FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE:
Images here.
Left: Fauxnique, photo by Arturo Cosenza. Courtesy of the artist and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art. Right: Still from The Nelken Line, directed by Eric Garcia; courtesy of the artists, San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art.
Dance and Drag Come to di Rosa
A performance by pageant-queen Fauxnique and selection of short films from San Francisco Dance Film Festival celebrate movement, resilience, and transformation.
Napa, CA (February 27, 2025) – di Rosa Center for Contemporary Art and Catharine Clark Gallery’s BOXBLUR present Down the Path, a performance by Fauxnique (Monique Jenkinson), accompanied by a screening of short films selected by San Francisco Dance Film Festival’s Randall Heath, collectively titled Postcards from the Edge, Saturday, March 15, 4 – 6 p.m. Tickets are $30 general, and $20 for di Rosa Members. This event is presented in conjunction with di Rosa’s current exhibition, Moving Pictures: A Survey Exhibition of Works by Deborah Oropallo and Collaborators.
Nearly two decades ago Fauxnique presented Heroic Comportment, a performance in response to Deborah Oropallo’s exhibition, Guise, at San Francisco’s de Young Museum. That performance kicked off a creative connection that continues to weave through both artists’ lives. Building on that shared history, Fauxnique’s performance Down the Path takes inspiration from the fairy tale and protest imagery in Oropallo’s current exhibition, Moving Pictures. The performance draws on Fauxnique’s persistent obsession with artifice, authenticity, and femininity to contemplate the march of personal and political progress, interrupted by obstacles real and imagined, and villains tricky and treacherous.
Curated by Randall Heath, Executive Director of the SF Dance Film Festival, Postcards from the Edge presents a selection of short dance films celebrating movement, resilience, and transformation while unfurling urgent narratives of climate distress, political defiance, and the fluidity of gender identity. Through dramatic choreography and cinematography, the films in Postcards from the Edge capture a spirit of resistance and reinvention, proving that even in times of upheaval, movement is a force for change.
Selected films:
Circle (Mexico, 2022). Directed by Phillip Kaminiak.
The Dérive (Iran, 2017). Directed by Tanin Torabi.
Ghostly Labor (USA, 2022). Directed by John Jota Leaños and Vanessa Sanchez.
Mother Melancholia (Germany, 2022). Directed by Samantha Shay.
The Nelken Line (USA, 2023). Directed by Eric Garcia.
Monique Jenkinson is an artist, choreographer, performer, and writer. Her work dwells at the intersection of contemporary dance and cabaret and considers the performance of femininity as a powerful, vulnerable, and subversive act. Her alter-ego, Fauxnique, made herstory as the first cis woman ever, anywhere, crowned as a pageant-winning drag queen, and her performance works have toured nationally and internationally in wide-ranging contexts from nightclubs to theaters to museums. She engaged in public conversation with superstar philosopher Judith Butler and RuPaul bestie Michelle Visage within days of each other and has created both college curricula and space for children to design gowns for drag queens. Honors include residencies at Headlands Center for the Arts, Tanzhaus Zürich, and Atlantic Center for the Arts, an Irvine Fellowship and residency at the de Young Museum, GOLDIE and BESTIE awards, and generous foundation support. Her memoir, Faux Queen is out now on Amble Press.
San Francisco Dance Film Festival offers something for diehard dance fans and newcomers alike, from in-depth feature documentaries to engaging shorts programs. Since its first iteration in 2010, the Festival has secured a solid place on the international scene, drawing a vibrant and diverse range of participants from all over the world. SFDFF offers a rare place where independent artists can celebrate their achievements and inspire each other as a unified community. It also serves to introduce dance to those who don’t typically attend live performances and showcases new international talent before it reaches the Bay Area through traditional venues.
ABOUT DI ROSA CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ART di Rosa is a non-profit art center and nature preserve specializing in the art of Northern California. Located at 5200 Sonoma Highway, on 217 acres in the Carneros region of Napa, di Rosa includes two large art galleries, a beautiful lake, abundant birding, walking trails with vineyard views, outdoor sculptures, and picnic grounds. di Rosa presents contemporary exhibitions by Bay Area-based artists in addition to maintaining a permanent collection of notable works by artists with ties to the Bay Area from the mid-twentieth century to the early 2000s.
di Rosa offers an array of public programs and events for all ages to inspire creativity and curiosity. di Rosa is open to the public without reservations Thursday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 4 p.m., and by appointment Tuesday through Wednesday. Visitors are encouraged to bring picnics. For more information visit www.dirosaart.org.
Media Contact: Allison Coats, allison@coatspr.com or (707) 363-6508
di Rosa Contact: Daniel Glendening, daniel.glendening@dirosaart.org or (707) 226-5991 x 17
