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Performance
Posted inTheater & Performance
A Cure for Holiday Theater Season
Scroogey, Cheer Up! With Strippers, Christmas Elves, and the Case for Ballet
Scroogey, cheer up! With strippers, Christmas elves, and the case for ballet.
Posted inTBA
The Confines of Gender in Radhouane El Meddeb’s Au temps où les arabes dansaient
Courtesy PICA Radhouane El Meddeb’s Au temps où les arabes dansaient Watching French choreographer Radhouane El Meddeb’s Au temps où les arabes dansaient, I couldn’t help compare this ensemble performance to his solo work performed earlier in the festival, Je danse et je vous en donne à bouffer. There are similarities in themes—both explore gender […]
Posted inTBA
Between Satire and Sincerity: Michelle Ellsworth’s Briefing on the End of Men
Briana Cerezo Michelle Ellsworth, followed by her “Male-Gaze Simulator,” in Preparation for the Obsolescence of the Y Chromosome. A sassy New York Times editorial by Maureen Dowd about the evolutionary shrinking of the Y chromosome, coupled with the death of a friend’s father, got Michelle Ellsworth asking, “What will be missed when men are gone?” […]
Posted inTBA
The Absurd Joy of French Metalheads and a Touring Amusement Park in La Mélancolie des Dragons
Courtesy PICA/Martin Argyroglo Philippe Quesne’s La Mélancolie des Dragons “Large scale theater work” is how TBA described Philippe Quesne’s newest production, La Mélancolie des Dragons. It’s fair enough, I suppose—it would be hard to call it a “play,” exactly, lacking as it is in traditional conflict and plot. And while it feels elaborate (a car […]
Posted inTBA
Back to Nature with Night Tripper
Courtesy PICA/Florian Rainer Night Tripper‘s forest ritual. About halfway through last night’s TBA Performance Night Tripper, I was convinced I was caught in a spell. The contemporary dance and music piece developed by Signe Beckwer, Ingri Fiksdal and Ingvild Langgård/Phaedra takes place in a forest setting, in this case a meadow in Northwest Portland’s Forest […]
Posted inTBA
Subverting Cultural Expectations with Purposeful Confusion in Dana Michel’s Yellow Towel
Courtesy PICA/Ian Douglas Dana Michel The final of image of Dana Michel’s Yellow Towel has been playing on my mind since Saturday night’s TBA performance. Before the final lights went down, the audience was drawn to Michel, crouched in the front corner of the stage, a long tan weave-like fabric attached to her head with […]
Posted inTBA
Dynasty Handbag’s Delusions and Grandeur
Courtesy of Paula Court / PICA Dynasty Handbag is here to entertain. Dynasty Handbag makes a one-woman show look good—in the tackiest way possible. Her performance, Good Morning Evening Feelings, was delivered to a sold-out house at Disjecta on Thursday. In case you’re wondering, “Dynasty Handbag” is the alter ego of Los Angeles-based artist Jibz […]
Posted inTBA
B-Boys Deconstruct Gender in Amy O’Neal’s Opposing Forces
Courtesy PICA/Bruce Clayton Tom “Is it okay to cry at movies?” That’s the improbable question that echoes over the speakers towards the beginning of Amy O’Neal’s Opposing Forces, which opens with five B-boys performing precise choreography on a stage emblazoned with a slick geometric pattern. The performance begins like a party—the show I went to […]
Posted inTBA
Radhouane El Meddeb Serves Up Dance and Couscous in Je danse et je vous en donne à bouffer
Courtesy Radhouane El Meddeb French Tunisian artist Radhouane El Meddeb. Affectionately called “the couscous piece” by PICA’s Artistic Director Angela Mattox at an artist talk Wednesday, Radhouane El Meddeb prepares and feeds his audience both dance and the traditional North African dish in Je danse et je vous en donne à bouffer, performed Tuesday and […]
Posted inTBA
Confronting the Audience in Keyon Gaskin’s Its Not a Thing at BodyVox
<img src="https://www.portlandmercury.com/images/blogimages/2015/09/13/1442186746-keyongaskin_02.jpg" alt="Keyon Gaskin performs Its Not a Thing.” title=”Keyon Gaskin performs Its Not a Thing.” width=”500″ height=”281″ /> Alex Riedlinger via TBA Keyon Gaskin performs Its Not a Thing. Keyon Gaskin’s long-running piece, It’s Not a Thing, appearing as part of TBA Friday and Saturday at BodyVox, began subverting performance tropes as soon as […]
Posted inTBA
Reckoning with Tyondai Braxton’s Restless Synths
By Nomo michael hoefner via Wikimedia Commons As Tyondai Braxton stood onstage at PSU’s Lincoln Hall Sunday night, conjuring long strings of squeaks, blurbles, and rough-hewn beats out of a box of Eurorack synths, a nonstop stream of dry ice smoke billowed and drifted behind him. It was as if the 36-year-old composer and musician […]