Photo by Horace long
KEITH HENNESSy – Hen-
nessy’s Turbulence (a dance about
the economy) makes its world
premier at this year’s TBA. This
hybrid of contemporary and
improvised dance was instigated
by Keith Hennessy who was then
joined by a core team of (mostly)
queer artists from San Francisco,
Paris, Cork, Berlin and three
guest artists from Portland.
“The primary vehicle of sex and
sexuality is the body,” Hennessy
says, “That’s true for dance also.
When we set out to make a dance
about the economy using queer
and improvisation as political tac-
September 2012
ZvONIMIR DOBORvIC &
PERFORATIONS – International
curator Zvonimir Dobrovic,
founder of Perforacije and Queer
Zagreb Festivals in Croatia and
Co-Director with André von
Ah of Queer New york Interna-
tional, has selected an evening
of site-specific performance
art from some of Croatia’s and
Serbia’s most inventive artists. As
Flavorpill culture guide has said,
“...apparently, a hotbed of activity
was fermenting behind the shreds
of the Iron Curtain.”
But in regard to New york and
Portland performances Doborvic
says, “Producing the Queer New
york festival this June was quite
a challenge - mainly because to
break that stereotypical (iconic)
notion of queer takes a lot of
work. To have journalists seri-
ously wonder whether a piece of
work can be queer if the artist is
not LGBT was beyond belief to
me - and just proved the point
how much work there is to be
done to really break the mold of
what can even be seen as queer…”
And as for sexuality in Perfora-
tions, Doborvic has some advice
for the more staid dance commu-
nity, “Sexuality is a strong drive
in creating and I love when I see
an artist who is daring to explore
their own fantasies. When I see
a very clean and sterile piece of
work (technically perfected, made
to be simply beautiful and not
much more), and too often it is the
case in US dance, my advice to the
artist is to get laid more. It works
for some. And if it doesn't - it is still
a great advice.”
Washington High School
SE Stark, Between 12th and 14th
Capacity: 550
$15 Members, $20 General
All Ages
September 10 and 11
8:30-10:30 pm
GOB SQUAD – This 1994 founded
street performance art group aims
to recreate Andy Warhol’s iconic
1965 hipster film, Kitchen. But how
do you know you’re being authen-
tic, and not a poser, when you
weren’t there? As Edie Sedgwick,
one of the film’s original stars, said,
“I live my part too—only I can’t
figure out what my part is in this
movie.”
Portland State University (PSU):
Lincoln Performance Hall
1620 SW Park
Capacity: 476
$25 Members, $30 General
All Ages
September 13 through 15
8:30-10:30 pm
Keith ennessy’s Turbulence
MIGUEL GUTIERREZ – Whip-
smart New york choreographer
Miguel Gutierrez begins his
performance Heavens What
Have I Done, conversing directly
with the audience. The rambling
comedic monologue gives you
an intimate look into his process,
his experience, his life, before
erupting in a flurry of intricately
crafted movements set to music
sung by renowned soprano Ceci-
lia Bartoli.
Washington High School
SE Stark, Between 12th and 14th
Capacity: 550
$15 Members, $20 General
All Ages
September 7 through 9
6:30-7:30 pm
tics, we immediately confronted
the values, injustices, betrayals,
exchanges, and gifts in our most
basic human relations. Inter-
sections and frictions between
gender, race and class hierarchies
became key ways for collabora-
tive study of the financial system’s
abstract and intentionally obscure
workings. So a dance about the
economy is all about sex and se-
crets, genders and relations, touch
and weight, kiss and slap.”
Imago Theatre
17 SE 8th Ave.
Capacity: 299
$20 Members, $25 General
All Ages
September 11 through 14
8:30-9:45 pm
Gob Squad
BIG ART GROUP – A New york-
based experimental performance
ensemble founded by Caden
Manson and Jemma Nelson in
1999. Portland – The People is
part of a larger series of live in-
terviews with residents of various
cities grouped into a “chorus” and
projected to a huge size onto the
sides of buildings. It starts with
the question of democracy and
frames it with the tragic Greek
tale of Orestia. What Portland-
ers will do with this prompt is
anybody’s guess.
Washington High School
SE Stark, Between 12th and 14th
Capacity: 550
$15 Members,$20 General
All Ages
September 6 through 8
8:30-10 pm
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