OUTsider Opening Night: Valentine's Queer Slowdance & more!

Celebrate Valentine's Day (and Opening Night) with an old flame or sexy new spark at OUTsider 2018! Get ready for QUEER SLOWDANCE, the queer dance of your junior high dreams!!! Brought to you by Montreal artiste Sherwin Tjia--with cute cozy queer vibes and dedicated dancers to boot: no one dances alone (unless they want to)! Preceded by WITHIN, ABOVE AND BEYOND: a *trip* (in all senses) into the spectacular psyche of interactive animation artist Yuliya Lanina. Show Begins 7pm <3 SHARP <3. More details below. The fourth annual OUTsider queer transmedia festival will begin on Wednesday, the 14th and go through Sunday, February 18th. This Year's Theme is OUT of Time. <3 Get your badge now at http://www.outsiderfest.org/badge-purchase/ <3 View the schedule at http://www.outsiderfest.org/2018-preliminary-schedule/ <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 Details for the showcases on February 14, 2018: Within, Above and Beyond Yuliya Lanina (artist, performer), Russell Pinkston (composer), Andrea Ariel (choreographer) Vortex (inside): 7:00pm-7:30pm *Admission with badge only* WITHIN, ABOVE AND BEYOND is a journey inside the mind of an artist. In an attempt to make sense of her fragmented memories, the artist writes in a journal. She is sucked into the uncanny and bizarre world that is a reflection of her creativity. There she meets her alter ego who leads her on a tour of her subconscious. The piece explores the symbiotic relationship that can exist between the artist and her work. Through creativity, the artist is able to explore the depth of tragic experience by unlocking the hidden parts of her subconscious that lay dormant in its wake. <3 <3 <3 <3 Queer Slowdance (Valentine’s Edition!) Sherwin Sullivan Tjia Vortex (outdoor heated tent): 7:30pm-Midnight *Admission is free with a festival badge; individual tickets for this event may be purchased for $10* An experiment in radical intimacy, QUEER SLOWDANCE recreates the junior high dance, focusing entirely on the slow songs. With a library of Designated Dancers, the event acknowledges and re-enacts early traumas, allowing participants to reclaim and re-unite their early awkward selves with their current ones. Throughout the evening, people ask one another to dance, and relate to new people in the oldest-fashioned way possible. It’s a school dance with a happy ending! Fabulous junior prom attire is very much desired, but by no means required. <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 <3 A note about accessibility: The Vortex is a wheelchair-accessible space with accessible parking reserved by the entrance. Please feel free to contact OUTsider at info@outsiderfest.org with any questions, comments, suggestions, concerns, etc.