ONSITE: Joanna Haigood

Black woman reaching out.
(Joanna Haigood, a light-skinned Black woman, with her eyes closed as she wraps one arm across her face as the other reaches away from her body. Her dark textured hair pulled back into a low ponytail as she wears a dark blue and black striped long sleeve top and dark red and green scarf.)

The People’s Palace

A new site-specific installation performance choreographed by Joanna Haigood

San Francisco City Hall
The performances were scheduled to take place Oct 26-27 & 29 and are being moved to next year – we hope to announce the 2024 performance dates soon.

(Inside San Francisco City Hall, the grand staircase of white, gold and cream colorings.)

The work will investigate movement and visual storytelling in relation to the history, architecture, and social and political metaphors inherent in San Francisco City Hall.

Set in various locations throughout City Hall, a Beaux-Arts architectural design, this site-specific piece will premiere in Spring 2024.

Directed and choreographed by Joanna Haigood, this work is being developed in collaboration with composer Marcus Shelby, visual artist Mildred Howard, Scenic Designer Sean Riley, Rigging Designer David Freitag, Lighting Designer Krissy Kenny, and Projection Designer Aron Altmark.

Featuring performing artists Veronica Blair, Ciarra D’Onofrio, Erik Lee, Nina Sawant, Saharla Vetsch, Tristan Ching Hartman, and Jocelyn Reyes.

Dancers’ Group and Joanna Haigood are a recipient of the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions, launched in 2017 to celebrate the foundation’s 50th anniversary. It is a five-year, $8 million initiative supporting the creation and premiere of 50 new works from outstanding artists working in five performing arts disciplines. The largest commissioning effort of its kind in the country, the initiative is a symbol of the Hewlett Foundation’s longstanding commitment to supporting art that matters to the people and communities of the San Francisco Bay Area. The Hewlett Foundation has supported the arts in the region for more than 50 years, and currently makes grants of roughly $20 million per year to more than 200 nonprofit arts organizations, mostly in the form of long-term general operating support. More information about the Hewlett 50 Arts Commissions can be found at: hewlett.org/50Commissions.

(Aerial view of San Francisco City Hall at sunset. The lights illuminate the expanse of the building among the other smaller buildings surrounding it. The hall’s center builds up to a point in the center.)

Artist Information: Joanna Haigood/Zaccho Dance Theatre

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