Past Event

OUTSIGHT Featuring LEIMAY Fellows and Guest Artists at Dorothy Strelsin Memorial Community Garden

OUTSIGHT is a performance series presented by LEIMAY in partnership with the New York Restoration Project. It features public performances by international and local artists working within areas of dance, theater, performance art and butoh curated by LEIMAY Artistic Directors Ximena Garnica and Shige Moriya and set within one of NYRP’s community gardens. 

 

CIS BOOM BLAH 

Performers: Taylor Jones & Sophie Ortiz, Choreographed by: Taylor Jones & Sophie Ortiz, Music: Atari Teenage Riot by Atari Teenage Riot, Venus as a Boy Cheer Mix by Emerson Borokov, Cheer written and spoken by WILL CHEER 4 BEER, Gun Mix by Emerson Borokov, Iraq Says & Nine Rubber Wisdom by Boards of Canada. 

Cis Boom Blah is an electrifying, fifteen-minute performance piece by the cheerleading duo WillCheer4Beer. This piece highlights the quintessentially American entertainment form known for showcasing extreme stunts, eccentric performances, and embedded USA messaging. Taylor Jones and Sophie Ortiz display their skills in a self-aware, kitschy pep rally that includes a gender study to Björk’s “Venus as a Boy” cheerleading mix, a military-styled drill routine, and a girlish dance sequence portraying warfare. The performance takes the audience on a journey referencing the genealogy of cheerleading and the jaw-dropping aesthetics often seen in convention centers across the country.  

WillCheer4Beer is Sophie Ortiz and Taylor Jones, who met through a New York City queer non-profit adult charitable cheerleading organization. As ‘main’ and ‘side’ bases, they’ve performed in queer nightlife, honing skills in tumbling, stunting, dance, parkour, and virtual design. With infectious glee and iconic wit, they’ve built a community, exploring cheer’s ties to drag, performance art, dance, martial arts, gymnastics, and sex work. Their collaborative, DIY performances offer an ethnographic view of cheerleading, challenging media stereotypes, gender perceptions, national identity, and the sport’s kinesthetics. 

 

What is home for a wanderlust? 

Performer: Elya Osmanova, Original Music: Stelios Mihas 

Wanderlust is an endless exploration of the idea of home , as an immigrant artist. This concept is very wide. For a lot of us that has lived and grown up in different places, the feeling of belonging becomes vague and hard to grasp. What is home? What’s belonging?! Do we belong to the language that we speak or the language that we think?! While exploring all of these concepts, Wanderlust gives the space to the audience to be part of process of exploration and sharing as a community, as part of her ongoing project. 

Elya Osmanova is an Azerbaijani dancer, actor and a writer based in New York. She is a versatile artist, who has a background in Latin dance, Afro Cuban dance, House, Contemporary and Physical Theatre. Elya’s first narrative film acting debut ‘My Heart Is My Only Country’ directed by Iva Gocheva, was screened as part of Rooftop Film Series in Central Park as well in New Orleans Film Festival, summer of 2022. As a dancer & an actor she has worked with artists such as Tim Young, Sun Kim, Iva Gocheva, Najla Gilliam, J9 Dance, Elsa Nilsson, Deepak Chopra, and many others. She has taught & performed in countries such as USA, Azerbaijan, Turkey & Ecuador. Elya is a traveling artist who is passionate about building a community in all parts of the world while using her art. 

 

Impossible Crush: It’s Elf Itself 

Performers: Zack Fuller: Guitar, voice, dance, and lyrics, Kira Flores: Keyboard and voice 

Impossible Crush is an art punk band playing original songs written by experimental dancer/choreographer Zack Fuller, in collaboration with self-taught keyboard player and singer Kira Flores. Their songs describe the experiences of elves, fairies, and other elemental beings, as metaphors for queer experience. Their performances incorporate dance, spoken word and visual display, influenced by and hearkening back to the proto punk experiences of the 60’s and 70’s.  

Zack Fuller is a DIY dancer/choreographer and self-taught musician. From 1985-1986 he was the lead singer for the Washington DC post-punk psychedelic metal band Scythian, sharing stages with groups such as Bad Brains, Black Market Baby, and Pussy Galore. He has performed in many dances under the direction of Min Tanaka, including Poe Project in 1997. He co-headlined the 2019 Boston Butoh Festival with Yuko Kaseki, and his dances have been presented at Leimay/CAVE, Movement Research at Judson Church, Plan B in Tokyo, Mobius in Boston, The Dance Hakushu Festival, The New England Conservatory of Music, and elsewhere.