The Seattle Erotic Art Festival facilitates many unique platforms for performance art, from grand mainstage performances to smaller, more intimate showcases which blend seamlessly into their surroundings. From unique main stage productions to gloriously unexpected roaming characters, attendees who come to the Festival see and experience performance art they wouldn’t normally access in Seattle.
Our 2014 Performance Art Team is comprised of:
Courtnee Papasthatis, Performance Director
Courtnee Papastathis is pleased to celebrate her third year as a director for the Seattle Erotic Art Festival, previously serving as Director of Aerial Performance in 2008 and Performance Director in 2013. She is the co-founder of Vita Arts, a nonprofit organization which she creatively directed from 2009-2013; has performed in such Seattle venues as ACT theater, Seattle Center Exhibition Hall, and The Pink Door; and created The Obsidian Show, presented by Little Red Studio in 2009. Courtnee’s approach to Performance Direction for the Foundation for Sex-Positive Culture is to create an organic flow that enhances the ambient quality of Foundation and Festival events by bringing a sense of intimacy and relation to her performance offerings and the methods of their presentation.
Jesse Belle-Jones, Performance Curator
Jesse Belle-Jones, “The Modern Sexual Intellectual,” is pleased to have been involved in performances at the Seattle Erotic Art Festival for the last six years. She is a co-producer/proprietress and principal performer with Sinner Saint Burlesque, co-producer of the Seattle chapter of Naked Girls Reading, and is currently serving her second year of tenure on the board of directors for the Foundation for Sex Positive Culture.
Jennifer Dowling, Stage Manager
Misty Montaigne, Assistant Stage Manager
Misty has been involved in the Seattle performing arts scene for many years, taking on various roles on and offstage. Some favorites include directing for Little Red Studio; stage managing for Acrobatic Conundrum and the Moisture Festival; producing “Unpolished Gems,” a circus ope mic night; and performing with the Fremont Players in “Dick Whittington.”
Joshua Sacks, SEAF Late Night Curator
Raymond Forbes, Music Director
Afrodisiac Erotic Poetry Show
Afrodisiac is produced and hosted by two minority business women, artists, mothers, & activists who are striving to bring innovative adult entertainment and exposure to culturally diverse communities. Afrodisiac targets a mature and diverse crowd and are committed to our mission of providing a safe space for every gender, race and sexual identity to celebrate the diverse sexualities of people of color. We’re committed to exposing our audience to a variety of artistic erotic presentations, challenging classic views of sexuality towards tolerance at the very minimum and celebration at its most supreme.
One Night ONLY! · Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 9:00 PM
Cory Cavazos
Cello stole Cory’s heart in fifth grade. He was handed a hunk of wood with strings in class; this was the start of a lifetime commitment to and relationship with the cello. When Cory was unsure of where to start, his father bought an instruction book, taught himself how to play, sat down beside Corey and showed him where to put his fingers. Cory has had support from his father and his whole family ever since. Instead of homework, Cory would practice his cello. Cello became the air that he breathed. Now he plays as often as he can, creating a sound that is different from many cellists. Cory’s influences come from a variety of musical styles reaching beyond the boundaries of the cello, yet grounded in classical training, never compromising technique or intonation.
Friday, May 30th · Pools of Light · 8:00-9:00 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Roaming/Ambient Performer · 6:00-7:00 PM
Damon Buxton
Damon Buxton is an American instrumental acoustic guitarist and composer. He uses silent spaces, open tunings, natural reverb, and double picking to create a beautifully sparse and resonant sound.
After success with a 2007 release “Forgiving Dreams,” produced by Windham Hill Records founder Will Ackerman, he built his own studio and established a recording collaboration with Corin Nelsen, the Grammy® award-winning engineer responsible for so many of the world’s intimate acoustic music recordings.
Damon has performed at Kirkland Performance Center near Seattle, The Mattress Factory in Pittsburgh, The Maple Valley Arts Center, and is available to perform at other venues throughout the US, Canada, Europe, and Japan.
His latest solo guitar recording, Visitations, was released in December 2013.
Saturday, May 31st · Main Stage · 2:00-4:00 PM
Gender Tender
Syniva Whitney and Will Courtney are the co-founders of GENDER TENDER, a performance project that began out of the desire to make art work in a safe and rigorous environment for trans*, queer*, questioning and allied artists of all kinds. GT brings many different elements together from the worlds of dance, acting, burlesque, comedy, music and visual art. GT has performed at On the Boards, Velocity Dance Center, Gay City Arts and Gender Odyssey as well as at the Satori Group, Project: Space Available, the 2013 Seattle Fringe Festival and at LoveCityLove, all in Seattle, WA.
GENDER TENDER member Vanessa DeWolf is an artist wrangler & poeto-improviser. she runs Studio Current an artist residency program for artists practice, process and experimentation alongside aesthetic dialog. Her new work “FOREST FLOOR is low growling in the girls bedroom” premiered this past February at the Good Shepherds Center in Wallingford as part of an evening of performance curated by the Fisher Ensemble.
GENDER TENDER member Sara Ann Davidson is a multidisciplinary artist working in Seattle. Turn-ons: Hot jamz, ISO 3200, witchery, space. Turn-offs: Secrets, patriarchy. http://
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 8:40 PM
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 10:10 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 6:00-7:00 PM
Jesse Parce
Presenting Cello Burlesque with Jesse Belle-Jones
Jesse Parce is a local performance artist and a member of Pony World Theatre Company, The American Russian Theatre Ensemble Laboratory, Taproot Theatre Improv, and plays cello with L’Orchestre D’Incroyable. Locally he has performed and directed with Seattle Symphony, Music of Remembrance, Emerald City Scene, Seattle Musical Theatre, Skagit Opera, Blood Ensemble, Acropolis Performance Lab, Village Theatre, and The Harlequin Hipsters. He has also performed with Central City Opera in Central City, Colorado, and in the Spoleto Festival in Spoleto, Italy. Mr. Parce is a graduate of the University of Washington School of Drama and the Accademia dell’Arte Full-Year Theatre Program.
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 8:35 PM
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 10:05 PM
Holly Bordeaux
Presenting The Spaghetti Western Balloon Pop
In the 1930s, early burlesque dancers in traveling carnivals started to perform athletic tricks on tent poles in order to complete with the acrobats. This brought forth the early American pole dance striptease known today. Combining two distinctly different mediums – the classic burlesque Balloon Pop, and an athletic modern pole dance – Holly pays tribute to the dancers before her while embracing the new eras of both pole and burlesque. Using Ennio Morricone original and remixed composition, Holly is proud to bring you… the Spaghetti Western Balloon Pop!
Holly Bordeaux is the kind of woman you wish existed, but rarely find. She is the lovely woman in the back of a theater reveling in a showing of Woody Allen’s Manhattan, and the nonchalant gamine gracefully perusing the French wine section, cradling each bottle she is considering as if it were a delicate work of art. Sensual, sensitive and provocative, Holly is a true artist at her core, finding her true medium and outlet in pole dance artistry. An innovator, she combined her two loves of classic cabaret theater and pole to found the Bordeaux Project in 2012. The Bordeaux Project is a cabaret pole performance collaborative with resident and rotating guest artists, where the sensuality and athleticism of pole dance meets the fanciful medium of theater to create a new aesthetic – the sold-out Vertical Cabaret Shows at the Can Can. When not performing, Holly teaches at the Pole Fitness Seattle studio in SoDo.
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 8:45 PM
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 10:45 PM
Joie D’Vivre and V
Presenting “Why”
“Why” is a fleeting exploration of human nature, desire and what instincts compel us to fly headlong into the things we want- no matter the consequence. The question, “Why do I want what I want?” is the music and driving force behind this organic movement/contemporary dance piece. Do we answer the question? Or does the question remain?
When creative ideas come to Joie D’ Vivre, they often come in like a body slam, knocking her over and taking her down for the count until she promises to honor the muse and wrestle the vision to earth. Dance, poetry, written and spoken word are all mediums she uses to put flesh on the spirit of a piece or to create a container as a means of communication for feelings that often are larger than words alone can express. By day, Joie is healing artist with a thriving practice in the Seattle area. Every moment in between, she is a creative being on a grand adventure called life.
V is a life-long dancer and artist, into artistic democracy, who loves helping people find their own valid artistic expression. His passions include improv, ecstatic singing and ecstatic dancing (and the combination of both.) He is most excited about works that happen in the moment and in trance space. He also loves to perform in public spaces, where people aren’t expecting performance/art. V is the creator of Ecstatic Singing Seattle and a new project, Ecstatic Street Dancing Seattle.
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 8:40 PM
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 10:10 PM
Pacific Syren
Presenting “Thunder of Scorpia”
Scorpia the venomous scorpion hides, prowling in the shadows, waiting for her prey. Dressed in black to conceal herself, Scorpia begins her performance by moving in and around a sea of innocent victims. She advances through the increasingly anxious crowd, circling them until she singles out her prey, now at her mercy. She’ll capture her powerless victim with her poisonous strike. Smoulderingly slowly, Scorpia peels off her skeleton shells before finally uniting with her prey.
Pacific Syren will have you on the edge of your seat. The sensual, passionate California Starlet whisks you away on a journey of dramatic exquisiteness and theatrical extravaganza. Once-seen, never-forgotten, this burlesque beauty will celebrate femininity by gracing you and the stage with her sensual, emotive goddess glamour. Her magnetic charisma will touch, move and stir you beyond the realms of anything you’ve ever experienced before.
Friday, May 30th · Pools of Light · 8:30 PM
Friday, May 30th · Pools of Light · 10:00 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 8:30 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 9:30 PM
Red X Roper
Bio coming soon!
Friday, May 30th · Pools of Light · 9:00-10:30 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 9:00-10:15 PM
The Sex-Positive Story Slam
The Sex-Positive Story Slam is made up 5-minute stories volunteered by members of the audience. All of the stories are about sex, sexuality, and living in a gendered body–and most are stories that you’d never hear at a mainstream story slam, because they deviate from mainstream ideas of what sex and sexual relationships should be.
Their performances at SEAF will feature the very best of the stories told at their monthly events over the past year and offer members of the audience a chance to chime in with their own stories. Sign-ups from story tellers will be taken throughout the events.
The organizer of the Sex-Positive Story Slam, Gwen, is an aspiring novelist and ardent feminist who thinks that we should talk about sex–its best, worst, and most confusing aspects–much more. She created the Sex-Positive Story Slam to give people a place to share their experiences and hear about those of others.
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · 6:00 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Main Stage · 6:00 PM
Sinner Saint Burlesque
- Photo by Damien Jones
Sinner Saint Burlesque’s “Sculpture Garden” explores erotic language and the power of touch. Dancers physically manipulate each others’ bodies, using one another as a canvas for painting our interpretation of words. This is done taking into consideration the creative, intimate and sensual ways that the Sculptor might use her own body to manipulate the Sculpture.
Sinner Saint Burlesque is an internationally performing and teaching theatrical striptease dance company. Their mission is to celebrate the human experience through smart, sexy entertainment. Founded in 2006, Sinner Saint Burlesque not only performs in their home city of Seattle, but has also crossed state lines, international borders, and the high seas to bring their glamour, theatricality, wit, and humor to the masses. For more information please visit: http://www.
ONE NIGHT ONLY! ·Friday, May 30th · Pools of Light · 6:00-7:00 PM
Venatrix Vae
Presenting “Miles to You”
“Miles to You” is a fusion dance piece created by Venatrix Vae. The piece incorporates tribal fusion belly dance and burlesque. The dance reminds us that we are always miles from our future selves–our future desires.
Venatrix is Latin for “huntress”. Vae is Latin for “woe”. The huntress’s woe is deep, necessary, and beautiful – it feeds our connections. Vena became a widow when she was 27. Trusting her intuition, she believes in energy and spirit like a wolf breathes wind and the bird sings for no person.
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 7:30 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 8:15 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 9:15 PM
Verotica143
A high-tech toy for the lucky and few? A droid gone wild? A life-size doll that plays off your emotional and sexual energy and reflects back your deepest desires…?
Perhaps….
Verotica143 was first thrust upon the world on July 23rd, 2003. Her carefully calibrated energy fields and sexual tension lines have intrigued audiences for many years. Each time she appears on stage, the audience revels in her exquisite tuning and masterful grasp as she lays claim to anyone within the room. Finally, a mirror has been created, in human form, in which others can see their own sexual masks and desires laid bare before them – an act being played out for the audience’s enjoyment and musing. She has pushed herself to her limits, to ever more dangerous places of the sexual psyche… come see what Verotica143 has in store for you.
Friday, May 30th · Main Stage · beginning at 8:30 PM
Saturday, May 31st · Main Stage · beginning at 8:30 & 10:00 PM
Zan Edson and Whiskey
Zan Edson is an artist of many strange hats. Bodypainter, sculptor, maskmaker, painter, and occasionally, when words must push themselves forth, poet. She enjoys themes of transformation, animals, trees, and the rest of the natural world and playing with humanity’s place therein. She has a penchant for portraying denizens of the magical realms, as well. You can see her art at artbyzan.com.
Whiskey creates elaborate yet functional headdresses equally suited for dance, show, or seduction alike. By combining themes from nature with a scattering of distinctly human industry, her work strives to honor our essential animalistic natures alongside the devious sense of delight that brings us to a higher level.
Saturday, May 31st · Pools of Light · 3:00-5:30PM