Image by Joan Osato | Ethos de MasqueradeJoin us at MoAD for a performance of the Global Street Dance Masquerade in conjunction with our current exhibition EN MAS': Carnival and Performance Art of the Caribbean.

The Global Street Dance Masquerade conceptualized by Artistic Director Rashad Pridgen is a site specific, dance ceremony, presenting thematic, socially conscious, full body masquerade suits in urban environments for diverse audiences.  The Bio Spirit Safety Suit is a contemporary homage to the Orisha Omolu exploring the HIV/AIDS epidemic through movement and performance art spectacle manifest through a Pan-African full body masquerade.

In August 2017, a full-length theatrical version of the Global Street Dance Masquerade (GSDM) entitled Ethos de Masquerade presented with Campo Santos at the Strand Theater in San Francisco choreographed and conceptualized by Pridgen; described by KQED Arts as: “Beautiful, straightforward, oblique.. ..Channeling Banksy and Descartes”  The GSDM has presented its unique dance ritual projects throughout the bay area: The Black Lives Masquerade in the Bayview Hunters point, Zaccho Dance Theater, Bayview Opera House, the Oakland City Council, The Love Life Project Oakland, The Black Women Is God opening 2017, east Oakland 14th & Seminary filming The Black Lives Masquerade (a short film), "Black Life" series with The Berkeley Fine Arts Museum and ‘Resilience’ exhibition at the San Francisco Public Library.

A Masquerade 4 Prince was presented in downtown San Francisco's Tenderloin district traveling from the Luggage Store to the Tenderloin National Forest. The Bio Spirit Safety Suit a homage to the Orisha Omlou and exploration of the HIV/AIDS epidemic through spectacle dance and performance art has presented at The Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, Dance Mission Theater and the SF Pride Parade 2017.  

Rashad Pridgen’s work as performance artist spans: dance, theater, fashion and music video (Dance) Dying While Black and Brown at Harvard Law School and UMass Amherst choreographed by Joanna Haigood (Arts Commission & Institutes) choreographer for Question Bridge: Black Males with the Oakland Museum. The Global Street Dance Masquerade public art residency with SOMArt Cultural Center. The Global Street Dance Project has presented at Yerba Buena Center for The Arts, The Academy of Science’s, The de Young Museum, The Berkeley Fine Arts Museum, SOMArts, Dance Mission and Intersection For the Arts.  

Rashad has worked with Campo Santo for three years as movement coach, choreographing Superheroes with Cutting Ball and Babylon Is Burning at Project Artaud both directed by Sean San José.  Rashad has guest taught at Stanford University -Institute for Diversity and the Immersion in the Arts Living in Culture and is currently adjunct faculty at University of San Francisco where he teaches Global Street Dance and Hip-Hop in the Performing Arts & Social Justice department.  

For more artistry: www.soulnubian.com | www.gsdmq8.com

This program is presented in conjunction with Third Thursdays in Yerba Buena. Free Admission.