SotA Mini-Session
May 1-8, 2022

SOLIDS:

Solid classes are based in sequential learning, most like a traditional class structure. Students will be encouraged to attend all classes; each class builds on the last.


Maria Judice: Screenwriting Rooted in Decolonization and Abstract Thinking
A class on storytelling with a political center. A class on storytelling, character, and writing rooting in decolonization frameworks. Writing stories for screens that develop a new/authentic film grammar based in ancestral mythologies, languages, and understanding of struggles of liberation. We will explore non-linear storytelling, abstract thinking techniques, oral traditions, complex organism development, radical writers, diasporic writers, and still mind practices. We will use the Principles of Good Story. Participants are guided through developing a personal process of writing to develop a short work for publication, release or production. 


Zoe Tuck: Book Magic
In this class, we will take as a given that the magical systems outlined in children’s chapter books and other fantastic literature all contains a grain of truth. Through reading and practice, we will investigate the corollary possibility that we could write our own magical systems into being. 


Shivani Lakshmi: The Untitled Kitchen Praxis Project
What is food? What is waste? How can we erase the boundaries between the two?

Planting, tending, and working with food is the most communal and nourishing act that humans practice. And yet after months of back-breaking labor to produce a crop much of the edible parts are tossed aside. When we pause to consider ALL parts of a plant, vegetable or mineral are we not expanding our realms of creativity AND nutritional intake? What can viewing compost under a microscope teach us about ourselves?

During our week together we will iterate and turn produce “scraps” into inventive dishes, explore the world of creating natural dyes from vegetables and fruits, and more! Class projects will mutate depending on weather, menu, earth, microbial variants, and our imaginations - ah, c’est la vie!


Luan Joy Sherman: Fertile Fear
Starting at the location of our fear to identify fertile, creative possibilities. A Solid class focused on making friends with fear/avoidance and using these instructive feelings as a door into our true desires. Compassion, vulnerability, emotional safety, and community support are the ideal ingredients for accessing bravery. We'll discuss dimensions of fear, the power of vulnerability, and create guidelines for how we can cultivate bravery together. The class will culminate in each participant identifying a fear/avoidance, naming what support you need to transform it, and practicing leaning into that fear with our support.

LIQUIDS:

Liquid classes function as a series of workshops, so each session should be able to stand alone. Students are welcome to attend a different Liquid class each day, or to stick with the same one all week.


lo bil: Post Clown and the Anti-Objective: COMPASS
Use your body as a worlding device and create a collective Compass. We make physical proposals to self-source deeper images and desires for your formless form art practice of stars. Spin yourself into the portal of unrepeatable moments in the future history. We will find ourselves moving weirdly in response to the strangeness of the world. We will create external confusion in order to shake the inner layers of your all-unknowing clown gods. Nownevernottogetto where time falls apart and we try to find each other in puddles of wonder laughing in places we have never arrived at. Feel free to stay for the full class or drop in for the 30-minute warm-up each day to get your movement genius on.


Yasmin Reshamwala: Synthetic Synesthesia
Research has shown that 4% of the population has Synesthesia. What about the rest of us? In this course we will tap into how senses overlap through exploration of the intersection of site and sound. We will discover aspects of the voice as an instrument via breathing techniques, tonal experimentation, and rhythm exercises which will then be interpreted into color, texture, and light. How bright is a crescendo? What does a scream look like? What shade is a whisper? No prior music experience necessary!


Rotating Staff liquid!
Some of our radical staff members will be taking turns teaching a liquid class! Each participating staff member will just teach one class slot, which means: even more space for students to teach GAS CLASSES!