**In-person tickets are SOLD OUT!! Virtual tickets are available below.**
Join us for an evening of art and stories that explore and represent the nine points of the Enneagram.
Doors at 7pm ET / Show at 7:30PM
Doors + Streaming Begins at 7pm ET | Show at 7:30pm ET
Tickets | Pay what you can! All ticket sales go to support our volunteer-run organization in the effort to provide an inclusive and accessible community arts space, while also (always!) compensating our participating performers.
All virtual ticket sales are final.
ARTIST LINE-UP
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Mildred Kiconco Barya is a writer from Uganda and an assistant professor at UNC-Asheville, where she teaches creative writing and world literature. Her publications include three poetry books, as well as prose, hybrids, and poems forthcoming or published in Joyland, Shenandoah, The Cincinnati Review, Tin House, Ruminate Magazine, Obsidian, The Poetry Review, Nowhere Magazine, poets.org, Poetry Quarterly, Asymptote Journal, Matters of Feminist Practice Anthology, Prairie Schooner, New Daughters of Africa International Anthology, African American Review, and more. She’s at work on a new poetry collection and creative nonfiction. One of her essays—Being Here in This Body—won the 2020 Linda Flowers Literary Award, and is published in the North Carolina Literary Review, 2021. She received a Ph.D. in English from the University of Denver, MFA in creative writing from Syracuse University, and B.A. in Literature, Makerere University. She is a board member of the African Writers Trust, and also coordinates the Poetrio Reading Events at Malaprop’s Independent Bookstore/Café in Asheville.
Visit her blog http://mildredbarya.com/ -
Okapi is a Chicago-born but Appalachian-based avant-rock duo that employs upright bass, cello, and voice. Their raw and intricate songwriting is cathartic but inviting, carrying honest and satirical messages that aim to stimulate a universal confrontation with reality, while encouraging consciousness, healthy growth, and individual empowerment in the curious and attentive observer.
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Melissa Henry, professionally known as, Melody is an artist/activist who specializes in sharing original songs and ballads that bring history to life, serving as a bridge to the past and recreating the tapestry of soul music woven together over time. She is a graduate of UC Berkeley and started in the 80s working with Bay Area musicians and producers to create her signature sound; her most notable mentor is Fantastic Negrito, the Black Roots Icon. Her powerful storytelling performances include spoken word and rapping. Her vocals are a catalyst. Her work locally began in 2016 at the Burton Street Peace Garden when her lyrical abilities launched her into a respected position in the Black community and opened many doors citywide. Her collaborations include performances with local greats such as Juan Holladay at the Isis Music Hall. She has also graced stages at Salvage Station and The Mothlight. She has been a workshop leader/performer at festivals such as Leaf, Xpandfest, and Goombay. She has participated in cultural sharing at institutions of higher learning, such as UNCA (African Americans in WNC & Southern Appalachia Conference and Nina Simone Childhood Home Dedication) and Lenoir Rhyne (Wordfest). She has led musical appreciation circles at community events, such as Singing Alive Appalachia, Earth Song Rising, the Firefly Gathering, the Black History Kickoff at the YMI, and Girls Rock Asheville. She participated in the Ancestors in the Garden event as well as their annual Agricultural Fair and the Listening Project through Asheville City Schools as an artist in residence and as a song leader for the opening. She teaches songwriting and has worked as an IRL mentor, a Francine Delany elective program leader, and a TAPAS artist, conducting successful residencies to empower inner city youth from grades one through twelve. Her storytelling has brought texture and authenticity to Koontz's Heritage Night, Hall Fletcher's Multicultural Assembly, Girls Rock Asheville, and Rainbow Community School's music program at the request of music director, Laura Blackley. Currently she is bringing her unique programming to the StoryCraft project through Asheville Writers in the Schools and Communities, designed for youth of color. Her offerings include autobiographical poems and songs that include increasingly complex improvisations. One of her most memorable collaborations was at Earthaven Ecovillage’s 25th anniversary, Asheville's Climate Justice Rally, Food Waste Solutions Summit at UNCA, and Organicfest with Dr. Cara Judea Alhadeff. In her opinion, “Music is one of the most complex forms of human cultural expression, a Messenger from the spiritual realm. It epitomizes a culture’s most fundamental values and speaks to our innermost beings. Human souls resound outward from within & pour forth that which is at our primal root, messages sung to us from the core of our being.” As an artist, Melody, a Sufi of African descent, translates tones into art using recitations in Arabic, Swahili, and Ancient Adinkra and as she evolves, she creates soundscapes, transforming ordinary concerts into healing sessions.
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Ali McGhee has a PhD in English Literature from the University of Rochester. She is the Culture and Team Development Leader for 6AM City, and is a core faculty member at the Enneagram School of Awakening, as well as an International Enneagram Association (IEA) Accredited Professional. Her work has been published in Dark Mountain, Slippery Elm Literary Journal, Holler, Scallywag, Lucid News, the MAPS Bulletin, and WNC Magazine, and she has shared stories at the Woods & Wilds Festival, Craft with a Stranger, and Listen to This: Stories on Stage. A native of Asheville, NC, she grew up in the forest and the creeks, and they have been singing to her ever since.
Learn more at: alimcgheewrites.com
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Gavin Stewart and Vanessa Owen, a husband and wife duo, are the co-founders of Western North Carolina based Stewart/Owen Dance, where they are dedicated to building a sustainable community for professional dance artists to set roots and share stories.
Stewart and Owen's choreography has been presented by festivals and companies across the U.S., and their careers have most notably taken them across the globe on fifteen U.S. State Department tours to teach, perform and choreograph contemporary dance with Washington D.C. based Company E. In 2017 they made North Carolina their home base where they work to cultivate the craft of storytelling through movement. They are passionate cross-genre collaborators, incorporating work from local writers, musicians and filmmakers. They have choreographed music videos for artists such as Moses Sumney, Sylvan Esso and Ben Phantom.
ST/OW won the Audience Choice Award at the NYC Dance Gallery Festival 2018, were commissioned as Dance Gallery 2019 Level UP Artists, are recipients of a McDowell Regional Artist Project Grant, a North Carolina Artist Support Grant and were voted "Artists Who Most Pushed the Boundaries with the Human Body" by 2020 Asheville Fringe Arts Festival. Since the pandemic, they have focused on producing COVID-conscious dance experiences for live audiences, including drive-up performances and guided walk-along dance exhibits presented by Asheville’s beloved Wortham Center for the Performing Arts.
For more information, visit www.stewartowendance.com
