Irresistible Revolution DC 2022

5512 Taylor Road, Riverdale Park, MD

Our Event

A one day event that centers marginalized (BIPOC + LGBTQIA) voices in our 🎨 art, 🎭 expressions, ✨story telling, 🤸movement, 🌈 joy and ⚡collective liberation.

  • 2022 Recap

  • 2022 Promo

  • IR2021

  • Movement

  • Fire Flow

Our Mission

  • Irresistible Revolution // Fruit of Courage

    "The role of the artist is to make the revolution irresistible.” - Toni Cade Bambara Irresistible Revolution is a space that allows our comrades to celebrate our collective and individual Joy within the acknowledgement of each other’s struggle. We seek to center marginalized voices, honoring our courage to transmute our pain into our art; that which becomes our beauty. We gather to bear witness to each other’s stories, to embrace our weaknesses and strengths in this revolution that seeks liberation and change. We gather to inspire each other with our ability to remain resilient and thrive, even as we suffer a long standing system of white supremacy and targeted provocation. We gather to make this Revolution one that is is filled with courage, kindness, compassion, accountability, joy— one that is irresistible. This event exists for individuals and communities to share their experiences & stories, and to share their individual breath and collective rhythm. As a community we are in solidarity as we struggle against racism, sexism, ageism, homophobia, transphobia, ableism, classism, misogyny, shame, brutality, colonization and all other harmful and toxic behavior. Attendees will get to listen and learn from a panel of speakers, have the opportunity to bear witness to performances and storytelling, and will also have a chance to literally move as part of a closing celebratory dance. We hope they will be inspired to change and will pursue change and growth whenever and however possible. We want to cultivate a brave space of joy and healing, where we work hard and we play hard. This event centers BIQOPOC & LGBTQIA. It is for EVERYONE who want to be a part of this movement, in solidarity and allyship with each other.

2022 Programming

2:00pm - 12:00AM

  • Spin Through It: An Intro to Healing and Flow Artsnw/ Willow & Tippy

    2:15-3:15pm A discussion on the healing modalities & historical origins of flow arts. Participants will be introduced to some of the most recognizable props.

  • A Steady State of Grief - Deconstruction of Death with Ursa Lee

    3:15 - 4:15pm A guided conversation about death, grief, and the impacts on the collective. We'll explore how dying and despair has taken root for the last few years and what a new relation to death and dying can look like for the collective.

  • Open Mic

    4:15-5:30pm In celebration of our courage and joy, we open with holding a brave space for YOU to share your story and for us to embrace each other as a community.

  • History of Funk Music and Dance Culture + Jam Session

    5:30PM-7:00PM Urban Artistry led with + DJ set with Samantha Francesca Urban Artistry, Inc., is an internationally recognized 501(c)3 non-profit organization dedicated to the performance and preservation of art forms inspired by the urban experience. Serving as cultural ambassadors for communities that are often unsung, the group fulfills their mission through effective collaborations that support artists’ past, present, and future.

  • Animal Flow with Kai Hall

    6:00- 7:00pm 60 minutes of ground-based, bodyweight movement system designed to improve a range of skills including speed, power, endurance, flexibility, mobility, and stability.

  • Cultivating Black and Brown Joy w/ Diana Rhodes

    7:45-8:45pm White supremacy and other systems of oppression ultimately rely on individuals and communities operating at a deficit, simply to survive. And so it is more important than ever than we explore the role creativity and imagination has in our lives. This panel will share their experiences incorporating play, as a tactic and a value, into their personal and professional lives. This conversations also aims to reframe our experiences as marginalized peoples and communities, as ones that aren't defined and limited by our trauma, but lives that are full of potential and abundant through our joy.

  • Open Fire Circle & Dancing

    7:00PM - 12:00AM 5:45-6:00pm: MANDATORY safety meeting Sunset & Chill is a communal dance and arts event based in Washington DC. The DMV is home to a growing community of fire and flow artists who express themselves through this art form. Sunset & Chill was created to give fire and flow artists a safe space to practice their art in a healthy and inspirational environment. It has evolved into a community affair bringing artists and the greater-DC community together around music, dancing and the shared enjoyment of a beautiful sunset.

Bios

Artists

  • Jeremy "Saymo Saymo"

    Bio coming soon

  • Kia Green

    My purpose is to bring out the passion in people through artistic expression. I do this in order to encourage them to never lose sight of what's important, who you are, and the vision of creation.

  • April Li

    April, 28 year old dreamer, longs to plant her feet in every place around the world to soak up stories of the earth and people. As a product designer and filmmaker, she often gets lost in creation in all sorts of mediums. She seeks beauty by storytelling through frames, love through music, and magic through the power of connection by art forms.

  • Lindzor

    Lindzor is a queer artist currently based in Baltimore. As a weirdo with a cause, their passion and curiosity grows with each bit of new knowledge. Connecting the dots of trauma, emotional healing, social justice, environmentalism, and beyond, is how Lindzor informs and evolves their creative process. Using whatever medium they fancy, they quickly and cleverly draw, paint, and print on a variety of canvases. This includes the most wonderful canvases of all, human bodies. It’s Lindzor’s number one priority to create a deep sense of care and understanding so each and every person can feel loved, accepted, and beautiful in their own skin.

  • Won Cho

    I am a self taught artist born in South Korea and raised in Maryland. I like to make visionary and psychedelic art. In my paintings I try to portray visions that I see in my mind. These visions come to me spontaneously, often when I am inspired by things that I see or hear while going about living everyday life. I was 6 years old when I moved to this country and some of my earliest memories are of being picked on because of my racial Identity and my name. I grew accustomed to it and just accepted it as a part of my reality growing up and just brushed it off my entire life. Painting for this movement means a lot to me because I no longer want to accept racism as a part of my reality and continue being passive. I want to contribute and support the movement so maybe other young kids growing up experiencing the same struggles I did don’t have to anymore

Educators

  • Ursalee (she/her)

    Hailing from Seattle Washington, Ursalee has called DC home for the past 5 years. Her form of expression fuses poetry, spoken word, improv, and storytelling. An organizer at heart, she finds passion in community building + care and how our collective histories and present can lead to our collective liberation.

  • Diana Thu-Thao Rhodes

    Diana Thu-Thao Rhodes wears many hats, among them: advocate, change-maker, policy nerd, facilitator, creator, curator and creative schemer. In her professional capacity, she is a nonprofit executive and policy advocate that works on reproductive and sexual health/rights/justice issues, specifically those that impact young people, women, LGBTQ and communities of color. Personally, she has been curating and organizing with local arts and music communities for nearly 15 years, beginning in her hometown of Las Vegas, and now in her adopted home of Washington, DC. Her passion lies in cultivating intentional spaces for community-building, activism, and creative expression. She serves in leadership and is a member of the music curation committee of Meso Creso, as well as on the Board of Directors for Girls Rock! DC.

  • Leslie Liao

    Leslie Liao has been a member of Urban Artistry since 2012, and currently serves on the Board of Directors. Under the mentorship of Junious Brickhouse and help of her Urban Artistry family, she has grown tremendously as an artist, performer, and dance educator. She is an instructor for the Applied House Dance and Intro to Whacking/Punking classes for the Urban Artistry Dance Academy. Prior to joining Urban Artistry, she danced with Culture Shock in New York City and Floorganics/Flo-ology in San Francisco. Outside of dance, Leslie is a caregiver and small business operations manager. Social justice has always been an important focus in her life, and she seeks to continue that path in her work with Urban Artistry.

  • Hikari Miller

    Hikari is originally from Teaneck, NJ, a town north of the garden state just 20 minutes shy of New York City. Her father is from New Jersey and her mother is from Okinawa, Japan. Hikari was first introduced to dance culturally in her hometown through Jewish family gatherings and block parties in Teaneck. in 2002, She resided with her mother in Okinawa. Wanting to do more with dance, Hikari was eager to return back to the states. She moved in with her older siblings in Queens, New York when she was 13 years old. While working at a deli in the mornings, she attended Martha Graham School of Dance and The Ailey School in the evenings during the summer. She trained in Graham, Horton, and ballet. In conjunction with dance, Hikari attended P.S. 190 Russell Sage Junior High School in Forest Hills, Queens. Her first professional performance was with Silent Fire Productions at Dance Space in NYC when she was 14. At 15 years old, she was awarded a full scholarship to learn dance at School at Steps on the Upper West Side for two years. She taught dance for the youth program and performed at Steps. At 17 years old, she moved to Carlisle, Pennsylvania where she trained under Marcia Dale Weary for three years at the Central PA Youth Ballet. Shortly after her training at CPYB, she moved to Philadelphia and joined Philadanco for three years. She attended University of the Arts in Philadelphia and Jerusalem School of Music and dance in Jerusalem, Israel. In 2016, she graduated with a BFA in Dance from Uarts. After graduation, she moved back to NYC for two years. She has worked as a teacher and freelance performer, working as a backup dancer for MTV skits and performances with various artists such as Misterwives, Lachi, and Liza Koshy. After a virtual mentorship through Urban Artistry for a year, she decided to move to the DMV area in order to be closer. She has been studying dance traditions such as Memphis jookin, popping, and locking for four years at Urban Artistry. Hikari is a teacher at Urban Artistry's Funkateer Youth Program. Hikari has resided in the DMV area since 2018 and is excited to be part of the Funk in Focus team.

DJs

  • Matthew Cha x Samantha Francesca B2B

    11-12pm Matthew Cha Matthew Cha is a Washington DC-based saxophonist, singer, composer and producer from Seoul, Korea. Previously releasing music as DISQO VOLANTE, his music has been described as a cross of Prince, Yellow Magic Orchestra and Frank Zappa. STYLE\\INFLUENCES His music fuses a background in jazz + a love affair with techno + an astute awareness of post-internet aesthetic. Cha’s unique style, centered around his live saxophone, incorporates extended explorations of minimalism and techno, with a careful ear towards modern Asian flair. Samantha Francesca: Born and raised in the DMV area, Sam has established herself as an underground music powerhouse over the last decade, curating sounds across a wide variety of genres, including techno, electro, house, deep house and more. She is also a founding member of the esteemed Sticky Fingers Collective, throwing acclaimed parties all across the DMV.

  • Shaft XXL

    10-11pm SHAFT XXL takes his persona from the 1970s fictional black detective action hero John Shaft. His energetic style of DJing can best be described in a sense as funk meets cyber punk. His cut and paste credo traverses a wide spectrum of musical genres specializing in electronic dance influenced by lots of Hip Hop, Classic Rock, and Disco remixes, retro and contemporary pop and counter cultural elements. He likes to keep his audience guessing about what is coming up next on the dancefloor. Keeping with some of the older traditions of DJing as an art form you can hear hints of turntablism, harmonic grooves and playing with songs as opposed to just playing songs. SHAFT XXL has been party rocking in and outside the DMV/ mid Atlantic region since 1999, playing night clubs, local music festivals, lounges, fashion boutiques, raves and burns. He is also a resident DJ for Sunset and Chill and Give Production's Transit event the longest running EDM weekly now at 17 years in the DMV. Get ready to move! Can ya dig it?

  • Confetti The First

    9-10pm Having been called the “House Queen of the DMV,” Confetti The First lays down multi-genre electronic music like it’s encoded in her DNA. Her high-energy, fun sets light up the dance floor and will leave you a hot mess begging for more! Having established herself as a household name in the EDM scene in the greater Washington, D.C., Maryland, and Virginia area, Confetti The First brings the beats that will make you dance all night long. In her time behind the decks, she has performed at venues such as U Street Music Hall in Washington, D.C., Flash in Washington, D.C., Soundstage in Baltimore, MD, Soundcheck in Washington, D.C., The Paradox in Baltimore, MD, Empire in Springfield, VA, Ultrabar in Washington, D.C. and more. She has performed at festivals including Big Dub Festival, Otakon Anime Convention, Unified Field of Consciousness, Flower of Life, and been booked by event companies such as Badass Entertainment, Panorama Productions, Symbiotic, Nu Androids, Club Glow, and Give Productions. She has also had the pleasure of sharing lineups with names such as DJ Micro, Elite Force, Helicopter Showdown, Baggi Begovic, DJ Venom, DJ Shiftee, Designer Drugs, Wes Smith, Laxx, Nina Las Vegas, KITTENS, Sam Divine, dwilly, Genix, and Black Tiger Sex Machine. Confetti The First has also solidified two residencies on radio shows, one being “The Audio Infusion,” on WEAA 88.9 FM in Baltimore, and “More Bass Radio: Confetti Cannon Presents” on More Bass Radio, online. She is also an outspoken activist, who is committed in her support to equal rights for women, minorities, and the LGBTQ community. If you haven’t heard her electrifying infectious beats, get out from under that rock you’ve been living under and get dancing to the DMV’s favorite lady DJ.

  • Hon Jao

    8-9pm Hon Jao is the musical moniker of Jon Hao, Maryland and D.C. based violinist/DJ. He performs live DJ sets blending a mixture of psychedelic midtempo bass, progressive deep house tunes, and melodic techno; all accompanied by soaring melodies on the live violin to tug at heart strings.

  • RetroGravy

    7-8pm BIO coming soon

  • Chromatic

    6-7pm Chromatic is a lover of club music. He plays a colorful spectrum of beats that are sure to make you dance. Although club music is his passion, Chromatic will blend and mix genres like breaks, jungle, house, and whatever gets ya body moving! Listen and follow on Soundcloud: soundcloud.com/chromaticmatt

Teachers

  • Kai Hall

    Kai has been a serious fitness addict since he was eight years old. His fitness interest include: baseball, basketball, football, karate, track/field, rowing, wrestling weightlifting, calisthenics, cycling, roller blading, Yoga, CrossFit, Zouk, Acro, and of course, Animal Flow. He believes fitness should include diverse movements for strength, flexibility, and stamina. Animal Flow is an entirely bodyweight training based, using closed-chain exercises; emphasizes multi-planar and functional movement focused on anatomical subsystems; it is designed to integrate into a range of fitness programs and resistance training models; and it provides for assessment, regression, progression with each step.

  • Willow

    Willow Turpie is a Maryland/ DC local Trans Female artist Graduated from the Corcoran College of Art and has been performing with fire around the Baltimore/ DC area for around 10 years. "I have lived a life wearing a mask...hiding who I am... and as I have grown, I came to realize the mask I was hiding behind to “protect”.... myself?.... others?.... is far more toxic, not only to myself but others like me. I want to be a source of inspiration for other trans people to see the things I didn’t, in my childhood. To shed light on the Things that kept me in bondage.... “Hey, you can be and are beautiful, you aren’t crazy... there are other people just like you out there” we are here and always have been..."

  • Tippy

    Tippy Ki Yay is a space writer by day, fire dancer by night. Her passion for storytelling shine both in her communications work for NASA, as well as her fire and flow artistry with Luciole Liberation. She has taught and performed in cities all over the world, including Cape Town, Black Rock, Houston, New York, and Baltimore. She is passionate about accessibility above all else.

Organizers

  • Jasmine Baker

    Jasmine Nicole is a Haitian/Liberian flow artist, fire performer, and activist living in the DMV area. Jasmine began her flow journey 7 years ago and fire training in 2019. Motivated by the growth, self-awareness, and joy flow arts continues to bring to her life, Jasmine's fire magic leaves audiences captivated.

  • Anthony Harvey

    Anthony Harvey is an artist, designer, musician, and entrepreneur from Montgomery County, Maryland. Inspired by Japanese anime and his vibrant Jamaican-immigrant upbringing, he built an original foundation in the visual arts and a wide range of design and media skills through years of freelance, contracted, and personal work. Anthony is the founder of Indiskreet, a charitable fashion brand, cofounder of digital media production company, Signal64, and Creative Director for multimedia production company Out of Many. From brand ID’s to websites to video editing to editorial and fashion design, Anthony applies a lifetime of experience to helping people share their stories in the creative and compelling ways that they envision but may not be able to produce on their own.

  • Hai Thai

    Hai Thai is just a regular guy who is really bad at talking about himself. He is an avid movement artist whose interests span wide ranging disciplines, from the urban outdoors of parkour, to the outdoors-outdoors of climbing and high-lining. Having immigrated to the United States at the age of 2, his formative years have shaped the way he views cultures and norms in modern society.

  • Nicky Pham

    Nicky Pham (they/them/theirs)Nicky embraced dance & movement at the age of 13, to heal from and combat teen bullying and depression. They've dabbled in many different movement arts during their journey - including funk culture, hoop dance and fire flow – but was drawn to the healing power of yoga and meditation following an injury in 2014. Making the transition to teacher in 2017, Nicky’s classes are creative explorations of movement as a means of both inner healing and self expression. Their goal as a creative and movement teacher is to offer brave spaces where others can genuinely tap into their power, find healing through their expressions, get closer to their individual self and step into their roles as a whole. Nicky curates events, movement & healing workshops for BIPOC & LGBTQIA collectives the DC area. They are also a captivating dancer and performer, especially drawn to the cathartic release of fire dancing. Nicky is a skilled content marketing and creative operations specialist in their full-time career. They are the director of Irresistible Revolution, a social justice activist group and artist collective in DC. They are an organizer, yoga teacher and creative based in the DMV area. Their extracurricular activities include planning events, making videos, dancing, and lighting things on fire.