Sins Invalid’s Birthing, Dying, Becoming Crip Wisdom!
In the past four years since I began a career as a queer model and performer, I have had people come to me asking, where else can I find ethical, politically engaged representations of disabled sexuality? The answer is more myriad than the seeker expects. A premier example is the performance project, trans/queer disabled artist of color incubator, and disability justice movement building organization Sins Invalid. In fact, it is because of brilliant, queer, disabled women of color like Sins Invalid co-founder Patricia Berne, that we have the current meaning of disability justice at all. Sins Invalid defines disability justice as a radical movement which centralizes the voices and experiences of disabled people and the most intersectionally marginalized among us with the goal of liberation for all in mind. And we at Sins Invalid, as more and more activists are coming to understand, define disability very broadly, to include many diverse body-mind experiences.
Sins Invalid is based in the San Francisco Bay Area, and since their start a decade ago, Sins Invalid's multimedia theatrical works have been a multi-sensory feast and celebration of embodiment beyond transcendence. Each year, under the artistic direction of Patty Berne, the carefully curated cast of both local and international performers have wowed and moved audiences with pristine yet guttural music, sensual dialogue, and stunning dances. Sins Invalid's shows work through tightly knit and deeply felt themes: in 2008, performers challenged notions of safety and danger, in 2009, performers were aspects of a multi-specied, strong and fragile beast, in 2011, they traveled across the globe, and more impressively through time! Now, we return to the stage October 14th-16th at ODC in San Francisco for Birthing, Dying, Becoming Crip Wisdom, which according to promotional material is: “evocative explorations of creation, aging, and mortality”.
Nomy
Some of the performers in the show have been performing since 2007, while others like me, are joining the cast for the first time! Since this is a show about life cycles, and Antoine Hunter and I are dancing a duet to a piece I wrote with Malcolm Shanks about the power, beauty, and vulnerability in bringing black babies into this world, Patty noted on the phone to me the other day that I am possibly the youngest person to appear on the Sins Invalid main stage. I hold this fact with honor, hope, and a little awe, as I am 26, and in many other theater and dance settings, that is not young to be making a debut of sorts. But that's what disability justice is all about. In an interview we did in inDance Magazine, Patty and I discussed how setting dances and other performance on aging disabled bodies calls into question the notion of “aging out” of performance. At many different ages, Sins Invalid performers have hosted radio shows, pressed albums, and interviewed black disabled musicians and anti-police brutality activists, asserting that black disabled lives matter. They have won Lambda Literary Awards and published multiple popular queer tomes. They have even gone on to star in the controversial hit series American Horror Story. All this to say, Sins Invalid is seriously important art made by the most gifted of artists. And it's all queer lady conceived and directed!
Leah
As interviews have come in for our upcoming show, I have seen the question being asked about this year's theme: Does it diverge from the topic of sexuality? Not at all. Sins Invalid has never approached sex on a straight and narrow line. Just like real sexuality, our theatrically represented, disability justice infused concept of sexuality is all about stories of bodies and bodies of story. It is about speaking truth to power, and how powerful that is. And sexy. Sexy doesn't mean safe. It doesn't mean easy. It doesn't always mean typically pretty. But Birthing, Dying, Becoming Crip Wisdom, as I say in my emcee introduction: “is about a claim to our lives, our desires, our ecstatic being, and yes our traumas, our cracks and quakes, and yes our raining, shining love,and yes what we leave behind, that we hope others will scoop up with whatever parts scoop, to rebuild the world again.” Most certainly deep and hot stuff! I am so excited to have the opportunity to collaborate and share the stage with black artists I am moved by, queer femme artists I admire, art activists that inspire me, and a group of disabled artists who are my family, and who five years ago, introduced me to my body.
Aurora
Take my word for it, but don't stop there, if you are in the Bay Area next week or even just in Northern California at all, roll your butt on over to ODC the evenings of October 14th, 15th (with ASL interpretation and audio description), and 16th.
You can get your tickets (and show poster!) here on a sliding scale of $25-$10.
If you are unable to attend, a pay per view version of the show will be available to stream or download online in the coming months.
Check out more of Sins Invalid
About the Author
Neve Be is the emcee, co-lead writer, and a choreographer of the 2016 Sins Invalid show at ODC Theater. They are a writer at Everyday Feminism and MaximumRocknRoll. They live in Seattle. You can read more at littlebeasthood.tumblr.com. Twitter: @littlebeasthood