About the workshop:
Are you excited about developing a new act or producing a new show but not sure if you’ve covered all your bases? Have you gotten all of your choreography workshopped and your costume set but wondering what else you need to really polish things up and elevate your art? This new workshop offering from Tas Al-Ghul covers a crucial part of being a performance artist that is coming up more and more these days: how to make art that is fun and bold and creative without accidentally causing harm to fellow artists and audience members.
In this workshop, Tas will review high-level anti-oppression aspects to consider when developing an act or producing a show so that you can avoid causing harm (at worst) and you can create art that is as diverse, equitable, accessible, and inclusive as possible (at best). Drawing upon their wide breadth of academic and professional experience spanning over fifteen years, Tas is excited to share this knowledge with you in a lecture and discussion style format that culminates in a Q&A portion.
About the instructor:
Coming to you from unceded Fernandeño Tataviam, Gabrieleño/Tongva, and Chumash land (colonially known as Los Angeles, CA), this queer and curvy performer hypnotizes crowds across the country with their golden voice and bumps and grinds. They are an award-winning neurodivergent queer plus-sized second-generation South Asian-American Muslim cosplayer, model, and performance artist originally from the NYC Metro area (unceded Munsee Lenape land).
Tas wields her art as a form of social activism designed to explore the varied (and sometimes conflicting) facets of her identity, with the intention to challenge expectations related to these facets, specifically: intersections of race, sexuality, and heritage. She is a core cast member of the Old Hollywood-style variety show Babylon Cabaret and also SoCal’s only all Asian cabaret The Jade Follies, as well as the 2015 and 2017 California Burlypicks Master of Singing, earning her the monikers of “the sultry and seductive South Asian siren” and “The Bengal Bombshell.”
Additionally, Tas has been a Diversity, Equity, Accessibility, and Inclusivity Consultant for over a decade and holds a B.A. in Psychology as well as a Masters in Clinical Social Work, in addition to several certificates and over 15 years of field experience.