The Gender House Triple Bill

“Boys don’t cry / We do this, we don’t talk / Hire me, please” are three short solo works by three queer male choreographers. The performances are precise, raw, and with great physicality manifest into three short striking solos that tackle themes of gender, sexuality and identity from different perspectives. The triple program offers a powerful evening of different types of short dance works that express: perceptions of masculinity (Boys don’t cry), the silent and unspoken (We do this, we don’t talk,) and the parody of performance auditions (Hire Me, Please.)

“I am afraid that if I stop moving, I will feel it all. It will sink inside – the loneliness, the impotence, the taste of tears that goes down the throat. So I never stop – from one party to another, from one man to another, never leaving enough space to feel the emptiness.”

‘Boys Don’t Cry’ is a solo performance that reflects on old and new perceptions of masculinity. Through a man’s journey down memory lane, we witness a metamorphosis, and eventually catharsis – a rare moment of ultimate freedom and liberation that follows the decision to shed the weight of society’s expectations.

A dance theater piece that reflects upon the transition from Israel to Berlin, from conservative to liberal. It is a self-portrait, an attempt to capture a transformation in a perception of masculinity – from army days to nightclubs.

Duration: 20-25 minutes

Yotam Peled was born in a Kibbutz in Israel, 1989. At the age of 21, after finishing service in the Israeli defense forces, he began dancing, and later on pursued higher education in contemporary circus. In 2015 he relocated to Berlin, where he works as a freelance performer and choreographer. His award-winning work has been presented in festivals and venues in Israel, Europe and Asia. Yotam’s work revolves around gender roles, sexual identities and power structures in modern society.

“We do this. We don’t talk” is a witty and gloriously over-the-top solo about the pursuit of authenticity. In a time of meticulously crafted online personas, this short solo celebrates the unique honesty of dance performance.

The solo is the result of choreographer Barnaby Booth’s interest in approaching choreography as a form of portraiture, so that the audience might get to know performer Samuli Emery as they watch him dance.

“Portraiture is about exploring someone’s identity and that’s a very tender, vulnerable thing… The portrait is a handshake, the embrace, the agreement where we meet halfway along a collaborative path” – Photographer Tim Walker.

CHOREOGRAPHER BARNABY BOOTH (UK)

Barnaby is a choreographer and lighting designer. A graduate of the Northern School of Contemporary Dance (NSCD) and the Salzburg Experimental Academy of Dance (SEAD), he thinks the opportunity of turning off one’s phone and sit in a dark performance space for a short while is invaluable.

He has worked with English National Opera, has contributed choreography to short films and music videos and is an associate artist of TRAK dance Ensemble (Austria). His independent work has gained him awards and critical acclaim, whilst his commissions include Los Little Guys (US/Mexico), Dantzaz Dance Company (Spain) Northern School of Contemporary Dance (UK), Roehampton University (UK), Bodhi Project (Austria), Folkwang Tanzstudio (Germany) Erica Badgeley (US), Headlock Theatre Company (UK) and Verve (UK).

PERFORMER SAMULI EMERY (FIN/UK)

Samuli is a Finnish-British queer dance maker, teacher and facilitator. In 2019 he completed his studies at SEAD, majoring in choreography. In addition to his experience in Western staged contemporary dance he has immersed himself in several street and club dances, such as voguing, hip-hop and house dance. Samuli has worked diversely in the international dance field, for instance in the productions of Meg Stuart, Jerome Bel, Jill Crovisier, Ceren Oran, Hanna Brotherus and Sonya Lindfors. Samuli has also performed for some of Finland’s most renowned music artists, performed and choreographed for Hugo Boss and danced in the prime-time TV-productions “Tähdet, Tähdet” and “Eurovision Song Contest”. He has received several awards and stipends for his accomplishments as a performer and choreographer from institutions in Finland, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Estonia and Italy.

Audition as a condition. As a physical and psychological state. As an evolutionary process. As brutality. As a relationship of authority. As a statement. As an obstacle. As a prerequisite. As a “journey”. As a journey. As a verdict. As a depreciation of personality. As a retrospect. As a role-playing game. As a rejection. As an exploration of boundaries. As a total availability.

It is well known to everyone, but in particular to people working in the performing arts, that auditioning is a stressful phase in the creative process. And, especially at the beginning of the career of an artist-dancer, also relatively unavoidable.

Hire Me, Please has a very basic axis: the irony and the commentary in the auditioning process – the sarcasm over their character and structure. From this perspective, the dancer-choreographer observes on the one hand his personal ignorance of the boundaries and materials he possesses, which he ultimately provides the judges. And on the other the survival instinct that compels him to the full satisfaction of his potential future employers.

The main contrast of Hire Me, Please is the absolute availability of the artist – and his emotional, physical, spiritual and mental state before, during and after the audition.

Hire Me, Please was created from the choreographer’s need to communicate his experiences of the auditions he participated in, the personal and performative mutations he had to face through them, as well as the evolution of his attitude towards the whole auditioning process in its modern form. A form which is generally criticized to be completely influenced by the wider dominance of the capitalist system, the over-consumption and, ultimately, the disposability of performers/dancers.

Panos Malactos (Cyprus, 1994) studied Ballet and Contemporary Dance at Rambert School, London. He has worked with Fresco Dance Company, Inbal Dance Theatre, Jason Mabana, Elias Adam, Liliana Barros, Emma Evelein Dance, X-it Dance Theatre, Milena Ugren Koulas, Asomates Dynamis Dance Company, Fest Spiel Haus St. Pölten (Ohad Naharin & Shahar Binyamini), Compagnie Tabea Martin and Peeping Tom.

‘Hire me, please’ received the Young Choreographer Award at Cyprus Choreography Platform 2019.