Valentine's and Get Tough, Get BAAD in February

BAAD! - THE BRONX ACADEMY OF ARTS & DANCE PRESENTS
GET TOUGH, GET BAAD!
A FREE SERIES WHICH INCLUDES A DANCE AGAINST VIOLENCE, COMMUNITY DISCUSSIONS, AND A FILM SERIES CELEBRATING QUEER POWER, DIVERSITY, VISIBILITY AND DEFIANCE

February 14-17, 2013

 

(Bronx, NY) - BAAD! - The Bronx Academy of Art & Dance presents a V-Day dance, community discussions, and a series of films celebrating queer power, diversity, defiance and visibility in its GET TOUGH, GET BAAD! series.  GET TOUGH, GET BAAD! was originally initiated in 2010 to combat reports of criminal homophobic attacks in the Bronx and New York City and to counter the negative and victimized images of queer people in the media and to take a stand against violence. The series presents films and events that celebrated queer strength and value. The next installment of the series will run from February 14-17, 2013 at BAAD!, 841 Barretto Street in the Hunts Point section of the South Bronx.  All events are free. For reservations, directions and further information call (718) 842-5223 or visit www.BronxAcademyofArtsandDance.org.

 

The events are as follows:

Thursday, February 14, 2013 at 7pm/FREE

RISE UP AND DANCE: V-DAY ONE BILLION RISING

BAAD! joins up with One Billion Rising, a global event where ONE BILLION women, transwomen and those who love them will WALK OUT, DANCE, RISE UP, and DEMAND an end to this violence. BAAD! is  hosting a community "love-in" and dance which begins at 7pm with a potluck dinner, followed by an open speak out against violence, a presentation of Eve Enlser's new monologue, "Rising" (read by award-winning Bronx writer and actress Desi Moreno-Penson), then the music will be turned up and everyone will dance. One in three women on the planet is raped or beaten in her lifetime, according to the UN and violence against transwomen has risen year after year according the National Coalition of Anti-Violence Pograms. That is ONE BILLION WOMEN violated. On February 14, 2013, V-Day's 15th Anniversary, ONE BILLION women, transwomen and those who love them around the world will rise up!

 

Friday, February 15, 2013 at 8pm/FREE

LEAVE IT ON THE FLOOR

When Brad, a black gay youth, is thrown out of his home, he discovers the Los Angles ball scene and gets involved with the ragtag members of the struggling House of Eminence led by the indomitable house mother Queef Latina, herself an aging ball-legend. Laughter, tears, sex sirens, and butch queens up in pumps ensue.  Directed by Sheldon Larry.

 

Saturday, February 16, 2013 - 5:30pm-7:30pm/Free

MEN LOVING MEN: WHAT DO YOU WANT? WHAT DO I WANT?

Dr. Alfredo Burnett (social worker) will lead this interactive workshop for gay and transpeople to explore a foundation to having successful relationships. This frank and open discussion brings awareness to how we communicate our wants/needs in romantic relationships, friendships, and to the people in our lives. Some struggle with asking another, especially those we feel close to, for what we want and we equally have difficulty hearing and responding to what the others want from us. Light refreshments will be served.

Saturday, February 16, 2013 at 8pm/Free

ELLIOT LOVES and CRUSH

CRUSH, an award-winning short film written by Bronxite Dominic Colon, is about a young gay Bronx man finding the courage to come out to his high school crush at the senior prom. Directed by Gloria LaMorte. ELLIOT LOVES spans two stages of a Dominican-American's life; first as a boy trying to bond with his young mother, then a 21-year-old gay man looking for love in New York City.  Funny, sexy and poignant this film shows that one can survive anything life throws -- just "keep it cute, papi." Directed by Terracino.

 

Sunday, February 17, 2013 - 5:30pm-7:30pm/Free

WOMEN LOVING WOMEN: SPIRITUALITY AND HEALTHY RELATIONSHIPS

Eva Yaa Asantewaa is a native New Yorker of African-Caribbean lineage and a spiritworker, maintaining a private practice that includes sacred symbolism, meditation coaching, dreamwork, and other healing and transformative modalities. She brings her experience to this interactive talk for queer women and transpeople to have healthier relationships and the role of spirituality in living powerful lives.

 

Sunday, February 17, 2013 – 8pm/Free

MOMMY IS COMING

Pioneer filmmaker Cheryl Dunye returns with a sassy, raunchy, romantic sex comedy set in the edgy underground of Berlin where love and taboo affairs collide! Cute power femme Dylan (Lil Harlow) and studly hotel clerk Claudia (the sexy Papi Coxxx, Crash Pad Series [aka Ignacio Rivera]) are suffering from monogamous relationship blues. Claudia sets out on a gender-bending rollercoaster now as Claude through a subversive Berlin sex club but everything comes to a climax when Dylan’s mother (world-renown sex educator Maggie Tapert) arrives in town hellbent on releasing some tension. Fun, provocative and interwoven with personal interviews, Mommy Is Coming is filled with sheer delight.

Crowned “a funky and welcoming performance space” by The New York Times, BAAD! is a performance and workshop space that presents cutting-edge and challenging works in dance and all creative disciplines that are empowering to women, people of color and the LGBT (lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender) community. BAAD! is home to Arthur Aviles Typical Theatre (AATT) and the Bronx Dance Coalition. 

 

BAAD!/AATT receive support from The NYC Department of Cultural Affairs, The Lambent Fund of the Tides Foundation, Union Square Arts Grant, The Simon Bolivar Foundation, The Mertz Gilmore Foundation, The New York State Council on the Arts, Councilmember Maria del Carmen Arroyo, JPMorgan Chase, Bloomberg Philanthropies, and private donations.