Sunday, July 26, 2009

Cha Cha 2009 Artist Lineup

Hello my cha cha chicas!

We are excited to announce the amazing women and talented artists who will be a part of Cha Cha 2009.

Naila Keleta Mae

(Photo credit: Naila Keleta Mae & Charles Johnston)


Naila Keleta Mae is an interdisciplinary artist, educator and scholar who makes words come alive. Her work is charismatic, versatile and thoughtfully provocative and she has worked in Brazil, Canada, France, South Africa and the U.S.A. She has worked primarily in literature, theatre and music for more than two decades mainly as an accomplished spoken word artist, playwright, actor, singer-songwriter and recording artist and in June, she launched bloom, her third full-length album. Naila Keleta Mae is also on Faculty at Goddard College in the U.S. and a PhD Candidate at York University.

Over the years, Naila Keleta Mae has learned that occupying a visibly black, female, heterosexualized, middle-classed, multilingual, able body in contemporary Canada is profoundly informative and challenging. Within this context, interdisciplinary art, pedagogy and scholarship has emerged for her as an imaginative and radical mode of survival, expression and mobility in which institutionalized cultures of domination can be disrupted as new performances of the world are imagined and co-constituted. http://www.nailakeletamae.com/


Karleen Pendleton Jimenez



Karleen Pendleton Jiménez is a writer and assistant professor in theSchool of Education at Trent University. Her recent publications include the personal essay, "Little White Children: Notes from a Chicana Dyke Dad," and the co-edited collection (with Isabel Killoran) "Unleashing the unpopular": Talking about sexual orientation andgender diversity in education. Most recently she wrote the screenplayfor the award-winning animation short 'Tomboy,' based on her children's book "Are You a Boy or a Girl?". As she writes this, she is mostly creating a baby.


Victoria Mata & brescia birdthroat bloodbeard


Victoria Mata


















Canadian born and Venezuelan raised, Victoria Mata is trained in African Dancing, Modern and Folkloric Dance. Victoria's dance career was firstinspired after a few workshops with Garth Fagan's Dance Company in RochesterNY, but most of her training is self taught and sporadic training wheneverpossible. Her strength is in her creativity and passion for corporalmovement. Her style is a fusion of modern dance, African, folkloric andfree styling. For the past five years she has focused on choreographies that interpret history and real-life situations. Her work has been shown inToronto's Ffida, International Dance Festival 2003, The International Youth Conference, Venezuela 2005 and a number cultural and peace festivals inToronto and New York. Victoria has been a member and performer of thestudent-run Only Human Dance Collective at the University of Toronto since2002 and has recently founded the MataDanZe Collective. Victoria hopes thather passion for communication through the art of corporal movement willinspire other dancers and non-dancers to use dance as a tool to overcomelife blockages and understand history.


brescia birdthroat bloodbeard


toronto-born artist and songbird.

if you have butterflies in your stomach

invite them into your heartif it gets caught in your throat

ask a bird to sing its song

if the bird forgets its tune

listen to a pebble instead






Dianah Smith












Dianah Smith is Jamaican-born, Ottawa-raised writer, teacher and arts educator. She has been published in Siren, Flirt, and Shameless magazines and the anthology, She’s Shameless: Women write about growing up, rocking out, and fighting back (Tightrope Books). Dianah is the recipient of several grants including an emerging writer’s grant from the Toronto Arts Council and a Writing Mentorship grant from the Ontario Arts Council (OAC) – she was mentored by Jamaican poet and short story writer, Olive Senior. Dianah teaches Autobiographical Writing courses for indigenous women, two-spirited folks, women of colour and trans folks of colour; and teaches creative writing workshops in schools through the OAC’s Artists in Education Program.
In 2006-2007, Dianah curated When the Rainbow Isn’t Enough a monthly reading series sponsored by the Toronto Women’s Bookstore featuring queer and trans emerging writers of colour and two-spirited emerging writers. In 2005, Dianah founded ‘A’ is for Orange a group for queer caribbean writers that aims to strengthen and build community by celebrating under-represented voices, sharing resources, and mentoring emerging writers. Dianah curates readings by ‘A’ is for Orange in partnership with various organizations in Toronto.





janet romero leiva


janet romero-leiva is a queer working class latina artist who travelled north through the america's at the age of 7 and has since been trying to figure out her place between south and north, between spanish and english, between borders and displacement - her work speaks to her experience of moving through multiple and often overlapping identities and the challenges encountered at various places throughtout time, she loves cart- wheeling and smoothies and can often be found reading children's books at the toronto women's bookstore




We look forward to seeing their work at this year's cha cha!


























Monday, July 6, 2009

Open Call for Submissions

Calling all emerging woman writers/artists! Are you looking for a public space to share your dreams, praises, rants, revelations on sexuality?

The Allende Peace Festival invites you to submit your work for mentorship and public presentation at our third annual CHA CHA event on September 19th, 2009!

We are looking to promote our public discussion on sexuality through poetry, song, spoken word, short fiction, stand-up comedy, dramatic monologue and performance art.

We are happy to announce another year of CHA CHA and are excited to see our community grow! This year’s event in partnership with the Allende Peace Festival will present - “my body is my home/mi cuerpo mi casa” an evening showcasing groundbreaking work from Toronto’s diverse creative female community on the topic of sexuality. A new exciting addition to our event this year is the opportunity for community mentorship. As part of this mentorship, past cha cha event performers/community members will mentor chosen participants with their pieces for public presentation.

Submission information:

Theme: The festival’s theme this year is homeland. CHA CHA asks: how does the idea of homeland relate to our notions of sexuality?

Duration: Each artist will have 10 minutes to present their work.

Guidelines:

Writers - include in your submission a bio, contact information and brief synopsis along with the piece of writing for consideration (double- spaced).

Artists – include in your submission a bio, contact information, synopsis of your project along with any accompanying visuals (digital format).

*differently abled, trans, queer, visible minority women
are encouraged to apply.

DEADLINE: July 20th, 2009

Email submissions and queries to: chachachicas@gmail.com

Those who are accepted will be contacted in late July.

LIGHT AND LAUGHTER!

the cha cha chicas

Cha Cha 2009

Hello everyone!

The Allende Peace Festival presents the 3nd Annual Cha Cha! Performances by diverse Torontonian women on WOMEN’S SEXUALITY. Curated by poet and educator monica rosas - la loba and with special guest performers.

September 19 @ (space t.b.c)
Tickets: $8 (no one turned away at the door for lack of funds). Doors open at 7:30p.m. Show begins at 8p.m

We invite you to challenge your notions of female sexuality and come celebrate the Cha Cha!

What is Cha Cha?
A forum where diverse female artists will celebrate women's sexuality through readings, spoken word and performances. Cha Cha is open to women and men. Cha Cha is a queer pand trans-positive space.

Why Cha Cha?
To create a safe public space where women can openly share their experiences and ideas on women’s sexuality.
To provide an alternative and response to mainstream media's portrayal on women's sexuality.
To celebrate and honour women's artistic achievements.

The 3rd Annual CHA CHA! includes performances by Dianah Smith (founder of “A” is Orange), Victoria Mata from MATADANZE, janet romero-leiva (Co-manager Toronto Women’s bookstore), Karleen Pendelton-Jimenez and more…

“The public image of female sexuality has often been misrepresented, exaggerated or it’s discussion discouraged. This is very detrimental to both women and male’s concepts of self-image, identity and esteem. It is vital that women come forward to challenge existing stereotypes in order to build a healthy society and satisfying relationships,” says curator monica rosas.

E-mail chachachicas@gmail.com or call 647-296-4117 for more information or if you'd like to get involved.

Light and laughter!

Sunday, July 5, 2009

CHA CHA 2008

hello my cha cha chicas!

It's been a while but I thought I should let you know that CHA CHA 2008 was an absolute success! It was a exciting and fun-filled evening of empowering performances and readings from some very talented women. The place was packed so a big THANK YOU goes to all of you who came out and for your wonderful support and strength. Special thanks go to Women's Health in Women's Hands and the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre for their generous support and donations. Check out some pics from the night - vids will be coming soon!





Light and laughter!