Tickets & Events

Freshworks: Justin Kelly & Ariel /

KST Presents

Bad Form: A Scratch Symphony

Friday & Saturday, May 6 – 7, 2022
8:00pm

KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.
Pay What Moves You: $10-25

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What makes a noise count as music? What makes a movement count as dance? Who made the rules, who are they for, and why should we follow them? Join percussionist Justin Kelly and dancer Ariel / in Bad Form: A Scratch Symphony as they examine these questions through rhythm, movement, improvisation, free jazz, turntablism, and post-modern dance. This new work will take examples of rigid form and attempt to find a way around the limitations of that form through improvisation and play.

Freshworks is KST’s creative residency for Pittsburgh based artists and collaborators, providing financial resources, studio space, production staff, lighting and sound design, professional development, and encouragement for creative risk taking through interdisciplinary collaborations in contemporary dance, theater, music, and multimedia. Artists present a 30-minute work in progress showing followed by a Q & A with the audience.

Photo Credit: Justin Kelly & Ariel Xiu


ALSO CHECK OUT…

“REHEARSAL” 
A Workshop with Justin Kelly and Ariel / 

Saturday, April 30, 2022 
12:00pm – 1:30pm 

KST’s Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave. 
FREE 

REGISTER HERE

We live in a world filled with stuff.

Underground art turns into mere trendiness because of the people practicing it. They create a desert around them, then complain there is no water. Why don’t they try drinking from the well of their own bodies? Let them pluck the darkness from their own flesh.” -Tatsumi Hijikata

There is a responsibility for how/what we carry into the future. practices=>thoughtforms=>icons/idols=>values=>knowledge

This workshop, led by Ariel / and Justin Kelly, will be an opportunity for improvisors of all levels to explore the performance art techniques and bodily practices that they implement in their current iteration of Bad Form: A Scratch Symphony. This includes different approaches to improvisation, percussion, Linklater vocal tree, butoh, and other experimental ideas designed to enhance one’s awareness of the energies all around us. 

Ariel and Justin will facilitate activities that present an alternative idea of what rehearsal, practice, play, and performance can look like —  one that is organic, anti-hierarchical, accessible, healing, and spontaneous. Join the duo in a supportive and mindful environment where restoration of one’s relationship to their instrument (the body) and their environment is prioritized. 

Participants will also have the option to participate in parts of Bad Form, when it is performed for the public at KST’s Alloy Studios on May 6th and 7th.

Participants will learn the following techniques, skills, and tools:

  • Butoh technique
  • Percussion & rhythmic cycles
  • Building your own ritual practice
  • Learning to fall
  • Additive & subtractive improvisation
  • Disengaging from stress & other chronic cycles
  • Body relaxation
  • Awareness building
  • Decision making in rehearsal & performance situations

 

Justin Kelly is a percussionist, DJ, and event producer exploring rhythm, movement, celebratory ritual, and improvisation. His background as a classically trained percussionist has morphed into a musical practice centered around improvised rhythm making in the contexts of jazz, electronic music, and experimental music. Hailing from the Washington, D.C. area, Justin lives in Pittsburgh where he regularly performs and produces forward-thinking events that seek to foster community and spark imagination. (Photo Credit: Mark Talkington) 

 

 

Ariel / is an independent performing artist and educator working in dance/film/theatre and is a maker of transdisciplinary artworks and choreographies. They made an appearance in Tribeca Film Festival award-winning short Black Ghost Son and has worked with companies including Allure, Makeup Forever, Brunch Theatre (NYC), Vangeline Butoh Theatre (NYC), Attack Theatre, and PearlArts Studio Extensions. Notable venues where they have performed and displayed works include SPACE Gallery, The Space Upstairs, GPAC Center, Baryshnikov Dance Center, Alloy Studios, and New Hazlett Theatre. Born in the Hawaiian Kingdom and raised between Raymaytush (Northern California) and Osage land (Pittsburgh, PA), Ariel grew up in a home that practiced TCM, which distilled an awareness of being part of a provocative legacy of intel and experience directly at odds with Western societal infrastructures. This greatly informs their creative process where ancestral modalities for wellness, memory-keeping, and liberation are archived via performance/celebration.