Performa/Dance

It’s Performa/Dance Artistic Director Jennifer Hart’s birthday today! Happy Birthday 🎂

Join us in wishing her well!



Photo:

As we look back on 2025, we are grateful for all who make Performa/Dance successful—you, our wonderful audiences, and the many exceptional artists involved in our work.

And now, we look ahead.

A gift to Performa/Dance will immediately impact our capacity to hire the many people it takes to create meaningful dance/theatre as well as secure a performance venue. Your donation helps shape not just Performa/Dance, but also the cultural life of Austin.

Please consider a tax-deductible donation before the year’s end through the link in our bio or on our website.

With Gratitude,

Jennifer Hart
Artistic Director, Performa/Dance

CTX Live Theatre Review // ANTHROPOCENE AKA: Oh the Humanity! AKA: The Big Wah Wah! //

“…an accessible, brilliant, and generous discourse on life and death on earth through time”

“This was a rare and masterful cast”

“…seamless design sequences and imagery”

“…screaming through the comedy: “What are we doing here while the earth dies?”

“…mentally and emotionally luminescent... Performa/Dance unleashed its core talents in full power to describe its loving look at the earth, the oceans, and humanity.”

THANK YOU to the 700+ roaring audience members that attended ANTHROPOCENE AKA: Oh the Humanity! AKA: The Big Wah Wah! this weekend. Without you, our work would not be possible. 🌊

THANK YOU to our most excellent team of artists, designers, technicians, and volunteers for their passionate and skilled work. 🤍

Full program credits linked in bio.

send us feedback at [email protected] !

ANTHROPOCENE

OPENING ROCKED. JUST TWO CHANCES LEFT TODAY - ! 4pm and 7:30pm ! Thank you to our roaring, sold-out opening night audience. Some photos from our final dress rehearsal

Don’t miss out. Tickets >>> performadance.org

ANTHROPOCENE
AKA: Oh the Humanity!
AKA: The Big Wah Wah!

August 16– 4:00pm (ASL-interpreted) + 7:30pm
at AustinVentures StudioTheater at Ballet Austin

ANTHROPOCENE
Creative leads:




Collaborators:

Friday Aug 15 almost SOLD OUT! A few walk-ups are still available or we have two more shows tomorrow:

Saturday Aug 16, 4:00 and 7:30

Ticket link in bio

Rave reviews from the invited audience at the dress rehearsal last night…don’t miss this one!

THIS WEEKEND - three performances only!

Performa/Dance presents

ANTHROPOCENE
AKA: Oh the Humanity!
AKA: The Big Wah Wah!

August 15 @ 7:30pm
August 16 @ 4pm and 7:30pm

At AustinVentures StudioTheater at Ballet Austin (501 W 3rd St.)

Tickets at http://performadance.org or through the link in our bio. ASL-interpreted show 8/16 @ 4pm.

Costumes and styling
Creative direction / /

ANTHROPOCENE
Creative leads:




Collaborators:


















This project has been financed in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program.

For ANTHROPOCENE, Performa/Dance has assembled a stellar artistic team that spans Austin’s cultural scene.

Performers come from all corners of Austin’s rich dance community, including Angel Blanco, Cellise Brown, Alexa Capareda, Jairus Carr, Aida Hernandez Reyes, Arnaldo Hernandez, Taryn Lavery, Clay Moore, Tikiri Shapiro, and Kanami Nakabayashi Timpe.

This cast has been incredible and working at the top of their game.

🔗 performadance.org/collaborators for full bios and photo credits

A short preview of ANTHROPOCENE at Austin CultureMap 📰 🔗 in bio.

Get your tickets today - three shows only! August 15-16

“This process definitely has resonated with us and we feel that we have told a story that feels universal. We want people to have fun — there are a lot of absurdist elements and funny, humorous asides — and it also has the more poignant aspects of looking at these themes. I believe that a good show has all those layers, just as life has layers.” - Performa/Dance Artistic Director Jennifer Hart

A short preview of ANTHROPOCENE at Austin CultureMap 📰 🔗 in bio.

Get your tickets today - three shows only!

“This process definitely has resonated with us and we feel that we have told a story that feels universal. We want people to have fun — there are a lot of absurdist elements and funny, humorous asides — and it also has the more poignant aspects of looking at these themes. I believe that a good show has all those layers, just as life has layers.” - Performa/Dance Artistic Director Jennifer Hart

Taking a slightly absurdist, wholly penetrating viewpoint, ANTHROPOCENE examines, through allegory, humanity’s tendency to put itself dead center at the expense of other life forms through surreal scenes at a beach, in a laboratory, in one disaffected young woman’s fevered monologue, at a family dinner table, and a hospital room.

🔗 Tickets at performadance.org or through the link in our bio. ASL-interpreted show 8/16 @ 4pm.

ANTHROPOCENE
AKA: Oh the Humanity!
AKA: The Big Wah Wah!

August 15 @ 7:30pm
August 16 @ 4pm and 7:30pm

📍AustinVentures StudioTheater at Ballet Austin (501 W 3rd St.)

Creative leads:




Collaborators:


















📷:

This project has been financed in part by the City of Austin’s Elevate Grant Program.

🔊 swipe for sounds and bts from ANTHROPOCENE sound artist Henna Chou!

Hear her work in ANTHROPOCENE | AKA: Oh the Humanity! AKA:The Big Wah Wah! - August 15-16 - three shows only!

Ticket 🔗 in bio.

Henna Chou (HC) is a sound explorer with experiences living in Tucson, AZ; Overland Park, KS; Berkeley, CA; Ames, IA; Beijing, China; and Montpelier, VT. Chou enjoys participating in Austin’s creative community as a cellist, guitarist, keyboardist, and sound artist. Previous work includes collaborations with Salvage Vanguard Theater, Paper Chairs Theater, COTFG, BLiPSWiTCH, Collide Arts, The Blanton Museum of Art, The Contemporary Austin, Museum of Human Achievement, Phonography Austin, and Golden Hornet.

photo by Minerva Lens of Athena Photography