CounterPulse is a little avant-garde theater based in the Tenderloin and it’s holding its first annual CounterPulse Festival, which it promises to be five days of mind-bending performances and art. Among the highlights are Daughters of a Riot, a performance commemorating the 1966 Compton Cafeteria Riot in San Francisco, splicing drag with video narrative to tell the story of a revolt against harassment and police brutality. The incident was a call to arms for the LGBT community three years before New York City’s Stonewall Riots.
I’m also keen to see performances by gender fluid video artist Valérie Reding doing what she describes as a “pompous burlesque mixed with intimate confessions.” Check her video below. And, if you need an all night dance fix, check out the left-of-center dance party with DJs Nihar Bhatt, Justin Anastasi, DJ CZ, and Jason Polastri. Details for the two-week festival at CounterPulse, the Stud, The Lab (in the Mission), and at the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art are here.
