Rachael Dichter is a San Francisco based dancer, performer, choreographer and curator. She works often with others and sometimes alone. She makes work about closeness. About the shortest distance and shortening the distance between things – between people. Having studied dance and art history at Mills College she was a 2015 Danceweb Scholar, a 2017 Artist in Residence at Caldera, a 2019 Artist in Residence at Headlands Center for the Arts, and a recipient of the Robert Rauschenberg Residency. Her work has shown locally and in Berlin, Cork, St Erme France, Portland, Seattle and she had been lucky to collaborate with a number of fierce and talented folks and for four years she co-curated the San Francisco based live arts festival THIS IS WHAT I WANT.
Dia Dear’s performance art combines gay club aesthetics of appearance, movement, and attitude with their opposites. They use trickery, sincerity, and pop culture to create emotionally visceral and visually fascinating images through live performance.They are educated in performance and art practice largely by participating in San Francisco’s diverse drag community since 2011. Their work has been featured in various festivals and curated shows in the United States and internationally. They have danced for celebrated choreographers and emerging international artists at SFMoMA and ODC. Most recently, they were a recipient of the Maroc Artist Meeting Residency in collaboration with Marrakech Biennale in Morocco (2016) and Musik I Syd Future Legends Residency in Malmö Sweden (2015).
About this Project
WITH by Rachael Dichter & Dia Dear blends physical practices and nightlife for a multi-generational queer phenomenon. WITH invites the audience to engage in a deep, extensive physical exploration of movement to move beyond singularity. Together Rachael & Dia blur boundaries of real/unreal and distance/intimacy to activate performance as a non-performative act.
Photos by Robbie Sweeny