The Unwritten History Project Detail Record

Detail Record for X-Cheerleaders

Event Title: Wanted X-Cheerleaders
Series Title: Franklin Furnace "In Exile"
Location: Performance Space 122 (PS122)
Date: 11/25/1984 - 11/26/1984
Event Type: Performance

Event Documentation:

Wanted X-Cheerleaders, Photo by Marty Heitner	Wanted X-Cheerleaders, Photo by Marty Heitner	Wanted X-Cheerleaders, Photo by Marty Heitner	Wanted X-Cheerleaders, Photo by Marty Heitner

Artist Statement:

Bio:

Press Release: FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE September 28, 1994 Contact: Martha Wilson (212) 925-4671 FRANKLIN FURNACE ANNOUNCES PERFORMANCES "IN EXILE" AT PERFORMANCE SPACE 122. … November 25th and 26th at 7:30 p.m.: WANTED X-CHEERLEADERS is an evolving performance/event which gives voice and visibility to individuals as a means for determining their own identities as women. Cheerleading is a gender-based role that is encouraged and rewarded for young women growing up. In our society cheerleading is one of the repetitive performances (rituals) that women do every day that are complicit to the needs of the power structure. The qualities of a "good woman" are embedded in the "good cheerleader". Representations of cheerleaders thus have a direct relevance to all women, whether or not they have been cheerleaders. Artist Kim Irwin and choreographer Jody Oberfelder, both ex-cheerleaders, are collaborating with a squad of ex-cheerleaders ranging in age from 19 to 56 with the help of dramaturg Neill Bogan. By coming together to redefine the activity of cheerleading and to focus on restoring their right to be sexual, they will begin to define themselves in their own terms and to CHANGE THE PERFORMANCE. With new group chants, cheers and movements to bond their group power and to support who they are, they will be outrageous, serious and funny. They will bring the audience into a heightened state of the present moment by cheering their heads off and getting others to do the same. They will begin to build a community in which they want to live. Squad Members include: Dexter Collins, Keila Cordova, Kate Gnoffo, Kim Irwin, Stephanie Kemper, Mercedes Murphy, Lynn Neuman, Jody Oberfelder, Susan Perlbachs, and Cydney Pullman. "Uniforms" are by Anna Sui and Crunch. Partial funding has been provided by a grant from Art Matters Inc.. … For more than eighteen years Franklin Furnace has been at the forefront of the contemporary art world's fight for freedom of expression. The non profit art space has been able to turn adversity into advantage, presenting performance art "in exile" at Judson Memorial Church, The Great Hall of Cooper Union, and in Wollman Hall at the New School for Social Research, ever since its basement performance space was closed by the Fire Department in 1990 in response to an anonymous caller who claimed Franklin Furnace was an "illegal social club." Franklin Furnace has received support for launching the careers of artists from the National Endowment for the Arts, a federal agency; the New York State Council on the Arts; Jerome Foundation' Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation; The Fan Fox and Leslie R. Samuels Foundation; the Foundation for Contemporary Performance Arts, Inc.; The Peter Norton Family Foundation; The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts, Inc.; Phillip Morris Companies Inc.; and the friends and Members of Franklin Furnace. Artists presented in Franklin Furnace in Exile at Performance Space 122 have received Franklin Furnace Fund for Performance Art awards supported by Jerome Foundation ; the New York State Council on the Arts; and the Joyce Mertz-Gilmore Foundation.

Proposal Information: MONEY TO WORK Franklin Furnace Performance Art Proposal - April 1, 1993 Proposed Work Summary Why do mothers "kill" so that their daughters can become cheerleaders? Why are so many young women driven to compete to become cheerleaders? Why at 45 am I still tied to a cheerleader image of myself as needing to be attractive, popular, have a good figure, be a "good" girl or someone "he" would want to marry, socially adept, a good performer, outgoing, happy, bouncy, active, cute, pretty, loving, etc.? My proposal is to recruit high school cheerleaders and middle age women who have been cheerleaders (like myself) to come together during a 2-3 month period to exchange cross-generational autobiographical stories, to learn each others movements and motivations and to collaborate with me on a performance event about our lives as cheerleaders. Our working process of writing, speaking and creating movements would explore our gender issues, sex roles, social histories, identities and values, power and status of being cheerleaders. The performance event would include the above group of approximately 6-8 young and middle age women, invited cheerleading squad(s) from the city and be held in a NYC high school gym or auditorium.

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