We had the good fortune of connecting with Hannah Shaka and we’ve shared our conversation below.

Hi Hannah, we’d love to hear about how you approach risk and risk-taking
Deciding to leave Vancouver (Canada), a city that had been my artistic home for over a decade, felt like a big risk at 30 years old. Vancouver was where I had begun my artistic career, and it was challenging to walk away from that community. However, it was a necessary risk to continue my training and performance experience as a theatre-maker. I had no idea that what started as a one year training program in Northern California would turn into a 3 year MFA in Ensemble Based Physical Theatre, and then a move to LA to continue to produce, perform, and work as a teaching artist. By taking that first risk, and continuing to listen to my gut, I have had the most wondrous and unexpected few years unfold. There’s a lot of anxiety that goes with uprooting yourself repeatedly, but it has 100% been worth the journey.

Alright, so let’s move onto what keeps you busy professionally?
I’m a physical theatre-maker, which means most of the work that I am involved in is original, and often devised in an ensemble process. I am interested in live performance that requires full physical engagement of the body, thus revealing what the body can express where language fails. What I so deeply value about my training is it deepened my skills as a collaborator and creator (I also picked up some skills in lighting, sound, technical direction, costuming… the list goes on!). This allows me so much agency as an artist, because I can create original work with just about anyone. Including people who may not consider themselves “artists.” A lot of my work as Teaching Artist places me in service of communities, and my main goal in this work is for people to walk away with an appreciation of their own creative abilities and the radical power of artistic self-expression.

Once I made the decision to really dive into the arts, I wouldn’t say it was easy, but it was a clear path forward. Of course, our personal lives will always throw all kinds of turmoil on that path. Making art, amidst both personal hardships and in the context of systemic struggles against oppression, remains an act of radical joy, community-building, and resilience.

One of the biggest lessons I have learned (which I “knew” because it is a cliché but didn’t truly practice) is: be yourself! It’s the only thing that makes your whole being sing. And, as my lineage of teachers would say: Show up, do the work, feed the community, and don’t be attached to the outcome.

Whether I am using clown to explore the queer history of country music, burlesque to subvert expectations of femininity and sexual performativity, embodying other-worldly mask characters, clown and slapstick, or anything else – my work always centers around the fully physicalized transformative character I am inhabiting. You are just as likely to see me roving through a festival in full drag as dangling from aerial silks in a surreal spider mask.

If you had a friend visiting you, what are some of the local spots you’d want to take them around to?
I would love to start with a morning in the Flower District, admiring all the greenery, followed by a couple hours in Santee Alley and the Fashion District (a must for anyone who makes their own costumes). Then, over to Elysian Park to get a good hike in and some beautiful views of the city. Dinner – maybe Ramen at Daikokuya in Little Tokyo, followed by a clown/comedy show at The Elysian and dancing at Zebulon, El Cid, or Short Stop.

The Shoutout series is all about recognizing that our success and where we are in life is at least somewhat thanks to the efforts, support, mentorship, love and encouragement of others. So is there someone that you want to dedicate your shoutout to?
A successful artistic life is all about community. I have to give a big shout-out to my creative sisters The Lost Girls Burlesque in Vancouver (and our manager Chris). We put in years of WORK devising original productions and touring and it encouraged me to keep going on this path. I also have to shout-out to the many wonderful people who came into my life during my MFA at Dell’Arte International School of Physical Theatre (including my mentor, Sayda Trujillo). It was a wild ride, man!

Website: www.hannahbutson.com/about

Instagram: @nitemare_burlesque, @hannah_shaka_arts

Image Credits
Jon-Christian Ashby, Fubarfoto, Terrence McNally, Rene Blais Photos, Peelfoto

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