Riffing on Identity

Identities: we all have one, but how do we communicate them to others? How we choose to represent ourselves to the world is endlessly fascinating, but take it to the next level: What does it mean when we perform an identity? Get deep this weekend with RIFF Talks V, a program of the SCDT dance and performance studio in Northampton. Each RIFF Talk features a panel of local, national, and international artists who have come together to discuss and workshop performances around a central theme. This weekend, that theme is identity in performance. Artists involved will include Sara Smith, an interdisciplinary choreographer and librarian from Greenfield; Joy Mariama Smith, a performance/installation/movement artist from the Netherlands; Tara Aisha Willis, a dance artist and Ph.D. candidate in Performance Studies at NYU; and Kosoko, a poet and writer who published Notes on an Urban Kill-Floor: Poems for Detroit and has served on numerous curatorial and funding panels including the National Endowment for the Arts.

RIFF Talks V: Friday to Sunday, Nov. 11-13. Friday: 6 p.m., Arts Night Out performance. Saturday: 4-6 p.m., artist workshops; 7:30 p.m., talk and performance. Sunday: 3-5 p.m., artist workshops. $10/performance, $40/weekend. SCDT Studios, 25 Main St., fourth floor, Northampton. (413) 695-1799, jenscdt@gmail.com, scdtnoho.com.

— Kristin Palpini