2023 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative

2023 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative

2023 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative

ODC is proud to announce the 2023 cohort of its Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative. Some of our artists, who are among the most pandemic-impacted in the region, are struggling to regain momentum in their movement practices and careers. ODC is proud to offer the 2023 Queer and BIPOC Space Residency Initiative as a means to counter this situation. The residency, now in its second year, will support five dance artists/companies from a wide spectrum of cultural backgrounds each with a 30-hour space residency in one of ODC’s studios. These five artists are: Andrea Rodriguez, Andreína Maldonado, Miraaj, Jocelyn Reyes, and Vida Manzo. 

This residency does not require any final product or performance and can be utilized to invest in old practices/develop new routines, create new work, or simply have dedicated space in which to move. Three Guest Curators helped develop, then reviewed applications and curated the cohort of selected artists. ODC is grateful to everyone who applied and welcomes our community to get to know and celebrate our inaugural cohort of Space Residency Artists. 

 

Selected Artists

  • Andrea Rodriguez

    Andrea Rodriguez

    Andrea Rodriguez (she/her) Born and raised in San Francisco, Andrea “budafly” Rodriguez is a multidisciplinary dance artist, actress, producer and filmmaker that creates compelling narratives for film, games, theater and mixed reality. She graduated with a B.A. from UCLA, World Arts and Cultures/Dance Department and received her M.F.A from USC, School of Cinematic Arts, Interactive Media Division. Professional credits include: dancing in the Viva Navidad Parade at Disney California Adventure. She starred as Consuelo, the grandmother, in the “On Your Feet” musical. Rodriguez is a Game Producer for the Zumba Fitness Video Games franchise. She is a recipient of the S.F Arts Commission, Individual Artist Commission grant (2020-2021). IG: https://www.instagram.com/supafly_budafly/ | FB: https://www.facebook.com/budafly
     

    Photo provided by the artist

  • Andreína Maldonado

    Andreína Maldonado (she/her) Andreína Maldonado is a Venezuelan interdisciplinary performing artist, cultural worker, entrepreneur and registered Yoga teacher based in Yelamu, Ohlone territory, colonially known as San Francisco, CA. She is a grantee of the San Francisco Arts Commission, California Arts Council, National Association for Latino Arts & Culture, and Marin Headlands Center for the Arts for working with immigrant workers in arts and wellness projects that shift harmful narratives about labor and places the dignity of labor front-center. IG:  https://www.instagram.com/ninalimonart | FB: https://www.facebook.com/andreinamaldonado
     

    Photo by Cynthia Valeska

  • Miraaj

    Miraaj (he/him, they/them) is a multi hyphenate South Asian artist. A singer, song writer, dancer, speaker and community gatherer, Miraaj chooses joy by bringing people together over sharing of performance arts. IG:  https://www.instagram.com/miraaj2.0

     

    Photo provided by the artist 

  • Jocelyn Reyes

    Jocelyn Reyes (she/her) is a Latin American contemporary choreographer and dance film maker. Reyes presents her work in San Francisco through her company REYES Dance. Her works are often informed by her childhood experiences with poverty, domestic abuse, and religion through the lens of her dual degrees in Cognitive Science and Dance from UCLA. Reyes’ projects have been supported by the JGPG co-production program, the RAWdance Radiate Fellowship, the San Francisco Arts Commission and the CASH Grant Award. IG: https://www.instagram.com/jocelynmreyes_ | FB: https://www.facebook.com/jocelyn.reyes.9862/

  • Vida Manzo

    Vida Manzo (she/they) is a dancer, writer, and actress residing in Berkeley, California (Ohlone Land). She has been making strides to introduce her work and pursue higher education for dance. Her credits include her poetry chapbook Cool Aunt, as well as her self-written one person performance piece titled, Caterpillar. A performer and interdisciplinary artist, Vida Manzo, includes themes of mental health, Queerness, culture, and symbolic abstraction within her work. IG:  https://www.instagram.com/vida.manzo TikTok:  @hiitsvida

     

    Photo provided by the artist

Guest Curators

  • Per Sia


    With a pedigree from weekly performances at the late, iconic Esta Noche, Per Sia trajectory has gone on to include art curation, stand-up, television, and maybe a quinceañera or two, in San Francisco, Los Angeles, and México. Currently she is a regular performer in the nationally acclaimed "Drag Queen Story Hour" as well as an educator in residence at the Children's After School Arts (CASA) program in the San Francisco Unified School District profiled on KQED Arts and National Public Radio.

     Photo provided by the Artist

  • SPULU


    SPULU is a creative entrepreneur, mover, storyteller, dance maker, fashion designer, and multidisciplinary performing artist. SPULU comes by way of Tongan South Pacific roots, by way of East Oakland, California, and by way of immigrant parents. Their work has been showcased all over the world via social media in response to the social issues facing Pasifika communities' throughout the diaspora through music, theatre, and dance. SPULU uses arts and movement as a form of resistance and protest. Their recent work was featured in the Levi's Pride 2019 International campaign and also co-created a NIKE shoe; which sold out the first few days of launch. SPULU currently serves as the Associate Director of the Berkeley/Oakland AileyCamp, a national dance program housed under the UC Berkeley: Cal Performance educations program and an entity of the world renowned Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. They are an active member of the MANA Pasifika Doula Collective as a Doula and community ambassador.

    Photo Provided by the Artist

  • Tammy Johnson




    Tammy Johnson is a dancer, producer, culture keeper, writer, equity consultant and godmother extraordinaire. Johnson directed living wage, welfare rights, public education and election campaigns as community organizer in Milwaukee, Wisconsin. She has partnered with World Trust and spent a decade at Race Forward as a national organizer, trainer, writer, and policy analyst. Johnson co-produced the television special Colorlines: Race and Economic Recovery with LinkTV. She was also the curator of creativesinplace.org, a listening project and digital platform that features the stores of Bay Area artists and their work. Johnson specializes in raks baladi, also known as Egyptian style belly dance. She was a recipient of the 2016 Deborah Slater Studio 201 Residency Program and performed as part of ChimaTEK: Hybridity Visualization Mandala, a piece created by renowned performance visual artists Saya Woolfalk. She is currently serving a residency with the Bridge Live Arts Community Engagement Program. The Oakland based Johnson embraces work that is healing and gives her joy. 

    ​​​​​Photo Provided by the Artist

 

Questions about the program? Email: spaceresidency@odc.dance