From top left: background image - Alexander D'Agostino by Kata Frederick; Lele Paloumpis by Adrien Weibgen; the feet of Alexander D'Agostino by Tanya Garcia and Tatyana Tenenbaum by Brian Rogers.
What Is Queer Performance?
A week of thought-provoking queer performance workshops
As the big rainbow-touting holiday that is NYC Pride approaches, now is as good a time as ever to take a look back at the history of queer theory. Queer theory is the branch of sociology that surfaced in the 1990s out of queer and women’s studies, postulating the idea of ‘queerness’ itself in the monumental work of writers such as Judith Butler, José Esteban Muñoz, David Halperin, and many, many more. These writers’ manifestos and theories challenged contemporary social mores and brought queerness into the realm of critical thought, which is historically one of the most essential ways we’ve managed to come as far as we have in politics at large. So, naturally, any opportunity to overlap theory with actual practice is something that should always be taken advantage of. Lucky for you, one of those opportunities is available starting this week: organized by dancer, choreographer, and arts organizer Li Cata, What Is Queer Performance? is a set of workshops made by and for queer artists, bridging ‘queer writing practices with queer body based practices‘ in performance-centered classes.
Housed in the Bureau of General Services — Queer Division, the workshops are all performance-based, but not in the sense you may think. Performativity, in its theoretical meaning, is the “capacity of speech and gestures to act or consummate an action, or to construct and perform an identity.” So for What Is Queer Performance?, queer artists will be touching on “text, sound, witchcraft, impulse, free association, and movement” to inspire, teach, and provoke your inner performative instincts and bring them to the forefront. The workshops are led by Luke George, Mariana Valencia, Jaamil Kosoko, Tatyana Tenenbaum, Iele Paloumpis, and Marissa Perel, and they all sound crazy fantastic. Improvisation based on a group of random items? Blurring the lines between sound production and movement? An astrology-based dance workshop focusing on inclusion of all kinds of bodies? Yes, please.
Tickets are only $10, so go buy one to any/all of these workshops and make good use of those queer theory electives you took in college.
Workshops start June 11 and run through June 14. More information can be found here. Space is limited.
