Please join us for VA’s second not-quite-annual aerial improv competition! Aerialists of all levels will show off their ability to perform their choreography to a randomly-selected piece of music. Will they get Yanni, or Rammstein? Nobody knows until we hit that “random” button. Contestants get one free refusal, and after that they lose points for rejecting a song. Our panel of celebrity judges will tally the scores and select a new improv champion. What do they get? Cash! Where does that cash come from? The door! So please come out and enjoy a hilarious night of aerial virtuosity.
This year’s amazing judges’ panel includes: Armitage Shanks (Dog and Pony Show Productions), Martha Enson (En-Joy Productions) and the always-fabulous Tamara the Trapeze Lady representing VA.
Doors at 7:00, show starts promptly at 7:30.
Cost: $10
RSVP here to ensure a seat – note that Facebook RSVPs do NOT count.
PERFORMERS: please email improv@versatilearts.net if you have questions or are interested in participating. Preregistration is encouraged but not required. This is a great chance to be seen by Seattle’s biggest circus event producers, and it’s a ton of fun as well. And did we mention CASH PRIZES
I’ve been approached to perform for this event in support of Planned Parenthood, and while I am unsure whether I can get back in the air in time for this after recovering from recent health issues, I want to show my support for the project regardless.
PINK CARPET PROJECT:
Seattle Fashion Stands with Planned Parenthood
Thursday, March 1st (8pm)
Location FRED.
This is a 21+ event.
$25 Standing //
$50 VIP (Front row and swag bag) //
$300 Table Host (Front row table seating for three people, two bottles of Girly Girl Wines, a generously donated Black Car service to and from the event by Black Crown Car, appetizers, and swag bag)
One of the more pleasing details of the house concert I’ve agreed to do in Spokane this March; the unlikeliness that I will perform a 4 minute trapeze act and then have to immediately sit down to sing. The was a cool challenge, though.
Embodied is a one-woman show illustrating a musical journey, and a rare public performance including much of my original music and distinctive cover songs. It depicts the sense of the personality fragmentation in youth, and the experience of slowly piecing ones self together to truly be a whole person. There will be live music, stunning visuals, palpable energy and an aerial performance. Anyone who enjoys being moved by the dark, melancholy, and profound will love this show.
Artist, performer, director and writer: Courtnee Papastathis (also as Zita the Aerialist)
Sound Engineering, back-up: Edgars Klepers
Visuals and Lights: Courtnee Papastathis and Miked Up Productions.
November 9th and 10th. 2011
8pm – 10pm
FRED Wildlife Refuge
127 Boylston St
Seattle, WA 98102
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Example track “Threshold”, from my first album, “Point of Origin”. Flash required to preview music.
ABOUT THE MUSIC:
I first emerged on mp3.com as “Not Applicable” in 1999, with my first track Infinite Reality immediately topping the ambient electronic charts. Over the next few years through mp3.com, two albums were released; Point of Origin in 2000, and Altercations in 2001.
Until the 2008 limited edition self released album “Songs of Leaving”, my first album in 8 years, I’ve mostly favored covers and lending vocals to other artists. In 2001 I produced vocals for The Dream Traveler (Joey Fehrenbach) for the tracks Structure and Headpusher. Described as “impressive and emotive”, both Structure and Headpusher were released together as a well-received single through Fade records in 2003. Headpusher was featured on Nick Warren’s Global Underground release Reykjavik.
In 2002, I sang on Scribe Machine’s album Replicant for the stand-out track Fragile, a top 10 hit on many college radio stations, which was later released as a Maxi-single through Plan B and Tower Records.
“Not Applicable (Courtnee Papastathis) is a spectacular and rather cinematic experience. The central texture is influence by Tangerine Dream & Brian Eno and periodically altering its orientation to Phillip Glass & Steve Riech. My favorite part of this music is the mysterious tension of the hauntingly beautiful vocalization. The Music takes occasional ominous sounding detours into new age, and even flirts with electronic windham styling. But the overall aesthetic is still very original.” – The Big Roll
“Not Applicable is a one-woman band (Courtnee Fallon Papastathis) who possesses the unique ability to virtually freeze time with her moving, highly emotional ambient landscapes.” – Digital DriveThru Essentials
“For an album that has not one word, it still seems to speak to you; The music has a way of speaking its message through the pitch and emotion in the vocals rather than poetry. Point of Origin is the death of a loved one and the regret our minds ponder, the things that are spiraling around our subconscious every day. Not Applicable is a musical form of these” – Azriel J. Knight
Embodied was made possible by the generous donations of my Kickstarter Backers. Endless thank-you’s.
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Slated to be performed in “Embodied” and included on the album – Already have the rights to the song in my shopping cart at Harry Fox. THANK YOU! Keep the backing coming!! I’m already almost halfway there with a month left to go.
Since 1999, I have published music online under the band name “Not Applicable”. My original works topped the ambient electronic charts on mp3.com consistently, and in the many years since the sites downfall I’ve created more original music and covers which have never been performed.
Though compelled to see the last 12 years of work come to fruition by bringing my music out from behind a computer screen and onto a stage formally, I’ve previously thought putting on a real show consisting solely of my work was unrealistic.
Then, I heard about Kickstarter. <3
Please check out my project, share the link with your friends, back me with your money and send me love in the comments section there, so random strangers will know even more why they should support what I’m doing. :) Yay!
What: Zita the Aerialist, accompanied by cello and poetry
When: Friday, June 10, beginning 9pm (I’ll be performing around 10:45)
Where: Faire Gallery Cafe 206.652.0781
1351 E Olive Way
Seattle, WA
Cost: $5 donation suggested
I’ll be performing aerial alongside the Floating Mountain Poets, accompanied by cello (YAY!!) and spoken word. Poets include kerry cox and david jones (Seen in my most recent show, How Art Saved My Life, in Jan 2011), dobbie reese norris, terry johnson, noel parkinson, lydia swartz, solo gyrl, tom nivison, tito titus, mishabae mahoney. It’s a free and informal event. PLEASE STOP BY TO SHOW YOUR SUPPORT!
Who: Zita the aerialist
When: Friday June 3, 7-11pm
Where: Georgetown Ballroom 5623 Airport Way S
Cost: FREE!
Reception details:
There will be aerials, acrobalance, juggling, and sweet tunes interspersed with presentations from NASA, Google, GWOB, Microsoft, and Crisis Commons VIPs. Entrance is free but beer is not. Must be 21+ to attend the reception. We’ll start at 19:00 and run until 23:30.
In addition to being invovled in David Peterman’s Common Thread piece, and Jim Wilkinson’s Naked Truth project, I was ambiently performing both Friday and Saturday evenings.
Thank you to Adam Harrison for shooting this image, and so much to everyone who attended SEAF and allowed me a window into themselves this weekend. Some of the connections through that mask were absolutely amazing.
Besides arresting festival goers with my eyes, my favorite project this year is Jim Wilkinsons “Naked Truth”. Jim and his models discuss what makes the model tick, and then choose something personal and likely secretive to paint on their body to be photographed. At SEAF, Jim displayed 45 16×20″ canvas prints on about 16sqft of wall space.
A project like this one has me written all over it (haww), and given what I’ve been up to with my internal work lately, I jumped at the chance to do this. Jim and I talked for nearly an hour, until I decided what I wanted to say. It ended up being about mom.
I stayed for dinner, and as we talked, we got to discussing how, for an erotic festival, there wasn’t a lot of erotic content in the project. So, I decided right then something else I wanted to say, and offered to come back to get a second picture taken, looking different enough that I could be in the project twice without it being too obvious.
About 4 days after the first amazing shot, we got this amazing shot.
Fucking. Awesome. I love my life. I was impressed with the festival this year and the tremendous amount of work that was obviously put into the event, and it was great to be ready to return after many years away for personal reasons.
It was most definitely a Jekyll and Hyde kind of weekend for me, full of fragile connection mirrored against a sinister smoldering prowess. Intense, rich, fulfilling, challenging. Just how I like it.
Note: These are my versions of the images post-processed my way. The images submitted to SEAF slightly differ. Also; that’s my real-life utility belt. Because, as we all know by now, I’m the fuckin’ Batman.
It’s most often difficult for me to accept that I have a fan base, and I think part of the reason I stay small is the fear surrounding embracing that and what kind of person that makes me. For me to think of myself as a person with fans… I just cringe at the size my ego must be and how much work it would take to keep it appropriately inflated. I know there are people out there with healthy esteem who could recognize fandom without fucking it up somehow but that doesn’t feel like something I have the wisdom to do yet. I’m not ready to handle fame gracefully.
And then I remember, that wisdom is what I’m cultivating in my life right now. Bringing feeling intuition into perspective, reevaluating how much hold I allow it to have on what makes my reality. I read back on that second paragraph up there, and I already don’t agree with myself. I already think it’s silly to be afraid of success like that.
So let me say this, as deeply and sincerely as I ever have; Thank you so much to the fans of my work. I am really blessed to have the kind of encouragement and support I have from the people who’ve noticed what I’m up to in life. You consistently overwhelm and fuel me in ways I couldn’t ever comprehend asking for. Thank you so much for being so generous toward me with your praise.
I can feel another layer of the gnarled, debilitating onion I carry around in my guts being peeled off like a piece of scotch tape against a hairy arm. That’s what sharing my stories with you does for me. That’s the kind of inner work you enable me to accomplish by allowing me into your lives the way you do. It’s inexplicable pure soul sharing and it goes both ways.
I have worked so FUCKING hard peeling at this thing inside me that was fucking my life up, fucking up how I thought, fucking up how I was capable of seeing the world, how I was capable of being with people. I’ve learned so much. And now I use my hard won abilities from that experience to come to meet, and stimulate, the hearts in others.
‘The task of art is to turn tears into knowledge’ – Schopenhauer
I shift lives. That’s what I’ve done with the desperate, massive mindfuck of a place that I came from. I earned this. I want to be doing this. I want to be this person. And I embrace and accept every beautiful thing I was told because of Friday night. Thank you so very much to all the guests and performers who made it an utterly amazing, transformative experience.
I see you guys. Thank you for letting me know you’re watching. I’ll keep on sharing and I’ll keep on kicking ass. For me. And for you.
Who: Chimera
What: Date Night at Versatil Arts
When: Friday, May 27 · 7:30pm – 10:30pm
Where: The Cathedral
7601 Greenwood Ave N, Suite 103
Seattle, WA
You won’t know who to trust at this event teeming with secret agents and double-crossers. Our versions of 007 may not be skiing down the Alps with machine guns or scuba diving in tuxedos, but they will show you some thrilling aerial escapades never seen in any Bond flick.
Since there are so very many movies to choose from, we’ll be sending out a poll to all attendees the week of the show. Make sure to RSVP so that you get a chance to vote – and to guarantee yourself a seat since these shows do tend to fill up.
Please note that Facebook RSVPs do NOT count. You must use the tool above to be on the list for the show.
Doors at 7:30 PM, show starts promptly at 8. Movie to follow around 9.
Cost is $5 – the cheapest date in town!
BYOB, and feel free to bring snacks and pillows or low chairs for the movie if you decide to stay for it. You are always welcome to just come for the aerial performance, however.
Who: Monster Art and Clothing in Ballard
What: http://www.monsterartandclothing.com
When: Saturday, Feb 12, 6:30 to 9:30
Where: 5000 20th Ave NW, Ballard
I’ll be performing aerial in this awesome little clothing and art store for the Ballard Art Walk, Saturday Feb 12. Last time I was there was in Nov of 2009, and it was a blast. See you there.
From the program of my upcoming show, “How Art Saved My Life”, Presented by Vita Arts, Jan 15th 2011.
“In 2005, after years of aerial training, Josh, one of the precious few connections to my childhood past, died suddenly in a plane crash. Suddenly unable to climb even a few feet, my connection with the air was tarnished by a staggering suicidal grief, and visions of Josh’s body falling out of the sky. Through aerial, art and psychotherapy, my fear of his loss became one of my many triumphs, and a story I am grateful to be strong enough, and alive enough, to share with you now.”
The details are filling in, I’m days away from a script outline, and I feel the ball of vibrating energy rise in my chest every time I listen to the music. I want this show to plow right through anyone who’s fortunate enough to see it. That’s my goal; And I tend to get what I want.
Excited for the show tonight! Tons of hot acts plus 3 video angles and a still photographer. My stomach is full of butterflies. Fucking each other. Whee!
*sigh* Man.. this is probably going to be kind of a ramble..
“Courtnee Papastathis has performed as Zita the Aerialist since 2005. During
that time her focus has been to tell compelling stories through her aerial
performances. The act you just saw was an illustration of the struggle to
shed the defenses that bind us, finding strength in being vulnerable, and
how sex contributes to the art of self discovery. It’s also a really awesome
excuse to be naked.”
I was uncharacteristically nervous and emotionally raw before my first act, even for me at my most nervous I tend to get at this point in my career. I just couldn’t shake it. Performing, much as the rest of my life, brings an ebb and flow to things. Some days I’m calm as a cucumber, quietly beckoning the universe to bring it on.
Others, I have insecurity and doubt to deal with, or I’m worried about my body being hurt, or I’m highly invested in the emotional weight of the work I am presenting and going out there feels heavy, sometimes even scary.
Last night I had all of those things. It was potentially the last aerial performance I will do, and surely the last one I will do for a while. That was hard and sad and exhilarating at times, and it made for some emotional components to be present that I hadn’t gone through in a while.
I was also performing in an all aerial show, which can be harder on my self esteem and individualism than being the aerialist in a theater show. Even when I wasn’t looking, there were little things popping up, reminding me that I am just a drop of water in an endless sea. All the acts were very different, and all the acts were very good. We do what we do well and I am proud to be a part of such a high caliber production with such talented and creative people.
That said, some of these girls can do things I will never be able to do in less time than it took me to learn how to do a fucking hip lock – things I’ve wanted to do, tried to do and, depending on my perspective, failed at. In a way it can be hard to follow up someone who’s produced a rope act that embodied what I wanted to bring to rope the first 4 years of my aerial experience and never could.
On the flip side, what I bring to my work is unique and powerful, and I know that. In accepting my bodies abilities and limits, I’ve created the space to expose myself in a way that audiences rarely get to see and I am amazing at doing it. Maybe I can’t do open legged drops without wrecking my hips, and maybe my toes won’t splay the right way so I can do a toe climb, but god dammit when I am out there I own the living shit out of it. I own the living shit out of you.
The fact that I can’t even come close to doing the splits, that I don’t have a gymnastics or dance background and that I was a professional drug abuser in my youth rather than an athlete inspires and comforts my beginning aerial students. I have a triumphant and inspiring story to tell. That’s why I like teaching beginners – I want them to know that you don’t have to be a superhuman contortionist to be an aerial performer, and I want them to know that a lot earlier than I did.
Truly performing, for me, is taking people on a stirring emotional journey – along something that runs deep and strong in us as humans. Whether it’s my music, pretending to be a dancer or climbing things, that doesn’t change much. Sometimes I’ll put on a super cute outfit, hop up on a trapeze and practice while people are watching, and that’s really fun and fueling in its own right, but it’s not a true performance of mine. It’s not the meat and the heart of what I go out there for.
I brought that meat and heart and blood and guts and spit last night. People who had no idea of the health issues I am dealing with, or that I am potentially retiring from performing aerial, told me to keep doing what I’m doing with tears in their eyes. They told me it felt like an honor to be in the audience. They told me how inspired they were to create their own magic on a stage and share it. That’s the transformative power of the arts and it’s a beautiful thing that I feel grateful and privileged to have been able to cultivate for the last 5 years. Whatever comes after this, I’ll always carry that with me.
Stay tuned for more events. Maybe this is the time in my life where I learn to be graceful on the ground.
*sniffle*
(Thank you, John Cornicello, for the lovely images, and for allowing me to post produce them)
Please join us for VA’s second not-quite-annual aerial improv competition! Aerialists of all levels will show off their ability to perform their choreography to a randomly-selected piece of music. Will they get Yanni, or Rammstein? Nobody knows until we hit that “random” button. Contestants get one free refusal, and after that they lose points for rejecting a song. Our panel of celebrity judges will tally the scores and select a new improv champion. What do they get? Cash! Where does that cash come from? The door! So please come out and enjoy a hilarious night of aerial virtuosity.
