Works
“Finale” The show
This work takes elements of drag such as camp, reveals, and lip-syncing to exaggerated heights using vertical dance. In the creation of the work, Saharla combined vertical dance and drag to create a spectacle full of celebration and surprise. Major Hammy (Saharla’s drag alter-ego) transformed into a human disco ball of energy, light, and joy.
Premiered at Counter Pulse, October 2023. Performed again for Counter Pulse March 2024. Video by Loren Robsinson.
“Reverberation” (work-in-progress)
RAWDANCE Concept Series: 28
This piece is an exploration of the body's relationship to sound. How does sound control and inform the body? How does one break it? What is the meaning when sound is no longer a part of the equation but has still informed the body?
Video by Mark McBeth.
GRAVITY: Pop Up Performance Project (PPP) 2022
PPP is an opportunity for emerging artists to bring experimental material into public view for accidental audiences on San Francisco streets, plazas and parks.
Saharla’s work set to be an interruption of the humdrum, everyday “hustle & go” culture, exporing what it means to look up, take a break from running to the next commitment and smell the flowers. Hopfully creating a joyful and restorative break form the routine”
Collaborations
Baby Lady & ThE HAM
Saharla Vetsch and Helen Wicks are a dynamic duo that, since 2022, use physical expression and articulate movement to connect with diverse and multigenerational audiences. The two use aerial dance as a form to blend their individual styles in drag, physical theater, clowning, contemporary dance, and acrobatics. The collaboration aims to expand the hearts and minds of their audiences through joy, nuance, and spectacle.
Premiered at the 2024 San Francisco Aerial Arts Festival by Zaccho Dance Theatre.
Florescence
An installation dance piece created by Saharla Vetsch & Ciarra D’Onofrio. The piece explores surveillance of queer bodies, and how everyone performs for others in ways that aren’t necessarily authentic to our internal desires. The performers grapple with the expectations that come with being witnessed in public and private spaces, and how our queer bodies develop and hold movement patterns in order to navigate this world.
Premiered at the Tenderloin Arts Festival, at Counter Pulse, April 2023.
Los Trompos: Launch
A Bay Are Discovery Museum Commission with life size tops designed by designers Esrawe + Cadena. Piece created in collaboration with Helen Wicks Works.
Premiered at the Bay Area Discovery Museum, June 2022.