Underground Art
Rogue Performance Festival gives overlooked artists a chance to shine
in local spotlight
By ERIKA LINDQUIST and CHRISTY ARNDT
The Rogue Performance Festival is a celebration of independent performance
and art that started four years ago and has grown in popularity ever since.
The festival brings theater, dance, music, puppetry, storytelling, spoken
word, visual art and film to the Tower District and downtown Fresno.
A dancer from the Ananka Dance Company performs a dance at the
Rogue Festival. Photo by Diana Ledesma |
It started on Thursday and continues through Saturday at several locations,
including Javawava, the Starline, Veni Vidi Vici, Ashtree Studio, Full
Circle Brewery, and Dianna’s Studio of Dance. Each show costs between
$3 and $6, and it all goes to the performers.
Most of the performers are local, but some come from places as far away
as New Zealand and Canada to show their talents.
Michael Aguilar, a Fresno State student majoring in art and psychology,
showed a short film he produced titled “They Represent” that
was inspired by his personal experience as a construction worker.
“I wanted to provoke the viewer to look at the world through the
eyes of [construction workers],” Aguilar said. “I wanted to
give a sense of hope to the men that lost or stopped believing in dreams.”
Aguilar originally made his film for an art theory assignment last spring.
“I entered it into a student film fest and took third place,”
he said. “I have come to realize that it is my predestined purpose
in life to create and inspire.”
Other events, such as the Inner Ear Poetry Jam, bring artists together
by providing a forum for them.
Blanca Espino, a liberal studies major at Fresno State, helps out with
the poetry events.
“You meet some great people that are open to speaking about whatever
they please,” Espino said, “be it political, about love, hurt,
nature. Or take it to the next level and rap about whatever is on their
mind.”
At Dianna’s Studio of Dance, one of the two main stages, the lines
were long all day Saturday.
Featured performance groups included Improver Behavior, Big Weird Pop
Ensemble and All Too Real.
Improver Behavior is a fast paced, in-your-face improv comedy show; nothing
is scripted and nothing is rehearsed.
The four improvisational actors shared a great group dynamic while keeping
the show appropiate for all ages. Although this can eliminate the risk
factor in comedy, they consistently kept up the audience participation.
Notes piled up on the wooden main stage, inviting the four improvisational
actors to say a random line throughout the comedy sketch.
The performances were innovative, full of energy and did not go over the
top. As one actor put it, “OK, I’ve had a lot of coffee.”
At times, the humor was a mockery of daily redundancies.
At the end of the night, there was a “beggar bowl” at the
door to fund the Rogue Festival, because the entrance fees go to the actors.
Plans are already developing for 2006.
“I think the whole Rogue Festival is incredible,” Espino said.
“I love the fact that through this festival, artists have an outlet
to show other people their passion.”
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