4QS 2023

Created and performed by Mariia Bakalo and Kevin Wong
4QS: 4th Quarter MFA Dance Showings
By second-year MFA students in Experimental Choreography 

A festival of two artists presenting work on war and intimacy. Each work offers different aesthetics and research approaches such as documentaries, artifacts/materials, ethnography, identity, artistic vision, decision making, and play. 

Event Schedule
Thursday-Friday, November 2nd-3rd, 2023
 

6 p.m. PDT
Maze Without a Minotaur by Mariia Bakalo
BY INVITATION
Location: Performance Lab, Arts 166
Format: in-person

Maze without a Minotaur* is a journey through reflections, stories, testimonies and fragments of russian crimes against humanity. Family photos, a security thread, a care-ful net, and a fundamental question. Art is rather weird when your friends and loved ones are under attack. As long as the Minotaur keeps committing violence in my home, I will lead you through his labyrinth here in Riverside.

Content warning: This showing contains potentially triggering images and objects, documentary video and sound materials from the place of mass sufferings of Ukrainian people, targeted by the Russian military forces. It also contains participatory elements in its composition design, which invite guests to join and share the moments of collective contemplation and cooperation. One of the scenes of the showing offers two sources of sound. For that reason, we kindly ask you to bring your own headphones as a means to access it fully.

*Please, bring your own headphones and playback device (i.e. cell phone) for a fuller experience. 

Collaborators
Mariia Yaremak, music collaborator
Sofiia Kozlova, stage property collaborator
Larissa Babij, text collaborator
Noah Arjomand, videographer

7:15 p.m. PDT
– something of a personal or private nature by Kevin Wong
RSVP by clicking the "Register" button at the top of this page
Location: Performance Lab, Arts 166
Format: in-person
Free and Open to the Public

– something of a personal or private nature is an open investigation of care that explores the complex relationship of self, with the self, as oneself through live archiving, narratives, object studies, and interactive play. 

Content warning: This piece contains nudity and sexually charged materials. 

Collaborators
Rory Fewer, music collaborator
Noah Arjomand, videographer
 

Download the poster here 

Download the program here

ARTIST TALKBACK

Wednesday, Nov. 8 at 6:00-7:30 p.m. in INTS 1109

PARKING

Free parking is available in Lot 1 Blue for this event. To reserve your free parking permit, follow these steps:

Step 1: Click on this link.

Step 2: Enter your license plate number. 

Step 3: If the plate is non-California, select the appropriate state for the plate.

Step 4: Click "Park." Your permit is now reserved!

If you have trouble reserving your permit through OffStreet, you may request assistance with using OffStreeet at the Lot 1 kiosk. Plan to arrive at least 30 minutes early if you require assistance. Please note that the Campus Drive West kiosk by Lot 1 does not sell parking permits.
 

For any other questions about event parking, please email parking@ucr.edu between the hours of 8 a.m. and 4 p.m., Monday to Friday, and allow up to one business day to receive a response.

Bio
Mariia Bakalo is a choreographer from Crimea, Ukraine, who is invested in the question of the role of art in the time of war. In her before-the-war reality, Mariia's artistic research integrated two of her biggest passions which are literature and dance. After the Crimea occupation, Mariia moved to Lviv, where she took a position at the local University as a dance teacher. In 2017 she switched to an independent artistic practice, engaging with the social and cultural environment of Lviv, infusing the way for the somatics dance community to shape and grow. Mariia collaborated with various cultural institutions from Ukraine, Germany, Austria, Lithuania, UK. Currently an MFA candidate at UC Riverside (US), recipient of the Gluck Fellowship, I-Portunos, Danceweb Scholarship Program, Tanja Leidke Foundation stipend. 

Kevin Wong is a queer Asian-American artist from San Francisco, California with a background in experimental, contemporary, hip hop, modern, pedestrian, and Chinese dance. His work researches ideas of intimacy, desires, and memories through improvisation scores, choreographic approaches, and heartfelt conversations. His goal is to develop an analytical and in-body practice that cultivates a safe space for generating a deeper understanding of the self. He is a second year MFA student in Experimental Choreography and a recipient of the Gluck Fellowship.


These works are presented by the University of California, Riverside, Department of Dance and created in partial fulfillment of the requirements for the Master of Fine Arts degree in Experimental Choreography.

Information: dance@ucr.edu

Photo credit: Pavlo Yaremak