Oakland City Hall & Frank H. Ogawa Plaza
July 9, 10 & 11 and 16, 17 & 18, 2021
An immersive experience that merges contemporary performance and the ancient art of storytelling, SPACES is a site-specific participatory work, created and performed with the local community that gives this place its life and identity.
In Oakland, local residents and artists work together to create a series of performances that ultimately give a glimpse into Oakland, one of the most vibrant and culturally diverse cities in the US.
Download the program for SPACES: Oakland (pdf file).
Performed at the beautiful Oakland City Hall and Frank H. Ogawa Plaza during a sold-out run, participants were invited to inhabit in a new way these symbols of government that have shaped today’s urban space and life.
Artistic Director: Simón Adinia Hanukai
Choreographers: Sarah Crowell with Lauren Cox
Vertical Dance Choreographer: Melecio Estrella
Dancers: Sarah Crowell, Rose Huey, Macio Payomo, and Rashidi Omari
Vertical Dancers: Rose Huey, Sarah Keeney, and Maddy Lawder
Music Curation: YR Media Team featuring Rami Kingsley-Doyle. Noel Anaya, Xingzhou Chen, Will Flattery-Vickness and Ben Frost
DJ: Dion Decibels
Live Vocals and Percussion: Christelle Durandy & Mena Ramos
Stage and Production Management: Phred Sugarman
Costume Design: Serena Monts
Production, technical, and marketing support provided by The Downtown Oakland Association/Oakland Central.
Press Relations: Mary Carbonara, marycarbonara@gmail.com or 415-845-9994
Storytellers Include: Miguel Binion, Dwayne Clay III, Mickey "Pop's" Fort, Rafael Jesús González, Rhummanee Hang, Debra Israel, Luz Alvarez Martinez, Damien McDuffie, Fredrika Newton, Christine No, Richie Nuñez, Dylan Nussbaum, Liz Ogbu, Leland B. Thompson, Patanisha Williams, Leva Zand. Oakland has so many more stories than we could ever share, but each performance features 6-8 of our incredible storytellers.
The ADP.FM team, part of YR Media, curated the soundscape for SPACES: Oakland, spanning four eras of Oakland’s music. Enjoy them on adp.fm or on Spotify.
SPACES: Oakland is produced by Kaimera Productions. The concept for SPACES was created by Jonathan Camuzeaux, Lauren Cox and Simón Adinia Hanukai. SPACES: Oakland is being developed in parallel with SPACES: Saint Denis.
SPACES: Oakland Partners
Developed as part of the Oakland/Saint-Denis cooperation project of Villa San Francisco in coproduction with the French American Cultural Society, the Institut Français, California Humanities, and in collaboration with Légendes Urbaines, which brings together urban and cultural actors, institutions and academics in the San Francisco Bay Area and Grand Paris.
In partnership with City of Oakland Cultural Affairs, Destiny Arts Center, BANDALOOP, Downtown Oakland Association, and YR Media.
This project is made possible with support from California Humanities, a non-profit partner of the National Endowment for the Humanities (visit calhum.org) and the Kenneth Rainin Foundation. Additional support is provided by the French Embassy in the U.S., The Clorox Company Foundation, Puffin Foundation, Decathlon Emeryville, and the MAP Fund.
Photo: Oakland City Hall circa 1917, commissioned by Oakland Chamber of Commerce, Publicity Bureau. Photographer from Cheney Photo Advertising Co. Original photo part of Oakland Public Library, Oakland History Room.
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For more information on SPACES, click here or download the PDF below.
Any views, findings, conclusions, or recommendations expressed in this website do not necessarily represent those of California Humanities or the National Endowment for the Humanities.