Cherdonna

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Thu, 13 Jul 2017 17:25:30 -0400

Kissing Like Babies: Part III of one great, bright, brittle alltogetherness

Oct 12 – 15, 2017 at On The Boards

In this dance/theater piece, OtB audiences will explore the infantilization of the feminine, the conundrum of being, the amazing circumstances within which we exist, and the tie from birth to death and back again with the help of drag queen Cherdonna, a chorus of adult toddlers, and a seven piece brass marching band. Cherdonna Shinatra is a queer, fem, female, professionally trained contemporary dancer who uses dance traditions, clowning, drag, theater, comedy, performance art, camp, pop culture, feminism, absurdity, and subversive commentary to make art.

http://www.ontheboards.org/1718-subscription-series-announcement#Cherdonna

Seattle has always had a thriving drag scene, but one of Capitol Hill’s newest leading ladies is forcing her audience to rethink their perceptions of gender expression.

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 21:18:59 -0500

Cherdonna Shinatra is a drag queen who is not actually a drag queen; she is a woman who dresses up as a man impersonating a woman. The performer underneath the campy, over-the-top, spastic and lovable Cherdonna is actually a woman named Jody Kuehner.

This Sunday, Velocity Dance Center will feature Kuehner at a speakeasy-style roundtable discussion titled “The Art of Politics and the Politics of Queer Part II.” The event is the second installment in a series of Velocity speakeasies dwelling on queer art.

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Genius / 21 Century / Seattle

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 21:16:14 -0500

I will be participating in Genius from September 26, 2015–January 10, 2016, at the Frye Art Museum Seattle.

Genius / 21 Century / Seattle is an unprecedented, large-scale celebration of exceptional artistic practice in Seattle in the twenty-first century. It features over sixty-five visual artists, filmmakers, writers, theater artists, composers, musicians, choreographers, dancers, and arts organizations.
Genius has no limiting paradigm. It relinquishes the notion of an exhibition that does not change, that has a beginning and an end. It embodies instead a living exhibition that is in constant transformation.
Over a period of 16 weeks, Genius features 25 commissions and premieres, immersive installations, durational performances, collaborations across disciplines, film and literary festivals, music, dance, theater, rehearsals, workshops, and a citizen’s forum on Seattle’s future.

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Recap of the 2015 Genius Awards! Congrats to Cherdonna, Scarecrow, Mary Ann Peters, Yussef El Guindi, and Steve Fisk!

Mon, 08 Feb 2016 21:10:01 -0500

Cherdonna performed the opening number with two male dancers in gigantic Cherdonna heads. (Photo: Josh Bis)

An hour later, Cherdonna won in the performance category. (Photo: Josh Bis)

HOLY GOLDEN GNOME and Shanah Tovah, Seattle! Last night’s Genius Awards were a blast. There’s probably a pretty strong inverse correlation between how great everybody looked last night and how bad everybody feels this morning (turns out an all-you-can-drink Sparkle Donkey Tequila bar really greases the skids for a world-ending hangover), but I’d do it all over again if I could. Wait. What’s that you say, my little golden gnome hangover ghost-hallucination? We have digital cameras that allow us to remember what happened through the hangover blur and indulge in sweet, sweet instant nostalgia? Hallelujah!

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Cherdonna, Winner of the 2015 Stranger Genius Award in Performance

Thu, 04 Feb 2016 22:12:20 -0500

IS:

The alter ego of choreographer Jody Kuehner.

CAN BE DESCRIBED AS:

What would happen if you put a drag queen, a modern dancer, and a person with psychological issues into a blender, and then poured the result into a vintage gown.

SAYS:

“I’m trying to find my way into what feminist performance art is today.”

Cherdonna opened the 2015 Genius Awards at the Moore Theatre by sneaking onstage as if she were in the dark, as if no one could see her. She wasn’t in the dark, and everyone could see her—including dozens of musicians in the Seattle Rock Orchestra and more than 1,000 people in the audience. As entrances go, she was classically on-brand. Cherdonna looks like a drag queen and, sartorially speaking, really has her shit together—but Cherdonna isn’t really a drag queen and she does not have her shit together.

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