PRESS RELEASE - FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Celebrating rural LGBTQ+ stories through dance:
OUT Dance Project goes on a virtual tour across rural Oregon
OUT Dance Project
March 25-28, 2021, online
Tickets are free; donations benefit local rural LGBTQ advocacy groups
beyondboomandbust.com
CAVE JUNCTION, March 1, 2021 - Countering the myth that all LGBTQ+ people live in the city, the OUT Dance Project is launching a virtual tour of stories and dance from rural LGBTQ+ people from across Oregon.
OUT Dance Project is a community-engaged dance project based on stories collected from rural LGBTQ+ people across Oregon. The mission of the project is to lift up these stories and create opportunities for rural LGBTQ+ people across the state to connect. Lead artists Eliot Feenstra & Sophie Traub, who live in the Illinois Valley, are working with renowned choreographers Mizu Desierto, Crystal Sasaki, and Snowflake Calvert to create original dance pieces based on 10 rural LGBTQ+ stories from across Oregon. The virtual performances will be livestreamed March 25-28, 2021.
The process has brought together LGBTQ2S+ artists from across Oregon who are working together on Zoom. The stories paint a vibrant and complex picture of rural queer lives. “As queer folks living in rural Oregon we know how hard feeling like ‘the only one’ can be--even though we are here,” said artistic director Eliot Feenstra. In response to a 2020 survey from the Rogue Action Center for LGBTQ+ people in Josephine & Jackson counties, 100% of queer youth between the ages of 13 and 17 reported feeling lonely, and 86% of people who responded reported feeling like they need to leave the area to live a good life. Co-director Sophie Traub added, “Hearing stories that reflect your experience is a critical part of addressing the loneliness that often accompanies being rural & queer.”
The project is supported by Oregon’s Alliance for Suicide Prevention, the James & Marion Miller Foundation, and AllCare Health. This is the third project of Beyond Boom & Bust, an initiative exploring the cultivation of rural economic and social resilience through the performing arts.
The shows are free but each show will be “hosted” by a local rural LGBTQ+ advocacy organization that will receive half of any donations. The hosts include: Safe Harbors (Wallowa County), Nativewomanshare (Josephine County), Bravery Center (Lincoln County), Citizens for Safe Schools (Klamath County), Rural Alliance for Diversity (Harney County), and Prideville (Crook County). The performances will also be recorded and archived by the Gay and Lesbian Archives of the Pacific Northwest.
Tickets & event information
OUT Dance Projects performances will take place online on Thursday, March 25 at 6pm; Friday, March 26 at 6pm; Saturday, March 27 at 1pm and 6pm; and Sunday, March 28 at 1pm and 6pm. Tickets are free, with a suggested donation that will benefit a local organization supporting LGBTQ+ people. Audience members should get a ‘ticket’ on Eventbrite and will receive a link to the performance, which will be livestreamed on HowlRound, an online streaming platform. For tickets, visit www.beyondboomandbust.com or email boomandbust.info@gmail.com.
Contact: Sophie Traub & Eliot Feenstra
boomandbust.info@gmail.com
Home: 541-592-3918
Cell: 412-608-6904
About the artists
Lead Artists: Eliot Feenstra and Sophie Traub are LGBTQ+ artists living in the Illinois Valley in southwestern Oregon. Eliot Feenstra is a transgender activist and artist who has been engaged with rural queer organizing in southern Oregon since 2012, including hosting workshops, gatherings, and working with the Rogue Action Center’s LGBTQ+ Listening Project. More info about his work can be found at www.eliotfeenstra.com. Sophie Traub is a genderfluid queer performing artist, actor and theatre/film creator with extensive strategic, artistic leadership experience through their work as Programming Director for The School of Making Thinking.
Choreographers: Snowflake Calvert, Mizu Desierto, Crystal Sasaki
Dancers: Link LoPresti, Lara Pacheco, Emanuel Colombo, Chaya, Fern, Amanaka, Mary Rose, and Juniper, z behlen, Nicholas Wakeman, Mia OS, Bianca “Fox” Ballara, Sophie Traub, Eliot Feenstra
Writers: Alex Sylvester, Bridgette Extraordinaire, Casifer Nash, Joni Renee Whitworth, H. Ní Aódagaín, Kelly Riggle, Kayla Wade, Casey Davenport, Lycan Coss
Production Team: Eliot Feenstra, Megan Cornelius, Alex Gaylon, O
Graphic Design: Claire Harkola, Eliot Feenstra
About Beyond Boom & Bust
Beyond Boom & Bust is a multi-year initiative exploring the cultivation of rural economic and social resilience through performance. The project launched with the development of the original documentary dance-theatre piece The (w)HOLE, based on interviews with Illinois Valley community members about the economy, visions for the future, and what wealth means. Since then, Beyond Boom & Bust co-produced Shelter-In-Plays, a responsive online theatre festival of original works presented at the onset of COVID 19 and aimed at raising morale and connecting people virtually during a time of physical isolation. Shelter-in-Plays raised over $3000 for local COVID relief efforts. OUT Dance Project, Beyond Boom & Bust’s third initiative, aims to build resilience by connecting rural queers through story and dance.