Making Beastly Dance

Das Biest Performance Project is a movement based arts group creating live performance, dance films and teaching in-person/virtual all age dance classes. Due to the COVID-19 pandemic we have had to move from mostly live performance to entirely film and all of our classes are currently online. Our classes and zoom performance events have maintained regular attendance from audiences and students all over the United States. We have been blessed to be showcased in several film festivals, including the Barefoot Collective Annual Dance Film Festival, and will be producing a live performance with the Seattle Center in March 2022. We believe these partnerships will help us continue to grow in regards to our performance work. Through an ongoing partnership with the arts education program at the Fred Oldfield Western Heritage and Arts Center we plan to expand back into in-person (alongside continued virtual) dance classes in the summer of 2022. Our work serves to offer free, and low cost art experiences to a wide array of audience members. We have achieved this through offering scholarships for all dance classes and partnering with producers who allow us to maintain free or low cost admission for all of our performance events. 

Das Biest Performance Project's performance work focuses on storytelling with movement, queerness and folklore. The project's dance classes focus on not only providing high quality technical education but also dance history and sustainability. All funds raised will be allotted to three different areas. Firstly, our dancers currently work as freelance artists and we are working towards bringing them on as employees. This will help us provide them with benefits and job security. This is even more important in the art world now due to the continued Covid-19 pandemic. Secondly, we specialize in dance film and host virtual classes through zoom. The next allotment would be put towards upgrading all current equipment and procuring new equipment such as a second and third camera, lighting and rigging. Our final allotment will be put towards upgrading our studio. This would include purchasing newer flooring and lighting to make rehearsals and classes more comfortable and even higher quality. 

Our team consists of one full time member and ten freelance artists working on stipends. Our Director and Choreographer Sophie Marie has been creating with the project since its inception in 2018. Composer and cinematographer, Otto Schatz and Jamari Littlejohn respectively, joined the project in 2020. All dancers and teachers are Washington and Vermont based movement artists. 

Thank you for your support. Making art would be impossible without support like yours.