*AKATA* is an evening length dance theater performance giving an intimate look into the lives of three Black American women. In this project we explore the depths of our current identities with movement that is infectious, fun, and necessary.
October 13 & 14, 2022
7:30PM
Admission is free!
Preshow: 7:00pm in the Kaufman Hall Courtyard!
Gallery opening & gathering.
Eventbrite registration comes with two free drink/snack tickets. Soft bar and goodies!
*AKATA*
Gallery exhibit in the Rainbow Lounge
Photo project accompanies our show illuminating our intimate spaces.
Photography by @Zay Monae
Creative Director Rashaida Hill
Can't make it in person? Catch the livestream!
Thursday: https://youtu.be/mvZTR8DiRqY
Friday: https://youtu.be/kYaA_YUvCbU
Choreographer
Rashaida Hill is a choreographer, dancer, community organizer, and arts facilitator from Norfolk, VA. She’s had the pleasure of training and performing for many world-renowned artists while attending Old Dominion University, The American Dance Festival, Todd Rosenlieb Dance, and the University of California, Los Angeles. As a dance maker, the continuous ebb and flow informing her work includes American/ Black American/ Black diasporic history and cultures, mental health, and trauma processing. Her work seeks to hold space for reflection, rest, recovery, and healing through invigorating and intimate theatrical displays. Now located in Los Angeles, CA, she hopes to continue to hold space for herself and others to investigate our embodied histories and make sense of our ever-changing realities.
Artist Collaborators
Sydney Richardson (she/her) is a dancer, choreographer, and teacher born and raised in Los Angeles, CA. She is a current sophomore at the University of California Los Angeles (UCLA) pursuing a Dance B.A. in the World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department. She hopes to spread joy and inspiration through her work to anyone who comes across it. Sydney began formal dance training at age 10 as a student of Precision Dance Company and continued with The Studio Art of Dance, and Santa Monica College. As a choreographer and teacher she started her own dance company in high school, Da Vinci Dance Troupe, and instructed youth dance classes in the South Bay. She is consistently working on bridging her interests of dance and film and has worked on sets both as a production assistant and as a cast member. Sydney aspires to pursue a professional dance career in both the concert and commercial industries while finding new ways to tell important stories through movement.
Aryeal Lands is an African American female street dancer born in Riverside and raised in Los Angeles, CA. Lands trained in various styles including Ballet, Tap, Jazz, Modern, Contemporary, and West African under the Debbie Allen Dance Academy during the beginning of her dance career. With a more focused goal of preserving the culture and livelihood of the styles created by the African diaspora, she now solely trains in street dances with Versa-Style Los Angeles Dance Company in their next generation. She currently attends the University of California, Los Angeles as a Dance and Sociology double major with the hopes of increasing the incorporation of authentic street dance in University settings. Lands has performed all over the city of Los Angeles exposing the youth to the possibilities of Hip-Hop/street dance as a career. As she expands internationally, the next step in her career is dance education.
GoFundMe
You can support *AKATA* at their GoFundMe page. Thank you in advance!
https://www.gofundme.com/f/aata-a-ucla-mfa-upstart-series-capstone-project