2005 and is currently with Parangal Dance as part of their Artistic Team and has been conducting field research since 2015.
     
    Requesto, a two time recipient of the San Francisco Artist Grant is the producing artist behind Pangalay Circle, a workshop series focused on providing accessible resources and creating in-person dance circles with hopes of connecting community members with seasoned practitioners who specialize in Pangalay dances and other related forms. To learn more please visit her website www.kimrequesto.com! IG: https://www.instagram.com/kimrequesto 

    photo provided courtesy of artist

Guest Curators

  • Andrea Rodriguez

     

    Born and raised in the San Francisco Mission District's culturally rich Latinx neighborhood, Andrea Rodriguez is a Xicana-Mexican-American multidisciplinary artist. She is a dancer, choreographer, actress, producer and filmmaker. She holds a BA in World Arts and Cultures/Dance from the University of California, Los Angeles and MFA in Interactive Media from the University of Southern California. Rodriguez performed professionally in the Viva Navidad Parade at Disney California Adventure. She is a Game Producer for the Zumba Fitness Video Games, which sold over 9 million units. She starred as Consuelo, the grandmother, in the “On Your Feet” musical. Rodriguez is a recipient of the San Francisco Arts Commission, Artist grant (2020. 2023). She premiered at Brava Theater an excerpt of her latest production, “La Rumba No Para," a salsa love story about growing up in San Francisco, La Misión, which explores the themes of love, loss, and addiction. Her mission is to create compelling narratives for theater, film, games, and virtual reality with the goal of inspiring diverse audiences to get up off their feet.

  • Jessie Flores

     

    Jessie Flores (Also known as Jessie PegASis) is a Queer Black LatinX burlesque performer and dancer in San Francisco. He grew up as a performer from his time in color guard and winter guard to his time performing with SF's Gay All Male Review, known as Baloney. When he's not out go-go dancing or performing with Baloney, you can catch him accommodating as a backup dancer for prominent drag queens within the Bay and on a national level. Outside of performing as a dancer, he's also a cast member of the hit Real Housewives Variety show at Oasis called Hunks & Housewives. Not quite a triple threat (because his vocal abilities lack direly), but Jessie is a dynamic dancer and actor who brings a bit of flair and camp into all of his performances. 

  • VERA!

     

    VERA!/Vera Hannush (they/them) is a queer Armenian American drag king, dancer, and community activist. VERA! is a member and host of the Rebel Kings of Oakland, a member of SWANA Kings (South West Asian North African drag king collective), board member of Oaklash, the Bay Area Drag Festival, and Creative Director and Performer Liaison of Drag Story Hour - Bay Area. They are the father of the House of Pack (with 28 children and a dozen grandchildren) and Mx. Starsearch 2022 and Counterpulse Performing Diaspora Resident 2022. They have taught and performed dance at the Downtown Berkeley YMCA, Shawl Anderson Dance Center, SF Playground SoloFest, and Counterpulse. By day, they serve as the Associate Director of Development at Alameda Health System Foundation (supporting the safety net health system for Alameda County) and as Ambassador for the Hayward Chamber of Commerce.

Interested in hearing more about our past year’s Artist Cohort? Check them out here.

Questions about the program? Email: spaceresidency@odc.dance