Wicked Bodies

Performances

Wicked Bodies

Presented by YBCA |

October 28–30, 2022

Inspired by powerful and grotesque images of women’s bodies over multiple historic periods, Liz Lerman’s new dance theater piece Wicked Bodies will be performed at YBCA from October 28-30, 2022.

Wicked Bodies reflects on many issues centering women and their bodies that have persisted for centuries: fear of bodily functions, horror at what knowledge women might possess, disgust at the way women carry on their daily existence, and the crumbling of beauty as women age.

Following its premiere on April 14, 2022 at the Green Music Center in Sonoma, Wicked Bodies toured to Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival August 10-13, 2022 and will then tour to Arizona State University’s ASU Gammage September 24, 2022 before landing at YBCA.

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Blue Shield of California Theater

Wicked Bodies performance at the Blue Shield of California Theater at YBCA. Photos by Scott Chernis.

Liz Lerman

Liz Lerman is a choreographer, performer, writer, educator and speaker, and the recipient of numerous honors, including a 2002 MacArthur “Genius Grant,” a 2011 United States Artists Ford Fellowship in Dance, and the 2017 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award. A key aspect of her artistry is opening her process to various publics from shipbuilders to physicists, construction workers to ballerinas, resulting in both research and outcomes that are participatory, relevant, urgent, and usable by others.

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Wicked Bodies Trailer

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Performers: Will Bond, Leah Cox, Miko Doi-Smith, nia love, Paloma McGregor, Ruby Morales, Elisa García-Radcliffe, Vincent E. Thomas and Martha Wittman (video).

At each Wicked Bodies tour location, local dancers have been invited to collaborate in the performance experience of Act 1. For the performances at YBCA, a group of intergenerational dancers in a variety of movement styles were gathered to accompany and join the witches.

YBCA Dancers: Giuliana Blasi, Cecilia Loretta Egidi, Nicole Hielscher, Amber Julian, Jo Kreiter, Valerie Lâm, My-Linh Le, SAMMAY Peñaflor Dizon, Carola Zertuche.

Wicked Bodies is conceived by Liz Lerman in association with many collaborators.

Liz Lerman’s Senior Fellowship at YBCA is made possible through the generous support of The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and The Bernard Osher Foundation.

YBCA Programs are made possible in part by MacKenzie Scott and Dan Jewett, California Arts Council, #StartSmall, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, Tambourine, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Marilyn Conrad Trust, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, William G. Irwin Charity Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The Bernard Osher Foundation, In memory of Kevin King,The Sato Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Gaia Fund, and YBCA Members.

Generous support provided by Blue Shield of California. Blue Shield of California is an independent member of the Blue Shield Association.

YBCA is grateful to the City of San Francisco for its ongoing support.

Lead image: Photo by Brennan Spark Photography.