Congratulations to Ky Dickens, Anne Elizabeth Moore,
Andre Perez, Lee Relvas and Dion Walton for being
the January 2010 winners of The Critical Fierceness Grant!

About the Projects:

Ky Dickens // Documentary about sole survivors of commuter plane crashes (Feature Film)

This documentary aims to capture the stories of 17 sole survivors, most of them
children, as they recount their harrowing tales and come to terms with the
significance of their unlikely existences.
http://fishoutofwaterfilm.com (website for Ky’s previous film, Fish Out of Water)

Anne Elizabeth Moore // Project chronicling the dissemination of the Berlin Wall (Multimedia)

A series of essays, infographics, and photographs that narrate the uses,
placement, and value of the Berlin Wall after the Cold War.
http://anneelizabethmoore.com

Andre Perez // Transgender Oral History Project (Web-based archive of time-based media)

The Transgender Oral History Project is a collaborative media initiative
dedicated to collecting stories of transgender and gender non-conforming
people and making them publicly available at low or not cost.
http://www.transoralhistory.com

Lee Relvas // Series of works entitled “You Make Me Feel Plenty” (Drawing, Embroidery)

“You Make Me Feel Plenty” is a series of drawings and large-scale embroideries
that seeks to forge new modes of coexistence amongst humans and their shifting
environments. The series mixes portraiture with abstraction, creating a
timely rumination on, amongst other things, the oil-spill that has plagued the Gulf of Mexico.
http://www.myspace.com/dewayneslightweight (MySpace page for Lee Relvas’s band Rrind)

Dion Walton // Performative adaption of “The Happening,” an autobiography (Multimedia)

“The Happening” is an autobiographical work, a life journey, and a gender-queer
performance which combines impersonation and visual art (paintings, sculptures,
writings, music, dance, spiritual beliefs).
Where Is Dion Now? (Facebook Group)

About the Grant:

Since its founding in 2005, Chances Dances has sought to create a safe space for all gender expressions by bringing together the varied LGBTIQ communities of Chicago. The creation of the Critical Fierceness grant expands upon this goal by offering a unique opportunity for queer artistic expression. Chicago-based individuals or groups who wish to utilize the Critical Fierceness Grant for artistic purposes and who identify themselves or their work as queer are encouraged to apply. Critical Fierceness supports queer artists with financial assistance of up to $500. Chances Dances is proud to provide the Critical Fierceness Grant as an opportunity for personal exploration, community development and radical change through art. Our next deadline is December 31st.

Thank you so much to all our applicants, who all deserve to be funded, even if we are unable to.

Thanks to all the folks who have come to Chances over the years. Your continued support is what makes this grant possible.

Special thanks and eternal gratitude to Alicia, Kelley, Ryanne and Scott, our June 2010 Critical Fierceness Board!

Peace and Love
Aay, Ethan, Latham, Mel and Rita AKA Team Chances

HEY EVERYBODY!

Just a reminder to SHOW UP EARLY to CHANCES tomorrow night:

Don’t miss a SPECIAL 11PM performance by San Francisco champion and ambassador of musical freedom, Myles Cooper. Myles will give us an exclusive short performance inspired by his viral video and …uncut European 7″ sensation “Gonna Find Boyfriends Today.”

More info on Myles here: http://bit.ly/b2epzg

ALSO, TWO ITEMS OF NOTE:

1. We’ve created a page on our website about GENDER NEUTRAL BATHROOMS. Check out the info and download the very signs we use at all our parties! AWESOME: http://www.chancesdances.org/gender-neutral-bathrooms

2. Butch Cassidy’s latest Off Chances mix is up! it’s clearly canadian, GET IT NOW: http://offchances.libsyn.com/

XOX
TEAM CHANCES

Printable PDF Trans-Ally Card

Chicago Pride is June 27th, 2010. No surprises here, Pride remains, predominantly, a celebration for the white, corporately-aligned community leaving a sexy mass of non-conforming nor easily-categorized queers sidelined and, sadly, targeted by violent and aggressive behavior. For this very reason and occasion, Chances has made our Trans-Ally card available for mass distribution and dissemination - in full, stereoscopic color! Being and becoming a trans-ally is a beautiful (look at that design) and evolving thing (check out the dos/don’ts list on the back), please spread the cheer widely and indiscriminately.

I’m squeamish with dee-lite!

OFF CHANCES  is coming up on May 11, 201o at Danny’s Tavern with Nina Ramone and The Lady Speedstick DJing. Ol’ Butch is making the treats. Twatters is mixing you a CD, and Lady Miss Navy Pier is smokin…HOT!

See you next Tuesday please. It’s definitely Spring…

Spring is here, Chances Dancers! Our posse of gay gnomes is ready to bring you all the good vibes that the death of another heinous Chicago winter can generate

FIRST UP: Chances at the Hideout is this Saturday, April 3rd!

Featuring our two fave girls, The Lady Speedstick and The Lady Miss Navy Pier, playing all your jams!

AND

A special performance by Jose Hernandez, “The Shamanic Death of Bukkake (Hideout Dance Edit).”

Only $5 to get your spring sprung right, and the proceeds go to the Chances Dances Critical Fierceness Grant!

Chances at The Hideout
1354 W Wabansia
11:30pm-3:00am

Thanks for coming out to Off Chances at Danny’s on 3/9!

Chances at the Hideout benefits the Critical Fierceness Grant (http://www.chancesdances.org/projects).

3.6.2010
5 gold medals ($5)
11:30 - 3:00a
DJ sets from John Twatters and Nina Ramone and an interactive performance from Anthony Romero.

If you are interested in performing a durational work during Chances at the Hideout, please contact us: chances.dances@gmail.com for more information!

yes, february might be here, but rest assured, we are bundling up and bringing the big gay party to you, snowmen be damned!

some sort of astrological craziness has brought our two baby spinoff parties closer together than ever before AND inserted a rad chances-sponsored peace party benefit for haiti right in the middle! CHECK IT OUT:

1. SATURDAY
   Chances Dances @ The Hideout Saturday February 6th 2010
   Come to what the Chicago Tribune says is the 6th hottest winter event in Chicago!!
   Lil Elote will be giving uh mazing and FREE makovers! Yes. NEW LOOKS
   Your girls Butch Cassidy and The Lady Speedstick on the ones and twos!
   $5 cover goes towards funding for the Critical Fierceness Grant
2. MONDAY
   Haiti Emergency Relief Fund will be the beneficiary for the February Peace Party at Danny’s Tavern. The Peace Party is held the second Monday of the month (February 8th) from 9pm-2am.
   A portion of the bar’s take will be donated to Haiti Emergency Relief Fund. Haiti Emergency Relief Fund was established by a group of folks who have been doing Haiti solidarity work since 1991, working closely with Haitians to build and support mass-based civic groups on the ground there– unions, peasant cooperatives, schools, women’s organizations and more. These groups desperately need resources… to survive, to rebuild, and to organize and give a voice to the people who have been devastated by this disaster.
   http://haitiaction.net/About/HERF/HERF.html
   This Month the Peace Peace party will be Co-sponsored by Chances Dances .
   Peace Party Dj’s Naomi Walker, Jocelyn Brown, and Jeff Parker will be joined by Chances DJ John Twatters.
   DJ Supreme Court of Danny’s long running “Soul Night” has compiled a mix of Haitian Music which will be available at the event.
3. TUESDAY
   Off-Chances at Danny’s
   Tuesday, February 9th // 10pm-2am
   DJs: The Lady Speedstick & Nina Ramone
   CHEAP DRINKS // GOOD TIMES //
   FREE STUFF // QUEER PEOPLE

About the Projects:

–see examples of work by both artists below–

About the Grant:

For future updates on The Critical Fierceness Grant, including deadlines and application materials, past and future recipients,
please visit http://chancesdances.org/projects.

Thank you so much to all our applicants, who all deserve to be funded, even if we are unable to.
Thanks to all the folks who have come to Chances over the years.
Your continued support is what makes this grant possible.

Peace and Love
Aay, Ethan, Latham, Mel and Rita AKA Team Chances

Edie Fake - Fists of Fury
Ballpoint pen, ink and acrylic on paper, 14″x17″
2010

Riva Lehrer - Zora: How I Understand
Mylar with mixed media, 36″ x 50″
2010

DJ’s Nina Ramone, Butch Cassidy and Owen DMC!

2011 W North Ave, Chicago IL
10pm-2am
*Bake sale!
*Raffle!
*Much much more!

This event is 21+
Free admission! (Donations for Write to Win and TJLP accepted inside).

———————

The Write to Win Collective is a Chicago-based penpal project for transgender, transsexual, gender self-determining, and gender-variant people who are living and surviving inside Illinois prisons. Members of the Write to Win Collective are radical trans, queer, and ally activists, youth workers, social workers, writers, lawyers, and community organizers working in solidarity with prisoners by providing consistent support, friendship, resources, literature, and dialogue to people living on the inside in our communities. We stand firmly behind the values of transformative justice, gender self-determination, and prison abolition, and see these values as fundamental to our project.

The Transformative Justice Law Project of Illinois (TJLP) is a collective of radical lawyers, social workers, activists, and community organizers who are deeply committed to prison abolition, transformative justice, and gender self-determination. We provide free, zealous, life-affirming, and gender-affirming holistic criminal legal services to low-income and street based transgender and gender non-conforming people targeted by the criminal legal system. We create and distribute information, resources, and training curriculum for lawyers and social service providers who work with people targeted by the criminal legal system. We use our attorney access and attorney-client relationships on the inside to listen to the wisdom of and respond to the needs of those locked up. We help distribute resources and connect people to their peers, friends, family, allies, advocates, and the larger prison abolition movement.

Chances is a dance party which functions to bring together the varied LGBTIQ communities of Chicago. Third Mondays at The Subterranean. Always free. All gender expressions welcome.

www.writetowin.wordpress.com
www.tjlp.org