Kosoko back in Philadelphia, offers up The Gemini Show: A Cabaret of Daring Dirty Duets

Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, Executive Director of the Philadiction Movement and 2011 Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in DC, is curating a new set of works here in Philadelphia – The Gemini Show: A Cabaret of Daring Dirty Duets. Celebrating all the characteristics of a Gemini, Kosoko has organized a series of duets meant to pulse, intrigue, and arouse the senses, that will be performed on June 9th and 10th, 2011 at 6pm and 9pm in thefidget space, at 1714 North Mascher St, Philadelphia.

In each of the four scheduled performances,  Kosoko offers up a unique and varying set of duets, that more than tempts its audiences.

Thursday, June 9th at 6pm will lead off with performance poetry –  Notes on an Urban Kill-Floor by Jaamil Kosoko; experimental theater – Sonso, Simians and Pierrot, excerpt by Marcel Foster and special guest; a bit of dance with Brink by Jaamil Kosoko and Brandon Shockley and even more movement in Dirty Diana with Ami Dowden Fant and Danielle Currica. A post performance discussion will follow, led by Megan Bridge, co-director of thefidget space.

The late evening performance at 9pm  features music – The Chocolate Sex Suite by Lillie Ruth Bussey/J-Luv; a dance excerpt, Find by Shannon Murphy and special guest; and experimental theater with Damaging Principles of a Hidden Language by Melissa Diane and Jaamil Kosoko.

For Friday, June 10th at 6pm, look for more dance with The Opposite of Killing, excerpt by Tzveta Kassobova and special guest artist;  experimental theater – Sonso, Simians and Pierrot, excerpt by Marcel Foster and special guest; and Doppelganger, excerpt from More by Headlong Dance Theater, Devynn Emory and Jaamil Kosoko.  A post performance discussion will follow, led by Megan Bridge, co-director of the fidget space.

The 9pm performance will cap things off with The Opposite of Killing, excerpt by Tzveta Kassobova and special guest artist;  Doppelganger, excerpt from More by Headlong Dance Theater, Devynn Emory and  Jaamil Kosoko; Damaging Principles of a Hidden Language by Melissa Diane and Jaamil Kosoko;  The Chocolate Sex Suite by Lillie Ruth Bussey/ J-Luv/ Brandon Shockley and for the finale, American Chameleon, a dance duet by Vince Johnson and Zachary Svoboda.

All of this leads up to thefidget space’s  third anniversary benefit  and loft-party,  co-hosted by Kate-Watson Wallace/anonymous bodies on Saturday, June 11, 2011.

Jaamil Olawale Kosoko, a 2011 Fellow at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts and a certificate candidate at the Institute for Curatorial Practice in Performance (ICPP) at Wesleyan University, has been published in The American Poetry Review, Poems Against War, The Dunes Review, and Silo, among other publications. He has been a guest poet at various universities and high schools throughout the United States. In 2009, Kosoko published Animal in Cyberspace (Old City Publishing). He is a contributing writer for Dance Journal and the Broad Street Review in Philadelphia. Jaamil is also the Chief Curator & Executive Producing Director of The Philadiction Movement, a multi-genre experimental theater company based in Philadelphia, PA.

Kosoko’s work has received support from The Pew Center for Arts and Heritage through Dance Advance, The Joyce Theater Foundation, and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund. Performance Venues include: Joyce SoHo, Dixon Place, Dance Theater Workshop, Bennington College, Danspace at St. Mark’s Church, the CEC Meeting House Theater, Painted Bride Arts Center, among others. Performer credits include: Terry Creach, Lisa Kraus, Kate Watson-Wallace/anonymous bodies, Pig Iron Theatre Company, Keely Garfield Dance, Miguel Gutierrez and The Powerful People, and Headlong Dance Theater.

The Philadiction Movement is a recently formed Philadelphia based interdisciplinary ensemble of performers: dancers, musicians, writers, actors, and visual design artists. Our artistic mission is to connect daring audiences with daring work in experimental theater, poetry, and performance art through innovative and culturally diverse live performance, literary publication, youth and community outreach, and education. We aim to challenge and nurture our audiences through an on-going dialogue that consistently explores new, creative approaches and processes of creating community through artistic collaboration, peer mentoring, and audience diversification. http://www.philadiction.org

thefidget space – Housed in a 19th century, 4700 square foot warehouse in Kensington, thefidget space opened its doors in June 2009. Through a presenting platform, an artist-in-residence program, and affordable rehearsal space for dance and theater groups, <fidget> and thefidget space work to promote experimental and interdisciplinary art making and discourse. With a focus on immediacy of audience experience (imagine lounging on a comfy couch, sipping on a glass of wine, and watching a performance unfold a few feet in front of you), thefidget space aims to challenge conceptual paradigms in the arts and humanities and deepen thinking about culture and the nature of human experience. http://www.thefidget.org


The Gemini Show: A Cabaret of Daring Dirty Duets
Thursday, June 9th @ 6PM
Thursday, June 9th @ 9PM
Friday, June 10th @ 6PM
Friday, June 10th @ 9PM
thefidget space, 1714 North Mascher St. (4th floor), Philadelphia, PA 19122
Tickets: $20, $10 artist/student
Available online at Dance Box Office

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