Dispatches

kaijo caggins (they/he) is a Black trans performance artist, educator and doula. they observe improvisation and defiance through pleasure in their performance practices. kaijo works with the body, sounding and disorientation; with an emphasis on queerness, somatics, and liberation as life force. they facilitate queer Contact Improvisation jams + teach CI based classes. living within Lenapehoking and Nacotchtank, he is currently in community with local CI enthusiasts, multidisciplinary artists, families, and the rivers. kaijo is pursuing their MA in Women’s, Gender + Sexuality Studies at The George Washington University.

what kaijo is working on:

‘disorient rituals for grounding — a practice in process’

this is a trio

a moresome

we are entering the fifth wall

can we orient ourselves differently

close your eyes

lay with me

hands to the sky

mouths open

‘disorient futures’ is a curiosity space working through practices of improvisation and asking questions. falling into the senses. trusting desire. saying no. activating manifestations of what it means to be with our own complexities + in community as worlds around us shift and crumble. ‘disorient futures’ teases methods of contact improvisation and sonic collage.

Marisa (she/ they) is a movement and performance artist based in Philadelphia, land of the Lenape people. She is most interested in authentic movement, radical and expansive movement practices, and movement as a means of grounding toward collective liberation/revolution. In her work, she has been exploring themes of grief, rebirth, togetherness and queerness through performance. Marisa performed a solo dance theater show in the 2024 Cannonball festival called authentic grief baby monologue. They earned their BFA from the University of the Arts in 2016, and have worked with many incredible artists in the area since.

What Marisa is working on:

Marisa has been combining writing, movement, and storytelling practices lately, hoping to disarm her preconceived notions of artmaking and performance to unveil deeper, truer, and more playful possibilities. They have been writing about the grief of losing their mom to cancer in 2023, coming out of the closet during the pandemic, and exploring themes of mortality, transformation, playfulness, and rebirth. Her movement practice is based in authentic movement, an insistence on feeling deeply instead of shape making, and allowing oneself to both witness and be witnessed- despite the nearly unbearable vulnerability hangover that inevitably ensues.