Interludes

VIEWPOINTS – Queer Dance Preview: CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS DANCES at The Joyce puts a queer spin on classical ballet and QUEER BUTOH 2022 at The Brick

• By drediman
• June 27, 2022
• No Comments

Theater isn’t the only performing arts genre going queer during Pride Month. This week, two dance programs are also putting a queer spin on two traditionalist forms of dance – classical ballet and butoh.

CHRISTOPHER WILLIAMS DANCES
The Joyce Theatre
June 28-July 3

This week at The Joyce Theater in Chelsea, Christopher Williams will be presenting a program that offers his own queer versions of two iconic classical ballets from the Ballet Russes era. First up is Williams’ contemporary dance re-envisioning of Les Sylphides, enticingly led by the stunning New York City Ballet principal Taylor Stanley as the the “Queen of the Sylphs”. Mr. Stanley will also be performing the title role of Williams’ new interpretation of Nijinsky’s The Afternoon of a Faun. The pieces on the bill feature designs by the choreographer’s longtime collaborators Andrew Jordan (costumes) and Loe Levasseur (lighting). The running time is approximately 90 minutes including one intermission.

QUEER BUTOH 2022
The Brick
In-person performances take place June 28-30

Then over at The Brick in Brooklyn, Vangeline Theater and New York Butoh Institute will be presenting the 2022 edition of Queer Butoh. The online version of the festival will be available from June 1-30 at www.vimeo.com/vangeline, and will feature Born to Transform with Fer Zam (Mexico); Yarli &Yin’s short film Wrestling Blues (Hong Kong/United Kingdom) with butoh dancer Mavi Haro; and Shadowbloom withXue and Mervin Wong (Singapore). The in-person performances will feature XUE and Mervin Wong (Singapore) in shadowbloom, Hélène Barrier (France) in METAGENDER, and Dustin Maxell (New York) with Kayva Yang and Mei Maeda in in a dark forest partly illuminated. The running time is approximately two hours with intermission.