The HOT! Festival Evening of Dance

Curated by Sangeeta Yesley, Creative Performances.

 

Teenage Dirtbag /كوكب تاني by Nadia Khayrallah. Meet Shady Shadi & Shishadia: A classic story of boi meets grrrl, this duo is the hottest trash on the block. | Music by Adonis, cover of Wheatus | Filmed by Alia Scheirman

Londi and Aisha by Charles Scheland. This duet is about the universality of love and the normalcy of queer love. This piece was created with complete androgyny, either part could be danced by a dancer of any gender identity or sexuality and the narrative of the piece would remain unchanged, and the love between the two characters, apparent. Rather than relying on stereotypes or “queer” hallmarks to prove this same-sex relationship, this duet allows the dancers and unbiased choreography to show the relationship.

“Invisible Borders” from LIGHTNING by Felice Lesser. “Invisible Borders” is part of LIGHTNING, a 2017 work focused on current affairs, with choreography by Felice Lesser, and a score by Slovenian composer, Borut Krzisnik. Premiered at The Duke on 42nd Street, this section deals with prejudice, pure and simple.

We Need Freedom Too by Jimmy Crowell II. This is important to me as this is my way of speaking up and stopping my own generational trauma. We need each other to be a representations against forms of oppression, as we together, make a community nurturing equality for future generations.

Ek Ladki Ko Dekha by Proma Khosla and Anjali Mehta. LGBTQIA stories have been almost entirely absent from India’s century of cinematic history. 2018’s “Ek Ladki Ko Dekha Toh Aisa Laga” was among the first mainstream Bollywood films to tell a lesbian love story. This video is our cover of the title track, using LPF’s distinct mix of acting, dance, and visuals to tell the story of two young women cautiously falling in love. Choreography and concept by dancers Proma Khosla and Anjali Mehta, directed by Raashi Desai with music mixed by Priya Shah (original song rights: Saregama).

TRADE by Aaron McGloin. TRADE is a dance piece about the highs and lows of queer hookup culture in modern America.

Q-Lucha by Alfonso Cervera & Irvin Gonzalez  performed at the Judson Church Spring Series of Movement and Research 2019. This collaborative duet performed by Irvin Gonzalez and Alfonso Cervera investigates the intimacy between two luchadores in a Mexican American perspective, while exposing the masculinity and femininity that men can have. Q-Lucha engages with social and political concepts that exhaust and challenge the Latino body through wrestling and spoken translation. Q-Lucha was first featured at the BEHOLD! Highways Queer Festival in Santa Monica and at the FLACC Festival Rest/Unrest in San Francisco.

Threesome by Nyko Piscopo is a stop-motion project made with 400 photos. 
Synopsis Stay together at home enjoying love is a blessing for a couple. But for those used to meet people, to be active and free, It’s definitely way too much togetherness. Someone can go so far as to shouting out anger, smoking a lot, have erotic visions. Threesome is a stop-motion project made to make movement in a freeze-frame time.

Naked By Sean Kulsum In 2018 this video was just a project for me, I heard this song on radio and the feeling I was getting was two beings struggling to be who they are but doesn’t to let go of each other. At first I didn’t see this as a pride video or as a coming out video but just a project I wanted to create. It is now 2020 and this video was my biggest accomplishment. It connected with people in so many ways in the pass 2 years and I’m very thankful for that. Seeing the results of this video made me understand that I wanted be a choreographer that touches others. I hope everyone enjoys what I’ve created

Cluttered Thoughts by Will Ervin An ode to self care/ empowerment during times of injustice – “Covid 19 is still happening (no vaccine in sight). I went into the studio for the first time in three months last night. I tried to dance and felt immobilized by the many heart breaking things (lack of leadership, multiple murderers of my people, and too many other things to count) I’ve seen this month alone. . . Yet, I realized creating is one of the few things that’s kept me sane, happy, and healthy during this time.

* Main image courtesy of ClancyWorks Dance Company – 8 in Show, June 26, 2019. Photo: Peter Yesley.