05/12/2023
B EST OF 2023 in THE NEW YORK TIMES [link in bio]
While visiting Paris this summer on vacation, I impulsively went to a staged performance of Julius Eastman’s “Gay Guerrilla,” a work of barbed drive and insistent beauty, conceived and choreographed by Gerard & Kelly in a ground-floor gallery of the Pompidou Center. Outside the museum, the bass-baritone Davóne Tines began by singing Eastman’s Prelude to “The Holy Presence of Joan d’Arc” with a hellfire intensity that confused and fascinated passers-by, before coming inside for an account of “Gay Guerrilla” that included members of the Paris Opera Ballet and Soa de Muse, a drag performer of titanic presence. Theatrical, q***r, combative, true to Eastman, it was not only a life-affirming jolt, but also a vision for new ways to present this composer’s music. —Joshua Barone () in
GAY GUERRILLA
Concept, direction, and choreography, Gerard & Kelly
Music, Julius Eastman
With Samuel Akins (), Soa de Muse (), Guillaume Diop (), Conor Hanick (), Coleman Itzkoff (), Awa Joannais (), Germain Louvet (), Adam Tendler (), Davóne Tines (), Richard Valitutto (), Seth Parker Woods ()
Spatial installation, Gerard & Kelly in collaboration with Simon de Dreuille ()
Costumes, Camille Assaf ()
Lighting, David Debrinay (.debrinay)
Assistant choreographer, Julia Eichten (.eichten)
Production manager, Vincent Brou ()
credits continued in comments->