S P A C E Showcase Ed. 5 is a final presentation of our 2023 S P A C E Alliance Studio Residency program Resident Artists, Nhu Nuygen & Lesly Rodriguez, aisha reddick & allie miks, and Sam Briseno-Jimenez. Through a 10-week artist residency process in collaboration with DISCO RIOT’s community partners Art Produce, Balletcenter Studios, and Malashock Dance, our selected Resident Artists delved into research and development of new works. Join us for the culminating event for this process, to see what their creative research and exploration has yielded.

September 29th & 30th @ 7pm

$15 for artists/students, $25 for general public

No one turned away for lack funds - please email operations@discoriot.org if ticket cost is prohibitive to your participation in this event.

About the Artists & Their Projects

Samuel Briseno Jimenez (they/them) is a queer and trans, interdisciplinary performance artist who explores queer latinidad in relation to the liminal space that is the border. Sam is a descendant of immigrant land laborers who sprouted new life in the twin-border cities located near the Mexican-US border, Imperial County and Mexicali, Baja California. Sam’s work brings light to the taboo, encourages curiosity, and disrupts space (time+place) by exploring the queered space in-between binaries/borders. Sam incorporates materials, multimedia arts, and movement scores to transform space, generate conversations, and investigate how bodies move through space. Sam enhances any space they're in, through their capacity to transform, their flexibility to adapt, their groundedness and through their intentionality. Sam leads every movement with love.

Samuel’s work Trans-Materialized (embodied movement scores) is a growing collection of trans lived experiences, exploring themes related to, Exhaustion, Stages of going out, Sexualization, Fear, Intimacy, Clownery, Slipping into trance, among other themes. Trans-Materialized to describe the hyper-visibility, negotiation, and materialization of trans bodies as they move through space. Living so much of our lives within borders that dictate how we are “supposed,” to move through space, Samuel explores the limitless possibilities that exist within the in-between. Trans-Materialized is a movement-based practice that is informed by the environments the scores are performed in, the lived experiences of the performer, and the themes at large.

Aisha Reddick (she/her) is a movement artist and teacher based in San Diego. Aisha’s creative work stems from a place of curiosity, unserious play and pushing the boundaries of the unexpected. allie miks (she/her) is a performing artist, mover, and teacher from Los Angeles. allie creates art in a process-based method that focuses on collaboration with the creators involved. to her, movement and the creation of art in community with others is the most liberating experience, and it is to be shared.

allie and aisha’s work, who me? couldn’t be! Is an immersive and fun dance theater piece. Four friends are on a quest to solve a mystery… something sweet is on the line!

Nhu Nguyen is an artist and maker with interests in dance, photography, and wearable art. While currently settled in traditional territory of the Luiseño and Kumeyaay people, modern day San Diego, their roots extend to Ho Chi Minh city, Vietnam.Since their immigration to the United States, Nguyen has been in various roles and partnerships with multiple Creative Youth Development organizations in San Diego. Currently, their work explores the intersectionality of world building and remembrance. lesly rodriguez is a 24 year old experimental dance artist born in oaxaca, mexico but currently residing in southern california. They are an advocate for dance as a healing practice with limitless potential to express political, social, cultural, and conceptual themes through movement. lesly explores identity, intimacy, and their personal connection to the current state of the world through choreographic research, visual art, writing, video diaries and zine making. Their current research is focused on coexistence - existence without sacrificing parts oneself. 

The launching point of Nhu and Lesly's research is inheritance. They share a history of remembering our parents acknowledging leaving everything behind when they immigrated to the US. They are interested in this place where this "nothing" is left. This project is about existing in multiplicity; acknowledging everything/everyone that leaves an imprint in our lives and the power that you give it.

For more information about the artists, visit https://discoriot.org/space-2023/