The 2016 Naked Stages artists are Nadia Honary, Magnolia Yang Sao Yia and Shante’ Sojourn Zenith. Nadia has been doing multimedia production work of varying degrees for over 10 years. She has collaborated and produced videos and photos for several nonprofit organizations as well as collaborated with artists locally and internationally of various disciplines through performance, interactive theater, and digital media. Dancer and choreographer Magnolia Yang Sao Yia addresses the marginalized experience as a woman of color, immigrant and displaced person shaped by her social and political perspective. Finally, Shante’ Sojourn Zenith is a theatre creator, poet, phenomenological philosopher and clown who has allowed her curiosities to remain vast and diverse. They were chosen by a panel of artists including past Naked Stages recipients and other professional artists: Elizabeth MacNally, Moheb Soliman, and Alison Heimsted.
About the 2016 projects
Nadia Honary will create an installation exploring the natural evolution of identity in regards to gender, sexuality and culture using mirrors, video and performance.
Magnolia Yang Sao Yia’s new work explores spirituality as a core characteristic, virtue, and marker of the Hmong identity to reclaim the dance, indigenous practices, Hmong bodies, lived experiences, Hmong oral histories and knowledge.
Shante’ Sojourn Zenith will present a collection of glimpsed encounters within poetic spaces; an exploration into embodied imagination through radical acts of presence, creating openings for mutual witnessing and transformation.
More Information
Pramila Vasudevan begins her initial year as Director of Naked Stages (taking over from seminal artist Molly Van Avery.) A creative opportunity unlike any other in Minnesota, Naked Stages is a 7 month development program that provides time, financial support, and mentoring to three artists to develop their unique voices as performance artists and creators. Once a month they also participate in production meetings focused on the business side of art, from audience development to technical support, helping to develop their unique voice into a sustainable, artistic career.
Naked Stages performances will be December 8-17, 2016.