By Tatiana Moore
The further north you go along the coast, the quieter California gets. The pace of life is slow beneath the redwoods, and yet Humboldt has a habit of producing people who refuse to sit still. Enter Arcane Artists, home to a whole spectrum of performers. Pole, go-go and fire dancing, aerial silks, DJing and live painting are just some of the acts that bring Humboldt nightlife to life.
Founded in 2021, in the aftermath of pandemic lockdowns, Arcane Artists Director Joey Constini set out to create a home for creatives across Humboldt County.
“What I saw in the community, more than anything, was depression and isolation,” Costini said. “I was watching so many young creatives having to leave this area.”
Unlike larger cities in California such as Los Angeles or San Francisco, Arcata is not an entertainment hub. There are no streets lined with clubs, no huge concert venues and no major touring circuits.
Lana Gallinat, stage name Lacy Mar, graduated from Cal Poly Humboldt (CPH) with a degree in psychology and a minor in dance last May. Gallinat discovered Arcane through people she met on campus.
“They were like, ‘We’re dancing with this group and you’d be perfect. Let’s go audition.’” Gallinat said.
Gallinat is a dance lead with Arcane Artists as a go-go dancer, but Humboldt wasn’t the first place she tried to build a life as a dancer. Before coming north, Gallinat lived in Los Angeles. where she studied dance and pursued performing professionally.
Gallinat said her time in Los Angeles eventually changed her relationship with dance.
“It became something that was really stressful and it was no longer a passion or outlet for me,” Gallinat said. “In Humboldt and with Arcane, I’m just surrounded by a bunch of people who just love what they do, who want to pursue their passions, who are also working and doing other things to get their bag. But then, like, this is what they choose to fill their free time with.”
Performers in Humboldt can be students, environmentalists, welders, therapists or teachers. In a place where entertainment opportunities are hard to come by, CPH students Luke Schulke and Wysdem Singleton are making a scene.
Schulke, also known as Dewdrop, is a graduate student pursuing a master’s degree in environmental and community programming, and an aerialist specializing in aerial silks. For her, performing is less about entertainment and more about pushing back against the limitations placed on her body.
“Performing to me means kind of everything,” Schulke said. “I have a few different disabilities and that can prevent me from using my body in the way that I want to, but when I can perform in this way, in this death-defying act, I kind of just defy what somebody might perceive my abilities to be, or what I might perceive my own abilities to be. And it just brings me out of that and puts me into a different mindset —a different world.”
Singleton, an accounting major at CPH, has had a lifelong entanglement with dance. With Arcane Artists giving her a space to experiment without having to fit neatly into one category she’s been able to branch out.
“I did praise dancing, I did ballet, I’ve done hip-hop, and then I took a couple dancing classes at Cal Poly, but I’ve always loved the art of dance,” Singleton said. “And so here I just do a lot of improv, a lot of go-go dancing, and I just get to love on dance.”
In a larger entertainment market, that kind of variety can mean constantly trying to prove where you belong. In Humboldt, that seems to be a part of the appeal. There is ample room to try something new, get on stage and figure it out as you go.
Humboldt may never have the neon lights of Vegas, and that’s exactly what makes the scene so different. The performers of Arcane Artists aren’t waiting for Humboldt to become the next entertainment capital; they’re not bound by the common industry expectations; they’re building something of their own.
Tatiana is a reporter. Contact her at thm18@humboldt.edu