AN INTERVIEW WITH AMUSE BOUCHE PRODUCTIONS
Sheila and Masha started “The Amuse Bouche Productions” - “making provocative movement-based work in the spaces where pop culture and critical inquiry collide, at times more literally than figuratively.” We are attending one of their performances coming up and we jumped at the opportunity to do an interview!
QDL: First and foremost I just want to give a shout out to your performances #CHAMPION coming up Pride weekend at the Fringe Festival - you have four solo shows is that right? How did you and Masha come up with the concept for the show?
Sheila: Yes, we have a run of four shows at the Denver Fringe Festival. #CHAMPION will be at the Savoy Theater for evening shows Thursday - Saturday, June 23 -25th @7:15pm and for a matinee on Sunday, June 26th @4:15pm.
As Masha and I were crafting this piece, we were acutely aware of how few platforms for disabled and queer/trans performers in the dance world. After a number of surgeries left me significantly more disabled, I had a choice, either to stop making work because my body lost the capacity to move in ways I had been accustomed to or to find spaces, create space for work informed by my actual lived experience. I got really interested in creating a show that plays with the complexity of needing and relying on the machines that keep me alive. The concept for #CHAMPION continually references and plays with the very real life hacks, comedies, and heartbreaks of navigating the world we live in. I couldn’t not hear Queen’s music talking directly to the queer and, later in Freddie Mercury’s career, disabled experience and those parallels pulled at me until I was ready to start.
Speaking of Pride - what does pride mean to you and how do you celebrate?
Pride is an opportunity for gratitude for the queer and trans folks of color and generations before us who fought and lived and loved on the margins, against all odds. As the same rights the generations before us fought so hard for are threatened yet again in our current political climate, Pride feels both somber and celebratory. This year we’re celebrating with a show!
Tell us a bit more about your history with dancing and as a performer?
I grew up dancing, and have a BFA in Dance from the University of Michigan. I lived in New York for several years, and performed for various companies and choreographers in the downtown New York postmodern dance scene. In addition to choreographing and performing, I have taught dance technique, improvisation, somatics and composition in community arts organizations, universities, and private studios in New York City; Ann Arbor, MI; and throughout the Denver area.
Masha is an interdisciplinary artist, designer and writer who had worked in independent theater in Miami in the early aughts.
You and your story are so inspiring. Who inspires you?
This is a complicated question, insomuch as the mainstream has a complicated relationship to those of us who are disabled. Being seen predominantly as inspirational is just a step from being seen as exceptional, which isn’t far from being tokenized, which are all of course experiences familiar to folks living with a variety of marginalized identities. There are a lot of brilliant queer and disabled folks writing and educating about this, with queer and disabled POC at the forefront of articulating the complexity of these and other intersecting identities (the work of Leah Lakshmi Piepzna-Samarasinha, adrienne maree brown, Alice Wong, and Alan Pelaez Lopez to name just a few). For a place to start for allies, Masha and I recommend Emily Ladau’s friendly and approachable book, Demistifying Disability. In fact, inspiration is one of the dynamics that we actively play with (and confront) in #CHAMPION. Even the name of the show is, in itself, a parody on this idea that disabled people just going about living their lives are by default triumphant.
I am inspired by dry, witty humor; human stories; the fact that popcorn is literally corn blown up by air into a fluffy delicious treat; weather phenomena; fabulous queer fashion; and absurdity of many kinds. Masha is inspired by the ways we hold each other in community, the generative power of awkwardness, and epigenetics.
You are also a Social Justice Counselor - what does that mean exactly? (I know it explains this a bit on your webisite https://www.counselingincontext.com/social-justice-counseling)
Both Masha and I work as social justice counselors/somatic psychotherapists in addition to running Amuse Bouche Productions. Social justice counseling highlights the reality that most humans do not live in a void, and therefore works with the reality that institutional power and privilege dynamics are as impactful on a person’s experiences and mental health as other factors such as biology, personality, relationships and community. Social justice counseling focuses not only on individual work, but also on broader systemic shifts, policy change and advocacy work. You can find more about each of our approaches to our counseling work by following the links to our respective websites from the Amuse Bouche Productions site.
How do we find you - website, instagram, performing schedule....
Follow Amuse-Bouche on Instagram and Facebook @therealamusebouche, visit our website: www.therealamusebouche.com. Yes, please come see us at our show! Info and tickets can be found at https://denverfringe.org/shows/champion. We are at the Savoy Denver Thurs-Sat June 23-25 @ 7:15 pm, and Sunday, June 26 @ 4:15 pm.
