CHA CHA

2009-09-23T21:01:00.001-07:00

SATURDAY, SEPTEMBER 19TH - @ THE THIRD ANNUAL CHA CHA

WHAT A BEAUTIFUL NIGHT, BEAUTIFUL PEOPLE!

Lots of old and new faces packed the Revival Stone Lounge...what a wonderful, giving vibe... We're speechless, so we'll let the photos do the talking.

THANK-YOU!

photos : Nation Cheong

Thank you again to our sponsors and donors: Allende Arts Festival, Revival Bar, Good For Her, She Takes the Cake, Toronto Women's Bookstore, Toronto Rape Crisis Centre

Cha Cha 2009 Event Details

2009-08-26T16:50:00.000-07:00

Cha Cha 2009 in partnership with the Allende Arts Festival is excited to be running its third installment. Here are the details:

Saturday, September 19th @ 8:00pm

$10 (no one turned away for lack of funds)

The Revival - Stone Lounge

783 College Street (at Shaw)

Theme: mi cuerpo, mi casa - "my body is my home"

Featuring artists:

brescia birdthroat bloodbeard

Victoria Mata

Naila Keleta Mae

janet romero leiva

Karleen Pendelton-Jimenez

Dianah Smith

With emerging artists from the mentorship program:

Teresa Cheng

Gabriela Etcheverry

Come and celebrate the diversity of women's voices in Toronto on sexuality and homeland!

Curated and femceed by:

La Loba - mónica rosas

Event Coordinator:

Angela Britto

Photography art by Kelly A Schnurr

After party with D.J JOLA spinning R & B, Hip Hop & Soca beats!

Cha Cha and the TRCC

2009-08-16T16:30:00.000-07:00

Cha Cha 2009 is proud to have the Toronto Rape Crisis Centre as a community partner. Please be sure to support them and the important work that they do by checking out their website: http://www.trccmwar.ca/

Cha Cha 2009 Curatorial Statement - mi cuerpo/ mi casa

2009-08-11T16:26:00.000-07:00

my body is my home

All humans need food, water and shelter to survive.

Shelter in its best form is called a home. A home not only meets the needs of basic survival but it provides a place where things can flourish.

Our body is our first home.

It is the container of life we have each been given to survive and to flourish.

Our relationship to our body and the ability to give and share it with others is not only a healthy normal part of being human, but it can be healing and holy act.

For many women, our home has at some point been threatened or taken away from us.

We struggle to overcome a painful legacy of sexual domination, sexual colonization and the continued everyday existence of sexism.

It is time to reclaim our home.

Our body and its myriad of functions and activities root us to ground and the present moment. Our notions of sexuality informs our identity as humans, it helps us touch the ground, but also allows us to fly, to reach transcendental sates, create meaningful connections with others. Understanding the importance of what we give when we share our body with others and ourselves is paramount to building a healthy society.

Therefore, we must honour and be true to our first and primary home - our body.
CHA CHA, is an opportunity for “spring cleaning” – a time to heal, a time to challenge existing norms and most importantly to celebrate our resilience and the power we have over our bodies.

When we flourish, we provide homes for others.

mónica rosas
Literary Arts Director
Allende Arts Festival

Cha Cha and the Toronto Women's Bookstore

2009-08-11T16:16:00.000-07:00

We are proud and grateful to have the Toronto Women's Bookstore as a generous sponsor for Cha Cha 2009. They do wonderful work for the diverse groups of women in Toronto. Please visit their website at: http://www.womensbookstore.com/

Mentorship program winners

2009-08-11T15:44:00.000-07:00

The cha cha chicas are proud to announce the artists in its 2009 mentorship program! We thank all you wonderful writers and artists out there who responded to our open call for submissions. The pieces were inspiring and the decision was close but one had to be made. The artists joining the cha cha roster through the mentorship program are:

Teresa Cheng

Teresa is a queer Chinese/Taiwanese daughter, sister and friend. She has spent half of her life in Taiwan and the other half in Canada. She is the creator of zines Dykes & Their Hair and Upskirt: Dirty (Un)feminist Secrets. She has been published in the Asian Arts Freedom School Anthology. She also blogs for Shameless Magazine and 8asians.com.

Gabriela Etcheverry

Gabriela Etcheverry is a Chilean-Canadian writer and literary critic. She has a PhD from Laval University and two Master’s degrees from Carleton University, where she taught for many years. In 2007 she published the novel Latitudes, in which she blends her personal experiences with those of others, weaving through poetry, short fiction, and other modes the threads of time that tie the child to the adult, the province to the city and, finally, the South and the North. One of the twelve children of a dedicated treasure hunter, Gabriela draws on the tales and legends of the city of her childhood, Coquimbo (Chile), for her novel Guayacán: tesoro y lujuria (forthcoming in 2009). Currently, she is working on a new novel, Where Are You? set in Gravenhurst, her husband’s hometown in Canada.

Teresa and Gabriela will be working with the wonderful Dianah Smith and Yaya Yao who will be their mentors throughout this summer. Please come out on September 19th to see them perform their workshopped pieces.

Cha Cha 2009 Artist Lineup

2009-07-26T19:10:00.000-07:00

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!

Open Call for Submissions

2009-07-06T17:47:00.000-07:00

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

2009-07-06T17:33:00.000-07:00

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!

CHA CHA 2008

2009-07-05T17:48:00.000-07:00

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!

2008 CHA CHA CHICAS!

2008-09-07T13:22:00.000-07:00

Some of the foxy faces of this year's line-up.

DON'T MISS OUT!

For more information see below:

SECOND ANNUAL CHA CHA COMING SOON!

2008-08-28T22:46:00.000-07:00

design by: Kelly Schnurr

sponsored by:

Come and Enjoy the CHA CHA!

THURSDAY SEPTEMBER 25TH, 2008

Cervejeria Lounge

842 College St

8pm ~ $8

(no one turned away for lack of funds)

A night of readings and performances that celebrate and challenge notions of female sexuality.

emcees: Jill Andrew

& Athena Karkanis

FEATURING:

Ann Cummings

Aisha Sasha John

janet romero leiva

monica rosas

Dianah Smith

Andrea Theony

Yaya Yao

SPECIAL GUEST: Stacey May Fowles - Author and Publisher of Shameless Magazine

for more info contact: chachachicas@gmail.com

ALL WELCOME

Cha Cha is a queer and trans positive space.

*Door Prizes! * *Free giveaways!*

BIOS

JILL ANDREW - emcee

Basking in the joy of recently completing her masters in women & gender studies at UofT, Jill continues to work as a journalist, educator and women's/youth advocate sometimes but not all the time all at the same time (try sayin' that 3 times fast) Jill produces Curvy Catwalk fashion fundraiser, is editing a women's body image anthology Phat Girls and is taking with a great team of visionaries about developing the Toronto Int. Body Image Film Arts Festival. Between talking and editing Jill still finds time to celebrate her sexuality and play with her cat. www.jillandrewmedia.com or www.curvycatwalk.com

ATHENA KARKANIS - emcee

Athena is a Toronto based actor, writer and artist. She studied Political Science at McGill University followed by theatre at Circle in the Square Theatre School in New York and has appeared on stages on both Canada and the U.S. She has played leading roles on both the small and big screens and she can be heard as the voices of dozen of cartoon characters. Her writing paintings and photography are heavily influenced by her unforgettable experiences living and traveling around the world. Athena believes strongly in ChaCha's mandate and is thrilled to be part of this incredible group of women.

STACEY MAY FOWLES' writing has appeared in various online and print magazines, including Kiss Machine, the Absinthe Literary Review, Fireweed and subTerrain. Her work has been widely anthologized in books including Nobody Passes: Rejecting The Rules of Gender and Conformity, First Person Queer, Yes Means Yes, and I.V Lounge Nights. Her first Novel, Be Good, was published with Tightrope Books in 2007, and This Magazine called it "probably the most finely realized small press novel to come out of Canada in the last year." Fowles recently adapted Fear of Fighting into a stage play as part of Nightwood Theatre's Write From The Hip! program for emerging female playwrights. She currently lives in Toronto where she is the publisher of Shameless Magazine.

FOXY FINALE A.K.A Ann Cummings bounced her way across the Burlesque stage almost three years ago in a rock star fantasy with the sexy Mark Brown on a trampoline. She hasn't been able to stop taking her clothes off since. She has made regular guest appearances with the Troupe Skin Tight Outta Sight as a bank robber, Hitler and Praying Idol with many more to come. Outside of Burlesque, Foxy drums in a Brazilian percussion group and trains in the Brazilian Martial Art of Capoeira. She has spent the last five years performing environmental educational theatre for children and traveling around the world.

AISHA SASHA JOHN is a writer and dancer living in Toronto. Her work has appeared in such places as Exile Quartely, Contemporary Verse 2, Carousel, The Feathertale Review and TOK 3: Writing the New Toronto. This fall she'll begin her second year of the University of Guelph's MFA in Creative Writing program. Aisha is working on a poetry manuscript and short story collection as well as being part of the Obsidian Theatre Company 2008/09 Playwrights Unit. aisha.blogspot.com

janet romero-leiva is a queer feminist latina artist committed to creating a place and space for under/mis/un-represented bodies. janet's writing and visual art explores immigrant displacement - denied aboriginality and queer loving in dos lenguas. she loves cart-wheeling, mangos, smoothies and children's books.

mónica rosas a.k.a - la loba is an artist/educator/agitator whose work aims to challenge and provoke discussion on gender, the environment and the visible minority experience. A second-generation colombian-peruvian, canadian she has traveled and worked in Colombia, Cuba, Peru, Venezuela and Brazil. monica is the author of inside out, a collection of poetry by Lyrical Myrical, and her poetry appears in TOK 3: Writing the New Toronto by Diaspora Dialogues. monica is also the founder of CHA CHA, an artistic forum by women on female sexuality. www.monicarosas.com

DIANAH SMITH is a Jamaican born, Ottawa raised, writer, teacher, curator and arts educator based in Toronto. She is the founder of 'A' is for Orange a reading series featuring queer Caribbean emerging writers. 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. She enjoys facilitating autobiographical writing workshops in schools and with community groups in the city. She says 'writing is a way to grieve/retrieve/the past, make sense of the present and leave a legacy for the future'. www.aisfororange.org

ANDREA THEONY A.K.A - HIPPIE MAMA is an eternally emerging visual artist/djembe drummer/singer/songwriter. When I am not tending to teenaged drama, either at home with my own two or those that I teach at a downtown alternative arts program. I get inspiration from everything and everywhere but the topic of sex and issues related to this hot topic to get my creative juices flowing with particular vigor! Go Figure! I have a CD entitled "Five Songs for Five Bucks" and I am working on my next one at the present time. I also host a weekly Women's Drum Circle at my home since I got tired of too much testostorone at some of the other Toronto drum venues. For more info call: 416-875-9830.

yaya yao comes from a long line of matriarchs who happen(ed) to love singing dancing and teaching, loves which she shares. born and raised in toronto, she loves the smell of grilled sardines, stinky tofu and her grandmother's face cream.

VIVA CHA CHA!

2008-08-28T22:08:00.000-07:00

D! and M pose.

Our first official CHA CHA event was a success. We packed the house and enjoyed an exciting evening of diverse readings/performances by some amazing women. Here's a snippet of what the night had to offer. HIPPIE MAMA IN ACTION!

Come and enjoy the CHA CHA!

2008-08-28T21:40:00.000-07:00

TUNE IN... and listen to CHA CHA live on 89.5 CKLN! Saturday September 22nd @ 5PM

CHA CHA ladies, Nalini Singh and Monica Rosas joins radio host Chanelle Gallant with a taste of what CHA CHA has to offer...

TUESDAY SEPTEMBER 25TH , 2007 @ 8PM @ THE CONCORD CAFE 937 BLOOR ST. W

A night of songs, stories and spoken word performed by emerging female artists celebrating and challenging notions of female women's sexuality.

Join us for this unique artistic forum representing different generations, cultural backgrounds and sexual orientation. MC: Jill Andrew Feat: Melissa Burnett, janet romero-leiva, monica rosas, Dianah Smith, Andrea Theony, Talia Wooldridge with visual art by Kelly Schnurr.

For more information contact: chachachicas@gmail.com