Epiphany Dance Theater Presents 'Native Land, Native Hands'

April 30 at 2pm in Fremont, May 7 at 2pm and 4pm at UC Berkeley, May 14 at 4pm in San Francisco

Epiphany Dance Theater presents the world premiere performances of "Native Land, Native Hands," a major site specific work exploring the historic oppression and racial injustice toward Bay Area Deaf communities and communities of color, April 30 in Fremont, May 7 at UC Berkeley and May 14 in San Francisco. "Native Land, Native Hands" is a response to works by celebrated Bay Area Deaf sculptor Douglas Tilden (1860-1935), which have become symbolic of the marginalization and relocation of Deaf and Indigenous people in the Bay Area.

"Native Land, Native Hands" will feature American Sign Language-choreography, other forms of dance, text, and original music and will be performed by a cast of eight Deaf and hearing actors and dancers. It is written and choreographed by African, Indigenous, Deaf, Disabled, Two Spirited lead artist Antoine Hunter, Artistic Director of Urban Jazz Dance Company, with Dramaturgy by Kim Epifano and performed at four sculptures by Tilden in Fremont, UC Berkeley and San Francisco. Each component will be designed for viewing as either a stand-alone performance or part of a trilogy.

Hunter explains the layered controversies represented by Tilden's work and the sites they occupy. The Fremont location of Tilden's Bear Hunt (1892) on the site of the current California School for the Deaf, for example, depicts a bear protecting its cubs by wrestling with two Indigenous people. Tilden's The Football Players (1898) on the UC Berkeley Campus is the original location of the California School for the Deaf before the land was sold and the Deaf community was systematically pushed out to make way for the university. Tilden's Admission Day (1897) commemorates the admission of California into the United States, and Mechanics Monument (1901) delineated the old shoreline of San Francisco Bay. Both sculptures survived the 1906 earthquake and are now located at the intersections of Market and Montgomery Streets and Market and Bush Streets respectively.

Free