As the pilot performance of The Dyke HERstory Dance Tour, PITCH a new, site-specific dance theater project exploring Bay Area queer history through movement, storytelling, and community engagement. Set on the softball field, five dancers embody Bay Area dyke ancestors reuniting as an all-star "ghost team." Each player steps up to bat, sharing her story through recorded audio and embodied movement as the ensemble rounds the bases in a collective portrait of queer community, remembrance, and play. Directed and choreographed by Sarah Bush with research lead by KJ Dahlaw, the work features an original live score by KKINGBOO and B. Dukes of 7000COILS, the Oakland-based, Black-owned, gender-expansive collective.
Created by the multiracial, intergenerational, and queer-led artists of Sarah Bush Dance Project,
PITCH celebrates the enduring legacy of Bay Area lesbian softball as both a cultural touchstone and a place of belonging. The work emerges at a critical moment, as many queer elders who helped build lesbian and dyke communities in Oakland and San Francisco are aging while their stories remain largely absent from public archives and artistic representation. Rather than treating history as something fixed, PITCH invites audiences to experience remembrance as a living, joyful, and embodied act.
Featured Ancestors & Cast
Tala Brandeis - Portrayed by KJ Dahlaw
Jewell Buds - Portrayed by Risa Ofelia
Sensei Keiko Fukuda - Portrayed by Frances Sedayao
Lenn Keller - Portrayed by Richelle Donigan
Pat Parker - Portrayed by Jetta Martin
Free
Presented by Sarah Bush Dance Project