LiveArts in Resistance (LAIR) Virtual
**Ancestral Knowledge, Art and Resistance**
Featuring Victor Torres
In this time of COVID and amidst powerful calls for racial justice, EastSide Arts Alliance and NAKA Dance Theater are launching a series of 5 presentations in collaboration with World Arts West.
On November 17, 2020, join us for a conversation between Anne Huang, Executive Director of World Arts West and Victor Torres.
Dr. Victor Torres, Ph.D., is a full Professor in the Department of Chicano and Latin American Studies at California State University, Fresno. He is currently director of Fresno State’s Los Danzantes de Aztlán Mexican dance program, one of the Central Valley’s most established and accomplished programs. Under his direction, the program has earned top awards in Binational (US-Mexico) and national competitions. The group has made three recent appearances in the San Francisco Ethnic Dance Festival.
Dr. Torres is also on the Board of Directors of the Asociación Nacional de Grupos Folklóricos (ANGF), serving as Vice-President and Parliamentarian. He is the founder of the annual Festival de Los Danzantes folklórico conference, the annual Cal State Folklórico show (which features various California State University groups), and the High School Folklórico Summit. Dr. Torres is also a member of the Danzantes del Valle Advisory Committee for Arte Americas–Fresno’s major Latino cultural center.
This event will be streamed live on Facebook!
Sign Language interpretation by Christine Nakahara and Juan Ramirez.
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LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE is a dynamic series of performances, artist residencies, and community town halls to address racial inequity and white supremacy in popular culture. Collectively, we contribute to a new cultural consciousness of self-determination and indigenous knowledge as integral to our resistance to systemic oppression and imperialism.
LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE includes dance, theater, poetry and interdisciplinary performances, curated by socially-conscious artists. Together we push the boundaries of our practices and contemplate our role and responsibility in connecting the many struggles of our respective communities both locally and globally.
LIVE ARTS IN RESISTANCE fosters risk-taking, rigor, and a radical critique on the role of political activism, cultural work and art in society. This role is historically rooted in a culture fighting for justice, equity and self-determination —the political empowerment of our people.
We seek to create a place where artists and audience members can engage in a meaningful dialogue about innovative ideas and experimental work; where artists can reflect on the process of creating progressive art and revolutionary movements; redefining aesthetics and ethics that will decolonize minds. There is a profound need to construct a culture of resistance outside of “market forces”; a culture that will defend our communities from the current reactionary political climate. With the absurdity of backward national elections, xenophobia, fascist policing and militarism that has been shaping our lives, all the inflamed racism, sexism and classism is being rekindled on the world stage.
We reiterate Malcolm X’s words that “Culture is an indispensable weapon in the freedom struggle”. And once again, we must SEIZE THE TIME! — to magnify our struggle, giving wings to our imagination and finding new ways to speak our truth