CAMPO/Pieter Ampe and Guilherme Garrido, Still Standing You
See "Man on Man." Winningstad Theatre, Fri Sept 13 & Sat Sept 14, 6:30 pm, $20-25
Lola Arias, The Year I Was Born
See "What Happened, Who to Blame, How to Judge." Imago Theatre, Fri Sept 13 & Sun Sept 15, 6:30 pm, Sat Sept 14, 4:30 pm, $20-25
Trajal Harrell, Judson Church Is Ringing in Harlem (Made-to-Measure)/Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (M2M)
Trajal Harrell has spent years indulging in a dance geek's fever dreamâimagining the very specific result of a what-if collision between two distinct schools of dance with deep roots in 20th century, Harlem and New York City. Basically, he imagines what would happen if the experimentalists from Greenwich Village's avant-garde Judson Memorial Church somehow busted out of the early 1960s and got together with the vogue dancers who went on to star in Harlem's ballrooms all the way through the 1980s. Much of Harrell's series on that collision, Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (M2M), has the vogue dancers heading south. This piece has the Judson Church stylists heading north. The styles are clearly differentâvoguing is full of flamboyance, while the Judson dancers tended toward the austere. Casual fans will enjoy the physicality and contrasts and what Harrell believes is a similar story of seduction. But the finer points will be appreciated best by dance geeks. DENIS C. THERIAULT Con-Way, Fri Sept 13 & Sat Sept 14, 8:30 pm, $20-25
bobbevy/Suniti Dernovsek and David Stein, This is how we disappear
Choreographer Suniti Dernovsek and visual artist David Stein are longtime Portland-based collaborators who've been around the local circuit quite a bit, including prior TBA performances and appearances during Reed Arts Week and the South Waterfront iteration of Ten Tiny Dances. Their past works are marked by hypnotic electronic music accompaniment that pulses and intones according to the sometimes deliberate, sometimes dervish-like movement onstage. Throughout, Stein's visual projections add movement and color to the multi-sensory and somewhat psychedelic (see especially 2011's Palace of Crystal) experience. In This is how we disappear, they turn their attention to the complexities and dramas of human relationships in comparison to the autonomous workings of things like time, atoms, and other constants of the physical world. MARJORIE SKINNER BodyVox, Fri Sept 13-Mon Sept 16, 8:30 pm, $15-20
Meow Meow and Thomas Lauderdale
Billed as a kamikaze cabaret diva, Meow Meow is glamour incarnateâthe Australian chanteuse is covered in sequins and fake eyelashes and charisma and heartbreak. She's also a damned funny broad. Her pal Thomas Lauderdale (of Pink Martini) and the Oregon Symphony will provide the accompaniment as Meow Meow sings beautiful torch songs with an ever-present cigarette (or two) in hand. This gal's a cheeky sex bomb, but with her clarion voice and lovely range, she's just as likely to make your eyes cry martini tears. The cabaret star is not unlike a (slightly) less tragic Isabella Rossellini from Blue Velvet, only with more stage lolling and crowd-surfing in a cocktail dress. So, pretty much utterly delightful. COURTNEY FERGUSON Arlene Schnitzer Concert Hall, Sat Sept 14, 8 pm, $23-98
Linda Austin and David Eckard, Three Trick Pony
See "Cartoon Gravity." Con-Way, Sun Sept 15, 4:30 pm, Mon Sept 16 & Wed Sept 18, 6:30 pm, $15-20
Trajal Harrell, Antigone Jr./Twenty Looks or Paris Is Burning at the Judson Church (Jr.)
Full of androgynous vamping, Trajal Harrell's sultry study of a Greek tragedy, Sophocles' Antigone, means to further examine the limited set of conditions in which two schools of dance might coexist. It's an older piece in Harrell's long-running series probing the collision of the 1960s minimalist Judson Memorial Church scene in Greenwich Village and the uptown, dramatic vogue scene that stormed Harlem's ballrooms on its way to breakout fame in the 1980s. Harrell and another dancer play Antigone and her sister, respectively, letting the disconnect between their genders guide them in exploring the styles of dance that have fascinated Harrell for years. DCT Con-Way, Sun Sept 15, 6 pm, $10-15
The Blow, We Put It Together So We Could Take It Apart
See "Sexual Science." Winningstad Theatre, Sun Sept 15 & Mon Sept 16, 8:30 pm, $15-20
Laura Arrington and Jesse Hewit, ADULT
"Yikes!" That's what it said across the bright pink backdrop at a work-in-progress performance of Laura Arrington and Jesse Hewit's utterly whackadoo-looking mindfuck of a performance, ADULT. Employing dick jokes, seizure-inducing Christmas lights, and lots of grunting, humping, and an anal-bead thong, the piece explores theories of light (also defined as "postured/lungs/effect/freak/THE DYING ACT OF LIVING") and dark (warm/admissive/liver/monster/THE LIVING ACT OF DYING) with storytelling, suggestively deep breathing, and a completely unhinged spastic-ness that promises to be part deeply creepy, part absurdly hilarious, and really fun, in a disastrous, emotionally apocalyptic kind of way. Andâtantalizingly and appropriately enoughâADULT is one of the few TBA performances marked for "mature audiences." Oooooh. MS Con-Way, Mon Sept 16-Wed Sept 18, 8:30 pm, $10-15
Third Angle Ensemble, In the Dark
See "Music in the Dark." OMSI Planetarium, Tues Sept 17 & Wed Sept 18, 7:30 pm, Thurs Sept 19, midnight, $25-30
Mariano Pensotti, Sometimes I Think, I Can See You
Venture into one of Mariano Pensotti's impromptu novelizations at your own riskâyou might be cast as a villain or a bore. That's the beauty and the peril of Pensotti's conceit in Sometimes I Think, I Can See You. By attending, you're at the mercy of not just the "authors" who'll be fictionalizing the things they're seeing around them (with those musings broadcast live on projection screens). Your fate is also inexorably tied to any other spectators who show upâor don't. It's the Argentine's first time bringing his "wry act of conspicuous voyeurism" to the US. DIRK VANDERHART PSU's Urban Center Plaza, Wed Sept 18-Sun Sept 22, 11 am-6:30 pm, free
Miguel Gutierrez and the Powerful People, And lose the name of action
Miguel Gutierrez is an artsy-fartsy dudeâhe speaks of "the choreography of air" and "modes of perception"âand he dips his toes into music, performance art, and dance. For And lose the name of action, he gathers a crew of dancers to tackle big-picture themes like neuroscience and paranormal investigations. That could be cool, right? Brains and The X-Files! Yet it's hard to parse what the actual performance is like, except that the action takes place on a very white stage under a huge jellyfish-like parachute and there's a bunch of people squatting in chairs. In a review, the New Yorker trips all over itself to describe what it's not: "indulgent," "dense," and "purposely impenetrable," going on to call it "dazzling and, without a narrative thread, often confusing." But seeing as how Gutierrez has won over many a TBA audience member with his sense of humor and fun, it's probably safe to trust his singular vision, no matter how thorny it may seem. CF Hampton Opera Center, Wed Sept 18, Fri Sept 20 & Sat Sept 21, 6:30 pm, $20-25
Bouchra Ouizguen, Ha!
On first glance, I can think of 1,927 performances I'd rather see than a dance about "madness." But on further thought, dance and lunacy are kinda the perfect complement to each other, what with all the flailing arms and crazy legs and disjointed body movements. Moroccan choreographer Bouchra Ouizguen joins forces with three unconventional dancers in Ha!, a show about the aforementioned madness, but also kinship, relationships, and humor, which uses contemporary dance, chants, and ambient noise. The three women are traditional Moroccan wedding dancers and singers, ladies on the fringe of society in their homeland, but front and center in Ouizguen's productions. This is its US premiere, and it looks like a noisy, stomping performance. CF Imago Theatre, Wed Sept 18-Fri Sept 20, 8:30 pm, $20-25
The Chop Theatre/Itai Erdal, How to Disappear Completely
Israeli-turned-Canadian lighting designer Itai Erdal has teamed up with Vancouver, BC theater company Chop Theatre to create How to Disappear Completely, a one-man, multimedia performance about the death of Erdal's motherâa literature professorâfrom lung cancer. BUT WAIT! Yes, it sounds like it would be awful and depressing, but reports (from Canadians, who are generally smarter than us) indicate that How to Disappear Completely is quite the oppositeâemotionally draining, sure, and discomfortingly personal, but also moving and funny and bereft of theater's actorly tropes. ERIK HENRIKSEN Imago Theatre, Thurs Sept 19-Sat Sept 21, 6:30 pm, $20-25
Nacera Belaza, Le Trait Solos and Le Temps Scellé
Known for intense and somewhat introverted performances, Nacera Belaza frequently references traditional Algerian dance forms (she herself is French Algerian) and frequently collaborates with dancers from Tunisia, Egypt, Palestine, and Lebanon. With a great interest in improvisation and the inner philosophies of the dancer in relation to movement, Belaza's work isn't known as much for entertainment as it is for finding an almost meditative, mesmerizing sympathy with the audience. It's heady and spiritual, and very, very serious. MS Con-Way, Thurs Sept 19 & Fri Sept 20, 8:30 pm, $20-25
Daniel Barrow, The Thief of Mirrors and Looking for Love in the Hall of Mirrors
See "Mirror Mirror." Whitsell Auditorium, Fri Sept 20, 6:30 pm, Sat Sept 21, 8:30 pm, $15-20
Karen Sherman, One with Others
See "Prop Artist." BodyVox, Fri Sept 20 & Sat Sept 21, 8:30 pm, Sun Sept 22, 4:30 pm, $15-20
Ivana MĂŒller, We Are Still Watching
See "Flipping the Script." CoHo Theater, Sat Sept 21 & Sun Sept 22, 12:30, 2:30, & 4:30 pm, $10-15
Nacera Belaza, Le Cri
French/Algerian choreographer Nacera Belaza performs this piece with her sister Dalila in a one-night-only engagement. Known for minimalist sets and costuming, this starts out as a simple display of synchronicity that quickly evolves into something dervish-like and complicated, with somewhat nerve-shattering layers of contrasting music played simultaneously (Amy Winehouse, Arabic chanting, and Maria Callas), as well as added film elements. Central to her conflict as an artist is Belaza's Muslim faith, at odds with the art of dance, seen variously as superfluous and silly or inappropriately sexyâBelaza's mission is to reconcile the two forces in her life. MS Con-Way, Sat Sept 21, 8:30 pm, $15-20
Anna Craycroft, C'mon Language
It's too bad we don't put out this guide in June. That's really when Anna Craycroft's C'mon Language got started. In weekly sessions at PICA, occasionally on esoteric topics, Craycroft asked participants to shut up and listen to a lecture, or pick up a pen and join someone in drawing, or perform something interesting. I guess it's like preschool for adults, in that grownups had to open themselves up to lessons delivered in the childlike mien of play. The session during TBA will be something like a wrap-up of those workshops, akin to parents' night. You didn't put those pictures on the wall, but you can coo over 'em all the same. DCT PICA, daily noon-6 pm, through Sept 22, show runs again Sept 24-Sept 29, noon-6 pm, free
Alex Mackin Dolan
The sculptures/arrangements of Portland artist and poet Alex Mackin Dolan will make you feel like a goddamn slob. With a sterile, just-so fastidiousness usually reserved for IKEA catalogs or the glowering Hugo Weaving in The Matrix, Dolan uses all sorts of familiar and unfamiliar objectsâmirrors, fleece, "muscle stimulators," LCD TV monitors, mushrooms, PC heat sinks, kombucha bottles, and that ol' chestnut of Garnier Fructis shampoo bottles filled up with sticky black sludgeâto create displays that would make a Purell factory look like a rotten cesspit. There are a number of ways to interpret Dolan's sparse, specific installations, with the main one being that your life, in comparison, is a disgusting mess. EH Con-Way, opening reception Thurs Sept 12, 9 pm, Sept 13-22 & Sept 25-29, daily noon-6:30 pm, free
A.L. Steiner, Feelings and How to Destroy Them
Artist A.L. Steiner uses all kinds of mediums for her confrontational work, which explores queer identity, gender roles, and ecological concerns in a pugnacious but immediate and striking way. Combining video work with elements of photography, writing, performance, and more, Steiner's TBA installation serves as a survey of her many projects, which have appeared in museums around the globe. Her work draws connections between the state of human sexuality and its natural, environmental surroundings, and the inescapable corruption of both at the hands of humankind. NED LANNAMANN Philip Feldman Gallery at PNCA, now through Oct 26, daily 10 am-7 pm, free
Emily Roysdon, Minor Theatres (wrkshp 1)
Writer/artist Emily Roysdon has an impressive list of art-world credentials that include work at the Whitney Biennial and commissions from the Tate Modern, the Kitchen, and other fancy places with fancy names. From a queer, feminist perspective, her work deals with political protest, and battling the constraints that the patriarchy places even on the human imagination. Her work at TBA this year will include workshops exploring roles and vocabulary around performance, in a year-long project that will culminate at next year's TBA. AH Con-Way, opening reception Thurs Sept 12, 9 pm, Sept 13-22 & Sept 25-29, daily noon-6:30 pm, free
Andrew Ritchey, The Secret Society
It's not so much a thing nowâin the heyday of digital picturesâbut from the middle of the 20th century until its end, artists intrigued by the possibilities of old-school 16mm film stock banded together in a secret club devoted to the production of works strange and awful (really, sometimes just awful). Andrew Ritchey, over five days, is showing a wide selection of these obscure works, some short, some long, some sexy (and some mostly silent, like 1970's street-alphabet-based Zorns Lemma). The oldest is 1956's Flesh of Morning, a terrifying black-and-white work lacking all narrativeâbookended by the newest film, 1992's Taste It Nine Times, nine vignettes about nine women from throughout time and myth. Ritchey has tied the films together with a specially composed 150-word biography. DCT Con-Way, Wed Sept 25-Fri Sept 27, 6-7 pm, Sat Sept 28, 2-4 pm, Sun Sept 29, 12:30-2:30 pm, free
Krystal South, Identify Yourself
See "Life Events." Con-Way, opening reception Thurs Sept 12, 9 pm, Sept 13-22 & Sept 25-29, daily noon-6:30 pm
Sue Tompkins
She makes concrete poems. You wish they were haikus made out of asphalt, but nope, Sue Tompkins' artwork looks more like blocks of text or weird little shapes that dribble words down sheets of white paper. They tend to repeat phrases over and over, or they're just words that the Glaswegian gathers from the everyday. Some of her poems are reminiscent of Jack Torrance's finest work at the Overlook Hotel. So what I'm saying is don't make Tompkins mad when she performs her word poems; she might have an axe to grind with you. CF Portland Museum of Modern Art, now through Oct 5, daily noon-7 pm
Lucy Raven and Rebecca Gates,
Room Tone: Variation
In 1969, Alvin Lucier recorded his voice and then played it back in a room and recorded that, then played that recording in the room, and so on and so on, resulting in a feedback loop of his voice within the room's spatial parameters. Inspired by Lucier's work, Lucy Raven's Room Tone explores that idea with a real-time performance. Raven's TBA variation of this performance utilizes one person's voice recorded on tape over and again, until the voice disappears and the room's overtones absorb familiar human speech patterns. She'll be collaborating with Portland musician Rebecca Gates, formerly of the Spinanes, who recently released the excellent album The Float with her band the Consortium. NL Con-Way, opening show Thurs Sept 12, 10:30 pm, Fri Sept 13-Sat Sept 21, daily 1 & 10:30 pm, Sun Sept 22, 1 pm, Sept 25-27, 5 pm, Sept 28, 1 pm, Sept 29, 4 pm, free
Jamie Isenstein, Jamie Isenstein: Will Return
See "Illusion and Play." Cooley Gallery at Reed College, opening reception Thurs Sept 19, 6 pm, show runs now through Oct 20, Tues-Sun, noon-5 pm, free
The Julie Ruin
In 1998, trailblazing riot grrrl Kathleen Hanna released a solo album under the moniker Julie Ruin. It was dancier and more accessible than what she'd been doing in Bikini Kill, but nowhere near as polished as her later work in Le Tigreâthe album effectively bridges those two more prominent phases of her career. More than a decade later, Hanna finally padded that project out into a full ensemble: This year, TBA's free opening night party is headlined by the Julie Ruin, Hanna's new band with Kathi Wilcox, Kenny Mellman (of Kiki and Herb fame), Carmine Covelli, and Sara Landeau. AH Con-Way, Thurs Sept 12, 10:30 pm, free, all ages
Peter Burr, Special Effect
Here's something always worth hitting at TBA: anything from the annoyingly named but reliably entertaining video label Cartune Xprez. This year, Portland performance and video artist Peter Burr will present a "live television show" that boasts 18 weird-ass animations from the neo-psychedelic Cartune Xprez. More or less anything goes during these things, but they're consistently funny and strange and passionate. (Part of that's due to Cartune Xprez's curation, and part's due to animation itself, a medium so infuriatingly time-consuming that only the most dedicated and/or insane manage to stick with it.) This program also boasts original music from experimental bands of both coasts: Los Angeles' Lucky Dragons and Brooklyn's Seabat. Chances are very good that this will be fun. EH Con-Way, Fri Sept 13, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Kaj-anne Pepper and Chanticleer Tru,
Critical Mascara: A Post-Realness Drag Ball
Former Sissyboy drag troupe member Kaj-anne Pepper teams up with Chanticleer Tru (who you can see singing for the awesome punk soul outfit Magic Mouth) to bring you a magical night of queer-core musical comedy "realness." Gender smashers from all over the West Coast will be competing in an all-out drag ball in the time-honored categories of diva, glamour gore, vogue, and hair (or as they put it, "HAAAAIIIRRRR")âall of which will culminate in a slam-bang final round to see who is the best lip-synching, danger-dancing diva in the laaaaaand! (In other words, don't expect "subtle.") WSH Con-Way, Sat Sept 14, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Nick Hallett, Rainbow Passage
For Rainbow Passage, composer and multimedia artist Nick Hallett begins with a text from speech scientist Grant Fairbanks that is said to include every sound that exists in the English language. I'm skeptical. Sure, I bet it includes "flrrrr" and "buuuuh," but does it include "tjwhhherhsk" or "ermply!zzz"? There's only one way to find out. Hallett has taken Fairbanks' text and shuffled it into a kaleidoscope of voice and instrumentation, diffusing the human speech patterns into musical motifs. Portland musicians Golden Retriever, Holcombe Waller, and the Julians will participate in the performance. NL Con-Way, Sun Sept 15, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Like a Villain, Make Well
Like a delicious musical stew of classically tinged pop music, deep soulful vocals, and a touch of avant-garde clarinet and glockenspiel, minimalist one-person band Like a Villain (AKA Holland Andrews) kicks off songs that sound like nursery rhymesâbut eventually devolve (or rather evolve) into chaos. Armed with a self-taught array of electronic music tricks and loops, along with an arresting stage presence, Andrews tips the balance between music and performance art, creating a one-of-a-kind world within each song. Prepare to visit another aural universe. WSH Con-Way, Sun Sept 15, 11:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Getting to Know You(Tube)
After establishing a solid run at the Hollywood Theatre, Getting to Know You(Tube) hits the Works, bringing its blend of local semi-celebrities and regular schlubs who're eager to show you what they think are the best (the worst? The something?) videos that YouTube has to offer. "Hey," you say sarcastically, "that sounds great! I'd love to go spend $10 to hang out with a bunch of art people and do something I could do at home." And I hear you, but listen: About 100 hours of video are uploaded to YouTube every minute. You cannot comprehend this; none of us can. It is too much video. And at least some of it is worth watching, and your dumb Facebook friends cannot be trusted with the bullshit they post. So god bless Getting to Know You(Tube), which curates and distills YouTube into something that's less of a white-collar time killer and more of a legitimately entertainingâeven insightfulânight out. There will also be "YouTube DJed" dance party! Tell us how to dance, YouTube. EH Con-Way, Mon Sept 16, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Wishful Thinking
These days, music genre names are increasingly unhelpful, and they swirl around 'til they've got all the meaning of halting infant speech. "We're not a synthpop band, a goth band, a noise band, an industrial band, or a new age band," reads an artists' statement for Wishful Thinking. Fair enough. We'll just say each of the participants brings an electronics-focused sound, but without all the harsh thump of techno and with vastly more melody than more-experimental stuff. It's also an incestuous lineup, musicallyâthere's considerable overlap between New York-based members of Led Er Est, Further Reductions, and the Coombe. DVH Con-Way, Tues Sept 17, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Ieva Miseviit, I Will Rip Your Arms Off
Described as "sketch comedy that lost its punchline," Lithuanian performer Ieva Miseviit developed her show I Will Rip Your Arms Off over a year of performing short sets at New York City comedy clubs. Here, the components of a stand-up routineâthe familiar setup and punchlineâhave been ripped from their context and repurposed into an abstracted 12-act performance featuring dance, multiple characters, and intersecting storylines. Miseviit's work is characterized by a sense of playfulness and curiosity whether she's piping dance-routine instructions and music into public streets, hilariously deconstructing tropes of the contemporary art world (see "Fun Games for Contemporary Artist" on her website), orâas with her TBA showâpicking apart the very nature of comedy. AH Con-Way, Wed Sept 18, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
DUBAIS, Die Unterwelt: A Pop-era by Nadia Buyse
Multimedia performer Nadia Buyse has a belting voice that immediately reminds one of Björkâbut that's just one tool in this acclaimed artist's arsenal. Melding performance, video, music, and sound, Portland-based Buyse (who goes by the stage name DUBAIS) has toured the States and Europeâand her new pop opera Die Unterwelt tells a story that's both global and extremely personal in scope. Having quite enough of this earth, (the character) DUBAIS exits life and ends up in place that's neither heaven nor hell. It's the "Unterwelt" where souls are separated by ideologies and a giant wall (shades of Berlin). It's heavy, interesting stuffâshowing off the gamut of Buyse's multimedia skills. WSH Con-Way, Thurs Sept 19, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Body/Head
You still know her best as the longtime bassist/singer for Sonic Youth, but Kim Gordon's been working with musician Bill Nace for several years, on a project that recently evolved into the new electronic outfit Body/Head. With a double album out this month, it marks a promising new chapter in the career of one of the most influential musicians of the '80s and '90s. AH Con-Way, Thurs Sept 19, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Alexandro Segade, Boy Band Audition
Los Angeles performer Alexandro Segade wants you in his boy band. It doesn't matter how floppy your hair is or if you know any dance moves or even if you know the creature named Harry Styles. Boy Band Audition, by all discernable accounts, is a fully interactive bit where Segade and his dancing compadres will lead you through an evening of dancing, singing, and science fiction as they hold boy-band auditions in a time travel-type situation. Based on some early stage previews, it looks like a ton of audience participation, which can either be super fun if the vibe is right or terrifically butt-cringing. Probably all depends on how much booze is in your system. CF Con-Way, Fri Sept 20, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
Natasha Kmeto and Rap Class
The last night at the Works is always a bittersweet affairâit's like summer camp (for super fancy art people) has come to an end, the festival's glamorous roster of artists are about to pack up and go home, and now it's back to regular old boring life. But TBA's wise curators have booked a fantastic comedown for the festival's final dance party: DJ Rap Class will keep you moving with a repertoire of sampled beats; and singer/producer Natasha Kmeto's sultry voice will stay with you long after the lights come up. AH Con-Way, Sat Sept 21, 10:30 pm, $8-10, 21+
