Cal Performances at Home is much more than a series of great streamed performances. Fascinating behind-the-scenes artist interviews. Informative and entertaining public forums. The Cal Performances Reading Room, featuring books with interesting connections to our Fall 2020 programs. For all this and much more, keep checking this page for frequent updates and to journey far, far Beyond the Stage!
Major support for Beyond the Stage is provided by Bank of America.
Beyond the Stage
Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Climate Displacement
Multidisciplinary Perspectives on Climate Displacement
An Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” Panel Discussion
The World Bank estimates that, by 2050, 216 million people across South Asia, Sub-Saharan Africa, and Latin America will need to migrate from their homes due to sudden disasters such as flooding and fire, slow-onset land degradation through processes such as desertification, as well as social unrest caused by resource scarcity. Climate displacement is accelerating because of climate change, and creates new adaptation challenges for both the sending and receiving regions. In this panel, we will explore the issue of climate displacement with faculty members of UC Berkeley’s new cluster in climate equity and environmental justice (Maya Carrasquillo, Civil and Environmental Engineering; Daniel Aldana Cohen, Sociology; Zoe Hamstead, City & Regional Planning; Meg Mills-Novoa, Energy & Resources Group and Department of Environmental Science; Danielle Rivera, Landscape Architecture and Environmental Planning). The director of UC Berkeley’s Urban Displacement Project and the University of Toronto’s School of Cities, Professor Karen Chapple, will facilitate this lively conversation across the disciplinary perspectives of sociology, city planning, geography, engineering, and urban policy.
This panel is an Illuminations: Place and Displacement event.
Panelists
Maya Carrasquillo
Maya Carrasquillo is an assistant professor in the Civil and Environmental Engineering Department at UC Berkeley and the PI of the JEDI (L)ab. She was previously a Management Consultant at Arcadis US in Atlanta, GA. She earned her PhD in Environmental Engineering from the University of South Florida in 2020 and her BS in Environmental Engineering from the Georgia Institute of Technology in 2015. Her research interests include sustainable and equitable urban water infrastructure, food-energy-water systems, community engagement and citizen science in decision-making, and environmental and social justice. She is a certified Envision Sustainability Professional (ENV SP). She is also a College of Engineering Huelskamp Faculty Fellow.
Karen Chapple
Karen Chapple, PhD, is Professor Emerita of City & Regional Planning at the University of California, Berkeley, where she held the Carmel P. Friesen Chair in Urban Studies and served as department chair. She is currently the Director of the School of Cities and Professor of Geography and Planning at the University of Toronto. Chapple studies inequalities in the planning, development, and governance of regions in the US and Latin America, with a focus on economic development and housing.
Her recent books include Planning Sustainable Cities and Regions: Towards More Equitable Development (Routledge, 2015), which won the John Friedmann Book Award from the American Collegiate Schools of Planning; Transit-Oriented Displacement or Community Dividends? Understanding the Effects of Smarter Growth on Communities (with Anastasia Loukaitou-Sideris, MIT Press, 2019); and Fragile Governance and Local Economic Development: Theory and Evidence from Peripheral Regions in Latin America (with Sergio Montero, Routledge, 2018). She has published recently on a broad array of subjects, including the fiscalization of land use (in Landscape and Urban Planning), urban displacement (in the Journal of Planning Literature and Cityscape), community investment (in the Journal of Urban Affairs), job creation on industrial land (in Economic Development Quarterly), regional governance in rural Peru (in the Journal of Rural Studies), and accessory dwelling units as a smart growth policy (in the Journal of Urbanism).
Pandemic-Displaced Choreography: Q&A with Joffrey Ballet’s Nicolas Blanc and Christine Rocas
Pandemic-Displaced Choreography: Q&A with Joffrey Ballet’s Nicolas Blanc and Christine Rocas
An Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” Discussion
The COVID-19 pandemic has posed unique challenges for performing arts creators. For dance in particular, social distancing and the necessity of virtual rather than in-person interactions were an immense barrier in choreographing new pieces. In this Q&A discussion, moderated by Mina Girgis, Cal Performances’ Director of Education, Joffrey Ballet choreographer Nicolas Blanc sits down with one of the Joffrey Ballet dancers, Christine Rocas, to discuss the inventive workarounds and adaptations implemented during the height of the pandemic to successfully choreograph his latest piece, Under the Trees’ Voices, which had its West Coast premiere at Cal Performances on March 4.
This recording is an Illuminations: Place and Displacement conversation.
Artist Bios
Nicolas Blanc
Nicolas Blanc started his dance training in Montauban, France, continuing at the Academie de Danse Classique Princesse Grace in Monte-Carlo. After winning a scholarship in the 1994 Prix de Lausanne, he completed his education at the Paris Opera Ballet School.
He went on to dance for Nice Opera Ballet, Deutsche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, Zurich Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet, where he was made Principal Dancer in 2004. His repertoire included lead roles in Balanchine’s Jewels, Square Dance, Divertimento No. 15, The Four Temperaments, and Tarantella pas de deux. He also danced the leads in Robbins’ Dybbuk and Mats Ek’s Carmen, Benvolio and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and Cavalier in The Nutcracker, and danced in various ballets by Mark Morris.
Blanc originated roles in Wheeldon’s Rush and Quaternary; Welch’s Falling and Naked, Possokov’s Study in Motion and Reflections; and Tomasson’s 7 for Eight and Blue Rose.
In 2006 and 2007, he created two pieces for San Francisco Ballet School. He also created After Having Been for the International Ballet Competition (IBC) in Jackson, MS.
Blanc was awarded a special prize in performing arts by the city of Dusseldorf in 1998, and a special award of recognition by his hometown in 2004 (and 2013), and he was named one of the “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine. In 2010, he was nominated with Tina LeBlanc for an Isadora Duncan Dance Award (Best Ensemble in Wheeldon’s Within The Golden Hour).
He joined Scottish Ballet as Ballet Master in 2009. In his time with the company, he coached Page’s Nutcracker, Cinderella, Alice, Fearful Symmetries, Pastor’s Romeo and Juliet, as well as Ashton’s Scenes de Ballet, and Balanchine’s Rubies. In 2010, he was the personal assistant of Val Caniparoli for the world premiere of Still Life.
Recently, he has created Purple, Memories of The Future, Unveiled, The Spell, and Encounter for the annual fundraiser for Embarc, a Chicago organization dedicated to supporting low-income high school students in their training. In July 2014, Blanc received the choreographic award at the IBC in Jackson, Mississippi, for his duet Rendez-Vous. In 2015, his ballet Evenfall made its US debut on The Joffrey Ballet’s spring program.
Blanc was selected to participate in the 2015 National Choreographers Initiative (NCI) and created Orphee, which was presented at the Barclay Theater in Irvine, CA. He was also chosen to participate in New York City Ballet’s New York Choreographic Institute, where he created Mothership, which premiered in New York City Ballet’s 2016 gala. In 2018, he created Beyond the Shore for The Joffrey Ballet, with designs by Katrin Schnabl and music composed by Mason Bates. This commission was supported by the New York Choreographic Institute and Cal Performances in Berkeley, CA. In 2019, Blanc created Desert Transport, also set to music by Bates, for Barak Ballet.
Christine Rocas
Prior to joining The Joffrey Ballet, Christine Rocas danced with Ballet Manila in the Philippines. While there, she had the opportunity to perform in The Nutcracker (Sugar Plum Fairy), Le Corsaire (Medora), La Bayadère (Nikiya), Swan Lake (Odette/Odile), Sleeping Beauty (Bluebird pas de deux), and Don Quixote (Dryad Queen). Rocas participated and won several prestigious awards from multiple international ballet competitions. In August 2003, she received a finalist certificate in the Junior Division of the 9th Asian Pacific International Ballet Competition in Tokyo, Japan. She was also chosen as a full scholar in the 2004 Aberdeen International Youth Festival in Aberdeen, Scotland. In 2005, she participated in the Helsinki International Ballet Competition in Helsinki, Finland, where she became a semi-finalist in the junior division. During that year, she received the Arpino Award and was also the silver medalist in the New York International Ballet Competition.
Since joining the Joffrey, Rocas has performed in Apollo, Cinderella (Cinderella and Summer Fairy), The Dream, Giselle (Giselle), The Green Table, Light Rain, Les Présages, The Nutcracker, In the Night, Reflections, Pretty BALLET, Crossed, Age of Innocence, After the Rain, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Romeo & Juliet (Juliet), and The Merry Widow.
Cal Performances 2021-22 Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” series of programming examines the fraught and often devastating effects of migration, exile, dislocations, and separation, on both hyper-local and international scales, through five main stage performances and related online and in person programs with artists, creators, scholars, activists, and thinkers who are part of the outstanding brain trust that is the UC Berkeley community.
Lead support for Illuminations is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation—empowering world-changing work.
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Artist Conversation with Ashley Wheater and Yoshihisa Arai of Joffrey Ballet: 2021/22 Season
Artist Conversation with Ashley Wheater and Yoshihisa Arai of Joffrey Ballet: 2021/22 Season
A Conversation with Cal Performances Executive and Artistic Director Jeremy Geffen
Cal Performances Executive and Artistic Director Jeremy Geffen sits down with Artistic Director Ashley Wheater and choreographer/principal dancer Yoshihisa Arai of the Joffrey Ballet to discuss the fitting timing of Joffrey’s return to Berkeley, the diversity and themes of the program, the evolution from dancer to choreographer, how the pandemic influenced new and reimagined pieces, and more in this Beyond the Stage artist talk.
This artist conversation video is presented in conjunction with The Joffrey Ballet’s Cal Performances 2021/22 visit Mar 4–6.
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Place Post-Performance Q&A
Place Post-Performance Q&A
An Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” Discussion
Immediately following the performance of Place, producer Beth Morrison moderated a Q&A with composer Ted Hearne, performer Isaiah Robinson, and other members of the cast and crew about the creation and production of Place. The conversation was free to ticket-holders in person, and a recording of the Q&A is below.
This panel was an Illuminations: Place and Displacement event.
Cal Performances 2021-22 Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” series of programming examines the fraught and often devastating effects of migration, exile, dislocations, and separation, on both hyper-local and international scales, through five main stage performances and related online and in person programs with artists, creators, scholars, activists, and thinkers who are part of the outstanding brain trust that is the UC Berkeley community.
Lead support for Illuminations is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation—empowering world-changing work.
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Related Posts
Digital Classroom Performer Spotlight: Melanie DeMore
Digital Classroom Performer Spotlight: Melanie DeMore
Melanie DeMore examines the power of music to inspire emotions, build community, and feed people’s spirits during challenging times
In this 30-minute video, Melanie DeMore shares and examines African American Spirituals and Civil Rights songs. A dynamic and engaging guide, Melanie explores work songs, sorrow and jubilee songs, as well as zipper songs, and encourages us to create our own songs of hope and healing.
The video connects effectively to history-social science curriculum and is an ideal resource for African American History month. An accompanying video and engagement guide offer additional background information and historical and cultural context.
2020/21 Cal Performances Classroom Performer Spotlights featured videos of extraordinary local performers as they pull back the curtain on their work, and the art, cultures, and traditions that inspire them. Artists reflect their community’s rich culture, and the Bay Area stands out as a home to remarkable and diverse performing artists.
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The Performance of Labor/The Labor of Performance: A Convening Panel
The Performance of Labor/The Labor of Performance: A Convening Panel
An Illuminations: “Place and Displacement” Panel Discussion
To highlight the connection of her exceptional work with the groundbreaking scholarship and ideas generated on the UC Berkeley campus, artist esperanza spalding participated in an Illuminations panel discussion hosted by the Black Studies Collaboratory, which patrons could experience in person or virtually. This panel, entitled The Performance of Labor/The Labor of Performance: A Convening, brought together Black feminist artists and cultural workers to communally explore how the forms and methods of opera, surrealism, free jazz, poetry, and dance help communicate the concerns of radical Black feminism(s).
To explore this topic, spalding, in conversation with other Black femme artists, discussed: What happens when we gather to create out loud, to sound it out in good company? How might improvised creative dialogue disrupt preconceived notions about the relationships between Black femininity, labor, and performance? How do we practice and witness a “Black feminist politic in making”?
This panel was an Illuminations: Place and Displacement event.
Panelists
esperanza spalding
esperanza spalding (also known as irma nejando, or i.e.) has grown to recognize love in the abstract and aspirational, and is fully dedicated to learning how she can serve and embody actualized love through honor for and receptivity to fellow humans, teachers, and practitioners of various regenerative arts. Bass, piano, composition, performance, voice, and lyrics are tools and disciplines she is engaged in deeply to cultivate her own channel for transmitting care and beauty through vibration, sound, and presence.
She is currently developing a mockumentary in collaboration with brontë velez and San Francisco Symphony; researching and developing liberation rituals in jazz and Black dance; and continuing a lifelong collaboration with practitioners in various fields relating to music, healing, and cognition to develop music with enhanced therapeutic potential. Additionally, she is working with Harvard University to co-create and learn with students enrolled there, working on developing creative practices that serve the restoration of people and land.
spalding is visiting the UC Berkeley campus as part of her tour of …(Iphigenia) a new opera co-commissioned by Cal Performances, in which spalding is the librettist and plays the title role.
Ra Malika Imhotep (panel curator)
Ra Malika Imhotep is a Black feminist writer and performance artist from Atlanta, Georgia, currently pursuing a PhD in African Diaspora Studies and New Media Studies from UC Berkeley. As a scholar and cultural worker, Imhotep is invested in exploring relationships between queer Black femininities, Black vernacular cultures, and the performance of labor. As a steward of Black Studies and Black feminist thought, Imhotep dreams, organizes, and facilitates spaces of critical reflection and embodied spiritual-political education. Imhotep is co-author of The Black Feminist Study Theory Atlas and author of gossypiin (Red Hen Press, Spring 2022).
They are also a co-convener of The Church of Black Feminist Thought and a member of The Black Aesthetic Curatorial Collective.
Gallery of the Streets
Gallery of the Streets (kai lumumba barrow and jazz franklin) is an evolving network of artists, activists, organizers, scholars, cultural workers, and community supporters committed to exploring radical possibilities within Black geographies. Existing at the intersections of art, education, direct action organizing, and movement-building, they fuse public art and community engagement. Their approach includes convenings, political education, and experiential engagement in solidarity with the issues and demands of their Movement(s).
kai barrow
kai barrow is a visual and performance artist who lives and works in New Orleans. She has exhibited paintings, sculptures, site-specific installations, and multimedia performances in Atlanta, Brooklyn, Chicago, Durham, Glasgow, London, New Orleans, and New York City.
barrow is concerned with notions of radical imagination. Her sprawling paintings, installations, and sculptures transgress biological, geographic, ideological, and physical borders. Her work is imbued with cultural and historical clues that reference avant-garde art and radical liberation movements. barrow’s installations and ritualistic environments recall African diasporic cosmologies incorporating reusable materials such as dirt, moss, rocks, machines, money, and bones as a visual and ethnographic language. Together with her four muses—Absurdity, Sarcasm, Myth, and Merriment—she creates work to perform queer, Black, feminist resistance to carceral control.
jazz franklin
jazz franklin’s filmmaking praxis plays with power and possibility. Her video and projection work aim to disarm “standard” production processes, storytelling, and visual languages of film and video. She is part of a global network of artists, activists, and organizers called Gallery of the Streets who work together to “transform public and private spaces into temporary sites of resistance…into phantastical subversive imaginaries.” Before moving to New Orleans, franklin worked for The University of Alabama’s Center for Public Television as a videographer and editor. During her time there, she received a regional Emmy nomination for outstanding achievement in the category “editor of a non-news program” for the documentary Preserving Justice. franklin was also the co-director of PATOIS’ 2019 New Orleans International Human Rights Film Festival.
brontë velez
brontë’ velez’s work and rest is guided by the call that “Black wellness is the antithesis to state violence” (Mark Anthony Johnson). As a Black-Latinx transdisciplinary artist, designer, trickster, and wakeworker, their eco-social art praxis lives at the intersections of Black feminist placemaking and prophetic community traditions, environmental justice, and death doulaship.
X’ene Sky
X’ene Sky is a classically trained pianist, composer, singer, and performance artist. Sky’s work finds itself situated in the interstices of enslaved queer women, negro sprituals, critical fabulation, and “the itchy scratch your skin parts of relating intimately to others.” Having played the piano since age 4, she is constantly experimenting and interrogating the ways her instrument and voice grow and change alongside her.
Co-sponsored by Black Studies Collaboratory
Lead support for Illuminations is provided by the Jonathan Logan Family Foundation—empowering world-changing work.
