On the Calendar, In my Heart <3
Naya Rivera, Brown Women Don't Die.
August 10, 2023, Video by Devin Muñoz
Seattle Festival of Dance Improvisation (SFDI)
Velocity Dance Center, 12th Avenue Arts
Seattle SFDI Innovator's Showcase
"Naya Rivera, Brown Women Don't Die." is an experimental, contemporary terpsichorean work processing the artist's relationship to the life and death of Glee star and queer icon Naya Rivera, who drowned in Lake Piru in July 2020. This piece is a grief ritual, a tapestry of love songs of jubilant, cautionary, triumphant, and haunting natures, as well as a spiritual call to action to question who we remember, how we remember them, and why. Interspersed in between the reconstituted, collaged lyrics of songs Naya Rivera performed on Glee, NEVE brings in original lyrics that tell a speculative fiction of Naya's final days and the days that followed, channeling and dancing devotional to deities Lasirenn, Yemanja, Mami Wata, Erzulie Freda, and LaBalenn. A tribute to Naya Rivera, to the naturalness of Black and Indigenous people breathing in nature, to escaping bondage at any cost.
Pink Slipped: How a Black, Queer, Disabled Writer Got Cut Out of Seeing Barbie
I am a regular contributor to the South Seattle Emerald in the realms of arts coverage, cultural analysis, opinion, fiction, and poetry. I attempted to see the Barbie movie to review it for the Emerald, but something else happened instead.
October 7, 2023
"As I roamed the neighborhood, I noticed beautiful and vibrant women and femmes, as I always do, but now, more of them were noticing me. We were all looking at each other in the sunshine, us femmes, admiring one another’s dresses, skirts, jewelry, makeup, pizzazz, panache, and shining eyes without a hint of competition. That tight-lipped smile, so common in Seattle that even those of us who find it unnatural have adopted it, deepened and curled into a toothy grin. I can’t remember the last time I received such knowing and appreciative looks from femme strangers when I wasn’t at a gay party. It was heartening and inspiring. I wondered, could this be because of Barbie? I couldn’t wait to see the film and write about it for the Emerald." - NEVE
Read the entire story here
Now part of the repertory of AXIS Dance Company!
My new work, "Flora hereafter: how flowers survive" is an alt waltz of the flowers, a contemporary hip hop punk Nubian ballet that shows the story of six very different flower creatures who find one another in the forest on a planet at the brink of extinction, and lift one another's survival up with each of their own.
Costumes: Rashad Pridgen, Jamielyn Duggan, NEVE
Music: NEVE, Erik Debono, Bonfire Madigan, Jen Wood, Tattle Tale
debuted in a triple bill October 22-23rd at Z Space, San Francisco with
"Roots Above Ground", Marc Brew, and "Hold Fast", Sonsherée Giles
photo of DeMarco, Yuko, and JanPi performing seated fouettés with a driving flair
by Doug Kaye and Marnie Walters
Next on the tour:
Frankfurt, Germany - November 2021
TanzFestival Rhein-Main | Nov 8 - 9
https://www.tanzfestivalrheinmain.de/en/calendar/roots-above-ground/Dubai, UAE - November 2021
Expo 2020 Dubai, USA 1 L Pavillion
www.expo2020dubai.com/enRowan University, New Jersey - February 2022
Marie Rader Presenting Series | Feb 19
www.rowan.eduNot Everyone is Made of Light Like You 2018
This was my final project for the 2018 Intiman Theatre Emerging Artists Program, directed by Sara Porkalob and Cessa Betancourt. So grateful for the indelible touch of both of these artists on my practices and works.
This is a creative work of nonfiction, magical, experimental musical dance theatre. Not all names have been changed. This is a survivor of kidnapping's story. Take care. It's very funny too, though. First song clip is "Born to Die" by Lana Del Rey. All other songs, choreography, words, and characters by me.
NEVE ™, Lover of Low Creatures, LLC™© 2023