Dohee Lee: MU–Connector/When the land stands alone

dohEE LEE

MU–Connector/ When the land stands alone

June 23–24, 2023 YBCA Forum

WELCOME TO YERBA BUENA CENTER FOR THE ARTS

YBCA is thrilled to once again present the inspiring work of Dohee Lee. Her performances possess an unparalleled power, captivating audiences as she weaves together sound, movement, and personal narratives to create powerful and evocative storytelling.

Dohee Lee is a truly visionary artist. Drawing upon the timeless power of music, theater, and community, she takes us on a captivating exploration of ancient ritual traditions and contemporary expressions. As we navigate an era marked by disconnection and uncertainty, rituals serve as anchors, grounding us and providing a sense of stability, purpose, and shared experience in a fragmented world.

On behalf of the entire YBCA family, thank you for joining us this evening. Let us come together on a meaningful journey that embraces our ancestral roots, acknowledges our collective histories, and fosters connections among us.

Warmly,

JODI COBALT HEAD OF PERFORMING ARTS & SPECIAL EVENTS

A NOTE FROM ARTIST DOHEE LEE

As Asians in diaspora, we call upon the spirit of the land and our ancestors who hold the umbilical cord of our birth and theirs, to bridge where we belong to this unceded Ohlone land where we all live with the Ohlone ancestors and their descendants. With our bodies as connectors, we listen to the land, the resilience, strength, and guidance of our ancestors, and Chilseong/vital life—for healing.

We are calling out and naming our sickness to purge the systems that oppress our people and ancestral values, here and back on our ancestral lands. White supremacy, patriarchy, and capitalism—all of these destroy the value of human life and the earth.

From the ocean to the mountain to the Ohlone Shellmound Sacred Site, we dedicate this ritual to our ancestors, to the struggling earth where we all confront our identities, ancestral blockage, climate change, and a global pandemic. We pray for liberation

“

독립 (DokRip) Independence/Liberation” for our ancestral lands and the unceded Ohlone land and people, until the lands stand alone. DOHEE LEE

Dohee Lee Puri Arts presents

MU–Connector/ When the land stands alone “영매:독립”

with

The Storytellers’

मेरो गीत मेरो यात्र Mero Geet mero yatra (my song, my journey)

Creative Producer: Dohee Lee

Lighting Design: José María Francos

Stage Manager and Production Manager: José María Francos

Production Assistance: Justine Xu

MU–Connector/When the land stands alone

Concept and direction: Dohee Lee

Choreography and Stories: Dohee Lee and CRE members

Music Composition: Adria Otte

MU Ritual and Drummers: Emily Encina, JaeEun Jun, Eugene Kang, Yong Chan Miller, Adria Otte, Codie Otte, Sol Rhee, and Mi Kyong Kim

Mero Geet Mero Yatra

Costume Design: Dana Kawano, Soyeun Shin, Dohee Lee, and CRE members

CRE Cohorts/CoRazOn Performers: Frances Cachapero, laura ann coelho, Emily Encina, Sapho Flor, JaeEun Jun, Mi Kyong Kim, Inhui Moonstone Lee, Tiff Lin, Rebekah Sze-Tung Olstad, Sol Rhee, Katie Tao, Seh-reum Tom, Mơ (Trang) Trần, Dongyi Wu, and Justine Xu

Created by The Storytellers with guidance from Dohee Lee

Choreography and Stories: Dohee Lee, Jyoti Gurung, and MGMY members

Music Composition: Manose

Costume Design: Nawal Rai

The Storytellers: Jyoti Gurung, Robin Gurung, Paras Maharjan, Beebak Rai, Nawal Rai, Manose, Biplu Subba, Jharna Subba, Nergis Subba, and Parsu Adhikari

ARTIST PROFILES

Dohee Lee weaves her multiple virtuosities in drumming, dancing, and singing into immersive ritualized theatrical creations. Born on Jeju Island, Korea, she trained at the master-level in music and dance styles rooted in Korean shamanism. In 2002, Lee immigrated to Oakland, CA and founded Puri Arts in 2004 to create a new art form with both traditional and contemporary arts. Lee is Artistic Director of Dohee Lee Puri Arts, Director of Art and Healing with Asian Refugees United, and on faculty at Tamalpa Institute.

ABOUT THE PURI ARTS TEAM

Adria Otte creates music inspired from a diverse musical background that includes classical violin studies, rock bands, traditional Korean drumming, free improvisation, and experimental electronic music. As a multi-instrumentalist, she has performed improvised and composed works on violin, electric guitar, and both digital and analog electronics. As a sound designer and composer, she contributes to dance and theater productions as well as collaborations with video and visual artists.

José María Francos made the Bay Area his home when, after a short career as a dancer, he was forced to leave his native Argentina for political reasons. He has designed for opera, ballet, and theater companies, including Oakland Opera, Oakland Ballet, NYC/San Francisco Festival Latino, Robert Moses KIN, and more. He worked for many years as Director of Production and Technical Director for YBCA, before retiring in 2017 to work as a freelance theatrical designer.

Dana Kawano is a ritual wear designer and scenic/installation visual artist versed in a multitude of artistic mediums. Her focus is to create “visual landscapes” of elaborate wearable and scenic art that incorporate textiles, found materials, and traditional mediums while integrating cultural and ritual layering to tell a story.

ABOUT OUR COMMUNITIES

MU Ritual Drummers is a collective of Korean drummers living in the Bay Area. As Koreans in diaspora, playing together is a powerful spiritual and political act. Through drumming, they connect with and reclaim their cultures and identities, and uphold their ancestors’ legacy of resistance and resilience.

CoRazOn/CRE Cohorts is a Bay Area collective of immigrant heritage artists/activists dedicated to decolonizing their relationships to land and one another by honoring and practicing matriarchal ancestral wisdom through the use of ritual as performance.

The Storytellers are a group of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese youths from 5 different U.S. states. Thousands of Nepali-speaking Bhutanese were exiled in the late 1980s/ early 1990s due to Bhutan’s “One Nation One People” policy—living in refugee camps in Nepal for over 15 years before resettling in the US in the late 2000s. The performers share their experiences of displacements, search for belonging, connection to roots, and hope for humanity.

PARTNERSHIP ORGANIZATIONS

Sogorea Te’ Land Trust is an urban Indigenous women-led land trust based in the San Francisco Bay Area that facilitates the return of Indigenous land to Indigenous people. sogoreate-landtrust.org

Asian Refugees United is an arts and healing leadership center, aiming to cultivate and restore wholeness in communities impacted by displacement. asianrefugees.org

Thank YOu to YBCA Funders!

Dohee Lee’s work is supported by Creative Work Fund, Zellerbach Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, City of Oakland, California Arts Council, New England Foundation for the Arts, Fleishhacker Foundation, East Bay Community Foundation, Alameda County, Akonadi Foundation, AHL Foundation, CCI, and Dancers’ Group.

This project was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project and the MAP Fund, and supported by the Doris Duke Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Additional support was provided by The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

YBCA Programs are made possible in part by MacKenzie Scott, California Arts Council, #StartSmall, The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation, the San Francisco Arts Commission, the Institute of Museum and Library Services, Marilyn Conrad Trust, Doris Duke Foundation, William G. Irwin Charity Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Walter & Elise Haas Fund, The Bernard Osher Foundation, Meridee Moore: In Memory of Kevin King, The Sato Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, Gaia Fund, and YBCA Members.

Generous support provided by Blue Shield of California. Blue Shield of California is an independent member of the Blue Shield Association.

YBCA COnTrIbutors

YBCA PRODUCTION DEPARTMENT

Chris Griffin, Director of Production

Minerva Ramirez, Production Manager

Veronica Pheils, Production Manager

Greg Wilson, Theater Head Technician, Lighting

Bert Hebbert-Castillo, Theater Head Technician, Audio

Michael Starobin, Forum Head Technician, ETCP Electrician

Thank you to IATSE Local 16 Stage Crew!

YBCA PROGRAM STAFF

Jodi Cobalt, Head of Performing Arts & Special Events

Anna Lisa Escobedo, Senior Manager of Artist Engagement & Impact

Cori Lucas, Program Event Manager

2022-23 YBCA Board Of Directors

Renuka Kher, Chair

Jeff Chang

Amy Eliot

Nancy Levinson

Laura Livoti

Nazli Parvizi

Sunya Berkelman Rosado

Corinne Sklar

Clyde Valentin

Zak Williams

Emeritus

Helen Sause

ybCA DONORS

YBCA gratefully acknowledges gifts of $500 or more made in the past two fiscal years, from July 1, 2020, to June 30, 2022. Special thanks to the City of San Francisco for its ongoing support.

$100,000 AND ABOVE

Blue Shield of California

California Arts Council

California Office of the Small Business Advocate

Marilyn Conrad Trust

Doris Duke Charitable Foundation

Ford Foundation

Walter & Elise Haas Fund

The William and Flora Hewlett Foundation

Institute of Museum and Library Services

The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation

Kenneth Rainin Foundation

San Francisco Arts Commission

MacKenzie Scott

Small Business Administration

#StartSmall Tambourine

$50,000–$99,999

Anonymous (2)

Bloomberg Philanthropies

National Endowment for the Arts

$20,000–$49,999

Anonymous

Bonfire Labs

Creative Work Fund

Koret Foundation

The Moca Foundation

Meridee Moore: In Memory of Kevin King

The Bernard Osher Foundation

William Penn Foundation

Rasmuson Foundation

Jennifer Redmond Esq.*

Yerba Buena Community Benefit District

$10,000–$19,999

Anonymous

Alternate Roots

Ignite/Arts Dallas

Nicola Miner and Robert Mailer Anderson

New England Foundation for the Arts

Leslie and Merle Rabine

Mira Rao

Philip Sager

The Sato Foundation

Sharon Simpson / Simpson Family

Corinne Sklar

State Compensation Insurance Fund

The Triumph Philanthropy Fund

David Joseph Weber and Renu Agrawal

$5,000–$9,999

Anonymous

Sunya Berkelman-Rosado

Michelle Branch and Dale Cook

Amy T. Eliot

Heron Arts

Renuka Kher and Sandeep Solanki

Kinkade Family Foundation

Dr. Hanmin Liu and Ms. Jennifer Mei

Nion McEvoy

The Norman Foundation

Judilee Reed

James Richardson

Malia Simonds and Elliot Kirschner

$2,500–$4,999

Anonymous (2)

Amalgamated Bank

Lisa Brown and Daniel Handler

Diana Cohn and Craig Merrilees

Carla and David Crane

Lisa Renee Ellis

Randi and Bob Fisher

Gaia Fund

David Harris and Aviva Aminova

James C. Hormel and Michael P. Nguyen

Marcia and Robert Popper

Helmut Wolfgang Schumann Foundation

Srinija Srinivasan

Karen Wickre

Mitchell and Kristen Yawitz

$1,000–$2,499

Anonymous

Verda Alexander and Primo Orpilla

The Candide Group Fund

Jeff and Lourdes Chang

Stuart and Barbara Cianos

The Charles Piper Cost Foundation

M. Quinn Delaney and Wayne Jordan

Gloria and Saul Feldman

Robert C. Goodman and John Bankston

Ayele Hadero

David Hornik and Pamela Hornik

Jared Jensen

Richard Laiderman and Jung-Wha Song

Erik Mayo

Peter Rigano and Cody Hicks

Joyce Shon

Gussie Stewart

Harvey & Leslie Wagner Foundation

San San Wong

$500–$999

Anonymous (2)

Anonymous In-kind (2)*

Berit Ashla and Aron Cramer

Jamie Bennett*

Brandi Brooks and Tim Losch

Yvette Chalom and Paul Fogel

Brian Connolly: In Memory of Paul Connolly

The Cultivist

Catherine and Bryan Daniels

Doran & Associates

Penelope Douglas and Jim Harrigan

Francesca Eastman and Edward Goodstein

Colin Eykamp

Rebecca Follo

Tracy Freedman

Deborah Greer and Roni Raulwing

Marcy Levine

Nancy Levinson

Lawrence Li and Philip Tran

Margaret Lynch

Catherine Marshall

Bruce McDougal and Daniel Rey

Francine Miller

Nancy and Steven Oliver

Nazli Parvizi

Rekha Patel

Elizabeth and Justice Reed

Mathieu Reeves

Sara Roepke

Chris Safford

Mr. James Sottile Jr.

Roselyne Swig

Clyde Valentin

Marc and Megara Vogl

Zak Williams and Olivia June

Chris Wittman

*In-kind contribution

Back cover: Photo by Pamela Gentile

توارط | TARAVAT

May 13–July 23, 2023

Iranian-American artist Taravat Talepasand presents paintings, drawings, sculptures, and neon in a timely examination of the cultural taboos around gender and political authority—and offers a forum for the Woman, Life, Freedom movement. This exhibition is free and open to the public, on view at YBCA Thursday–Sunday from 12–6pm.

ABOUT YBCA

Opened to the public in 1993, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) was founded as the cultural anchor of San Francisco’s Yerba Buena Gardens neighborhood. Our work spans the realms of contemporary art, performance, film, civic engagement, and public life. By centering artists as essential to social and cultural movement, YBCA is reimagining the role an arts institution can play in the communities it serves. For more information, visit ybca.org.