TALKING OUT LOUD SAYING WORDS welcomes Gregory Barnett who will be guest facilitating class through November 21st. 

Week 5: “la la la is enough sometimes” 

We need oxygen to breathe. Fire needs oxygen to burn. In a world where diplomacy’s rigged and sweetness is given an undue advantage, incineration proves all the more valuable. Rage Alchemy. Bless all Infernalators. (Burn baby burn, burn that mother down…..)

Sound is divine, terminology is limiting, poetry is natural. One can not queer and redefine their voice simultaneously. For two hours we will value whatever in us still proves feral and appreciate its grey areas. We will loosen our grip as we relax our throats. We will communicate fantastically because we will talk honestly. There are a thousand ways to talk.

Gregory Barnett makes dances, altars, and imagery believing he is better for it. His work attempts to locate junctures between lineage (memory) and prayer (desire) in an effort to maximize will’s potential. In lieu of pursuing a sociology degree, Gregory became a prostitute and children’s gymnastics instructor. His workshops, performances, and objects have been presented at countless venues across Los Angeles including REDCAT, The MOCA Geffen, The Getty Villa, and The Hammer Museum.

A class about saying stuff while dancing, doing things, or just standing there

UnMUTE your performance! You may be:

-a dancer who wants to make and use text

-an actor who is sick of the script and ready to make original work

-a seasoned performance talker trapped in sense-making and habits

-a living novel seeking form

-an artist who wants to open their voice and expand the potential of language in their work

Get verbal with your body in CYBERSPACE. Stacy is no stranger to making words for performance and loves to work with others so they can shake out the wonders of their creative consciousness. We condition the voice every class and invoke text birthing tools such as “talking contexts”, “unspooling”, “Van Morrison sandwich”, and “yodeling is for everyone”.

We will also use Mary Overlie’s Viewpoints work (SSTEMS) and other physical performance and dance methods to squeeze out your language-ing. It is fun to work this way in your home space and in the virtual reality that we create together when we meet. Working communally in cyberspace is possible, and TALKING OUT LOUD SAYING WORDS in this format is as cool as water from a mountain stream.

Stacy Dawson Stearns is an award winning interdisciplinary performing artist known for her original works as well as her performance with Big Dance Theater, David Neumann, Hal Hartley, Ken Nintzel, and Blacklips Performance Cult. She has performed internationally and across the U.S. in venues including Jacob’s Pillow, American Dance Festival, Spoleto USA, Walker Art Center, The Whitney, The Ontological-Hysteric Theater, HERE, Town Hall, City Center, Lincoln Center, Dance Theater Workshop (NYLA), PS 122, MassMoCA, Abrons Art Center, The Performing Garage, and REDCAT. Currently, she is creating content for new VR media with her partners at FEARHOUSE360.com, developing a new play called Forever Home with NY performance artist Christine Holt, and creating a dance-with-talking based on Terence McKenna’s insights about self-transforming machine elves. Stacy is a recipient of the 2019 Pieter Dancemakers Grant. Most recently, Stacy choreographed musical numbers for the world premiere of Qui Nguyen’s play Revenge Song, a Vampire Cowboys creation at the Geffen Playhouse, Feb 4-March 28, 2020. www.stacydawsonstearns.com