The Body Political
June 27, 2019
The Body Political
African American Art and Culture Complex, Doors at 7pm, Show at 8pm
The Body Political
Tickets: $15- $35 sliding scale TIX, NOTA
thebodypolitical.com/attend
MULTIDISCIPLINARY
The Body Political is cabaret show confronting social myths about the body through personal stories of resistance and reclamation. Through burlesque, drag, poetry, dance, and performance art, performers explore the complexity of their intersectional identities and how their bodies are perceived.
Topics explored include racism and racial stereotypes, blackness, queerness, gender expectations, trans-visibility and invisibility, ability/disability, ageism, mental health, and fat phobia and fat acceptance.
This show is a space of resistance. We honor the diverse voices of our community, hearing stories of struggle, rage, acceptance and self-love. By telling these stories, our courageous storytellers disrupt the narratives told about their bodies and reclaim space to be seen on their own terms.
Now in its fourth year, the show has been praised by audiences as “hands-down the best and
most resonant burlesque show I have ever seen” and “one of the most inspiring, powerful, and
meaningful nights of my life.”
| BIOGRAPHIES | |
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Magnoliah Black is a Queer writer, performance artist, art model, witch and eater of food in public. Magnoliah has danced on stages throughout the country with the award winning and internationally traveled troupe Rubenesque Burlesque. As a solo performer her work continues to reflect body positivity, fat liberation and self possession. Magnoliah was celebrity model for the first annual Queer Fashion Week in 2015 & 2016, Curvy Girl Lingerie and has been photoed for Curve magazine in Bertha Pearl’s Size Queen Fashions. She is a contributing co-founder of the A Sovereign Embodiment Healing Collective. Magnoliah has facilitated and spoken at events such as Baycon, NOLOSE, Fatty Affair, Pantheacon, Mystic South and The Northwest Pagan Conference. She has spoken at several universities including Berkeley, Stanford and San Jose State regarding intersectionality, sex, fat, feminism and health and she has sat on panels about disability. Her most recent published work can be found in “The Politics of Size” co-authored with Juana Tango and edited by Ragen Chastian and her journey documented in interviews in Nia King’s “Queer and Trans Artist of Color”. https://mammyisdead.com/ |
| Alexander the Great Alexander the Great is an international, award-winning aerialist, acrobat and Boylesque dancer based in Austin, Texas. He is a producer for the Boiz of Austin performance troupe, an instructor at the Austin Academy of Burlesque, and a member of the world famous Jigglewatts Burlesque Revue. He has performed all over the US, the UK, and Europe. |
 Photo Credit: Necro Blanca Photography |
 Photo Credit: Rodel Querubin |
ALLurrr’em VelvIT
A founding member of Melanated Ménagerie, which is the Twin Cities first all Black Burlesque Troupe that’s main focus is the showcase talented POC performers. She’s a Minneapolis native born and bred by the Northside. Though the city is commonly referred to as the Mini-Apple, there’s nothing mini about her apple! Like an ethereal being that will bring you to an higher level than any drug while engulfing you in feelings Of Sensuality. Of Love. Of Beauty. Of Soul! Like the rarest strain out there, she’ll uplift you like a fine Sativa. This PolyGlamorous Goddess is as smooth as her name implies. |
| Joanna Animal
Joanna Animal is a half-Filipino burlesque performer, aerialist, jazz dancer and photographer/model in the beautiful San Francisco Bay Area. She is an award-winning, published costumer of over 15 years and is known in the local burlesque scene for her highly opulent and often transformative costumes and primal, sensual style. She is an active member of Someday Sweethearts, a local women’s vintage-style chorus line, and spends most of her free time hanging from the ceiling on a hoop. She strives to create art that breaks molds, challenges her body and mind and shatters the narrow, traditional, patriarchy-prescribed box women have historically existed in. https://www.facebook.com/joannaanimal/ |
 Photo Credit: Errol Skynn/Joanna Animal |
 Knight L Slatter R Photo Credit: Brian Coffman |
Katori Knight & Slatter Penney Katori Knight is a seductively silly Bay Area director, choreographer, performer, speaker, and activist who grew up running a commercial haunted house. Often using the vehicles of sexuality and humor, their work focuses on social issues in the mediums of burlesque, drag, clowning, tactical frivolity, and immersive experience design. Drawing from their past as a psychology researcher, Katori often includes psychological, immersive and interactive elements in their work. Currently, they are working on their first full-length immersive theater piece. Katori’s goal in life and art (is there a difference?) is to increase interpersonal and inter-group connection and compassion. https://sites.google.com/view/katoriknight/performance-artSlater Penney is an MFA candidate at UC Davis in the Dramatic Arts program. He specializes in physical theatre, specifically the intersection of clown, dance, mime, sculpture, and puppetry. His point of interest is in creating endearing characters onstage with minimal vocal cues that then do horrible things to one another. Slater spent the majority of his career in the San Francisco Bay Area, teaching and performing in ensemble physical theatre. He has won several awards for his performed movement research, including an Emmy award for his work with TechTv on their virtual character stage and several Fringe Festival awards for his collaborations. Slater has appeared on TEDx in Le Projet Migration, in Edinburgh with The Submarine Show, at the Topaz museum with Lunatique Fantastique’s E.O. 9066, and in the Bali Arts Festival with the One People Voice Company. He teaches at Berkeley Rep’s School of Theatre and the Athletic Playground, and continues to create interactive and accessible theatre projects using found objects. |
 Photo Credit: Maria Gonzalez-Blue |
Llano River Blue The through line in Llano River Blue’s art has always been storytelling, whether it’s in her songwriting, drag performance, or videos. Llano has used these arts to explore and express her identity and now is taking those sensibilities and applying them to a more personal narrative. Find LlanoRiverBlue on YouTube and Instagram to see a fuller spectrum of her expression. https://www.patreon.com/Llano |
| Max Madame Oaklands Pussy Stunt Artist and Mad Dame of Sideshow, Max Madame gets off on entertaining the masses with the radical possibilities of our bodies. Making campy performance art sexy and stunning, this performer will put on a floor show like you’ve never seen – a pelvic floor show. https://maxmadame.com |
 Photo Credit: Tristan Crane |
 Photo Credit: Jacqueline Hyde |
Mx. Pucks A’Plenty Mx. Pucks A’Plenty is the Director of Junk in da Trunk and Seattle’s Own Mxtress of #DirtyGlam! This roguish radical is always ready to ride whether it be behind the scenes or on stage. Spreading their black queer magic where ever they go, Pucks is always in control. They are a lover of leather, the color black, tall boots & riding crops, but feel just as powerful in a baby pink teddy while wearing unicorn slippers. Pucks is all things bad & bawdy. The Femme Daddy that your mother should have warned you about, Pucks is not only a performer, but a producer, stage manager and emcee for hire. They are also one of the members of Seattle’s own Dark Diamonds Burlesque, an all POC ensemble. https://www.mxpucksaplenty.com/ |
| Lil Cotton Flower
Lil Cotton Flower is a funky black feminist fantasy with too much south in her. a poet, dancer, and writer Lil Cotton is a smart black play thing with a lot to say. From a long line of black laborers, storytellers, artisans and organizers, Lil Cotton approaches the stage as a venue for transformation. As she courts her own personal liberation, her acts invite audiences to confront themselves and all they think they know about blk wimmin’s bodies. https://www.facebook.com/LilCottonFlower/ |
 Photo Credit: Kleos Captured |
 Photo Credit: Moss Photography |
Scarlet Bitch The Scarlet Bitch debuted in December 2016. Since then she has followed in a long tradition of using burlesque to merge her loves of performing, creating, and politics. The Scarlet Bitch has performed in the Winnipeg International Burlesque Festival and as a guest performer with the Vancouver Island Vixens, and in October 2018 she produced her first show, “Nasty Women and Other Degenerates,” a fundraiser for RAICES. |
| Laika Fox (Co-Producer)
Laika Fox is a burlesque performance artist from Oakland, CA. She is one of the co-founders and co-producers of The Body Political. Drawing on her background in jazz dance, musical theater, and activism, she uses burlesque as a medium for creating acts that are clever, insightful, and often subversive. She received the title of ‘Most Classic’ at ABurlyQ 2017 dressed as a giant piece of meat (ask her about it). Laika is passionate about creating spaces for subversive burlesque and performance art, and supporting performers in creating art that both challenges and heals. She now resides in Denver, Colorado. |
 Photo Credit: La Photographie |
 Photo Credit: Freak the Mighty |
Andi Stardust (Co-Producer)
Andi Stardust is the co-founder and co-producer of The Body Political and has been shaking and shocking stages since 2010. Fusing elements from burlesque, drag, performance art, and political theatre, Andi deconstructs the ways we view the naked female body and the context in which it is viewed. Using humor, absurdity, and vulgarity, Andi addresses feminist and queer issues that are often excluded from burlesque. Her acts are subversive with political undertones.
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