// SEAN DORSEY DANCE //
SEAN DORSEY DANCE
BOYS IN TROUBLE
OCT 17-20
Velocity 1621 12th Ave.
True transsexual confessions. An unabashed love letter between black queer men. A sendup of all things macho. A queer spin on butchness. Real talk about whiteness. An invitation to look deeply at shame. Giving witness to hurt and heartbreak. A roadmap for another way.
Velocity is very excited to welcome back Sean Dorsey Dance to our Founders Theater with BOYS IN TROUBLE. This timely and urgent commentary on contemporary masculinity places a trans and queer lens onto intersectional questions of embodiment, violence, Black queer love, whiteness, shame and posturing. In turns powerful, explosive, irreverent, devastatingly honest, sensual and humorous, BOYS IN TROUBLE is a groundbreaking examination of American masculinity’s deep roots in Trouble.
“a visually stunning, emotionally rich, and profoundly timely examination of masculinity
and gender by one of the nation’s most visionary choreographers”
– San Francisco Bay Times
“poignant … Dorsey’s signature mix of happiness, heartbreak, confessional dialogue,
salty language, goofy humor and gorgeous partnering”
– San Francisco Chronicle
Recognized as the nation’s first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Sean Dorsey’s ability to bring us into conversation with toxic masculinity, the trans revolution, white supremacy and attacks on trans bodies and civil liberties manifest in this powerful work. BOYS IN TROUBLE features full-throttle dance, raw emotion, irreverent humor, exquisite queer partnering and intimate storytelling … all performed with Sean Dorsey Dance’s signature technical precision, guts and deep humanity.
With his award-winning fusion of contemporary dance, storytelling and theater, Sean Dorsey is blazing a trail celebrated by critics and sold-out audiences alike. Dorsey has been awarded five Isadora Duncan Dance Awards, and was recently awarded a Dance/USA Artist Fellowship. Dorsey has been named “San Francisco’s Best Dance Company”(SF Weekly) and named in Dance Magazine’s “Top 25 to Watch.”
“lush, expansive dance … poignant”
– PBS-KQED
“stunningly gorgeous powerful movement … remarkable choreography”
– Fairfax Connection
“epic work … powerful, moving, hilarious”
–Miami Herald
Dorsey created BOYS IN TROUBLE over a 2-year period, after visiting communities across the US where he hosted community forums on Masculinity, recorded interviews, and taught free movement workshops for transgender, gender-non-conforming, cisgender, gay, bi, and queer people on the masculine spectrum. BOYS IN TROUBLE is performed by: Sean Dorsey, Brian Fisher, ArVejon Jones, Nol Simonse and Will Woodward. Original music composed by: Alex Kelly, Anomie Belle, LD Brown, Jesse Olsen Bay and Ben Kessler. Lighting Design by Clyde Sheets. Costume Design by Tiffany Amundson. Technical Direction by Emily Paulson.
After making its World Premiere in San Francisco in May 2018, BOYS IN TROUBLE has launched a 2-year, 20-city international tour – bringing the company to Maui, Stockholm Sweden, Los Angeles, Austin, Atlanta and Seattle, among many more cities. Sean’s time in Seattle will include a workshop at Gay City Arts and a Speakeasy panel with Three Dollar Bill Cinema at the Seattle Queer Film Festival. We can hardly wait!
PHOTO – Lydia Daniller
ABOUT THE ARTIST
SEAN DORSEY is an award-winning San Francisco-based choreographer, dancer and writer. Recognized as the U.S.’ first acclaimed transgender modern dance choreographer, Dorsey has toured his work to 30 cities.
Dorsey was recently awarded a Dance/USA Artist Fellowship. He has been named “San Francisco’s Best Dance Company” (SF Weekly) and named in Dance Magazine’s 25 To Watch. He has been awarded five Isadora Duncan Dance Awards and the Goldie Award for Performance.
Dorsey’s works are a fusion of full-throttle dance, luscious partnering, intimate storytelling and theater. Highly physical, accessible, rooted in story, and danced with precision and guts and deep humanity, Dorsey’s works have been praised as “exquisite…poignant and important” (BalletTanz), “trailblazing” (San Francisco Chronicle) and “evocative, compelling, elegant” (LA Weekly).
Dorsey has been awarded major support from the National Endowment for the Arts, National Dance Project, National Performance Network, Dance/USA, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Creative Work Fund, California Arts Council, San Francisco Arts Commission, James Irvine Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, Fleishhacker Foundation, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation, Wallace Alexander Gerbode Foundation and William and Flora Hewlett Foundation.
Dorsey’s work has been commissioned by: American Dance Festival, Bates Dance Festival (Lewiston), Dance Place (Washington DC), Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), The Theater Offensive (Boston), 7 Stages (Atlanta), Maui Arts and Cultural Center (Maui), Velocity Dance Center (Seattle), Links Hall (Chicago), and Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles).
Dorsey is a leading national advocate for Trans Equity in dance – and has worked for equity for transgender and gender-nonconforming artists in the field for 20 years. Dorsey’s program TRANSform Dance provides trans-supportive education, engagement and advocacy to forward trans equity and justice in Dance.
Sean Dorsey Dance is currently on a 20-city international tour of BOYS IN TROUBLE – a timely and urgent commentary on contemporary masculinity that places a trans and queer lens onto intersectional questions of embodiment, violence, Black queer love, whiteness, shame and posturing in BOYS IN TROUBLE.
Dorsey’s previous evening-length dances are a trilogy of works exploring censored, buried or forgotten parts of LGBTQ history: THE MISSING GENERATION (2015), The Secret History Of Love (2013), and Uncovered: The Diary Project (2010).
THE MISSING GENERATION gives voice to LGBTQ longtime survivors of the early AIDS epidemic. Dorsey created the work over a 2-year period after recording oral history interviews with longtime survivors. These survivors’ voices and remarkable real-life stories are featured in the work’s Izzie Award-winning soundscore.
Dorsey is also the founder and Artistic Director of Fresh Meat Productions, the US’ first nonprofit of its kind. Fresh Meat Productions invests in the creative expression and cultural leadership of transgender and gender-nonconforming communities. Fresh Meat’s year-round programs include the popular annual FRESH MEAT FESTIVAL of transgender and queer performance, Sean Dorsey Dance’s local and touring performances, FRESH WORKS creation commissions to trans and queer artists of color, a national education program, and TRANSform Dance – a national education, engagement and advocacy program promoting Trans Equity in dance.
PRESS
Sean Dorsey on the recent GMA ‘boys in ballet’ controversy / ALEXANDER REPORT>>
BOYS IN TROUBLE was commissioned by: Bates Dance Festival, Dance Place (Washington DC), 7 Stages Theater (Atlanta), Queer Cultural Center (San Francisco), San Francisco LGBT Community Center, Maui Arts & Cultural Center (Maui) and Highways Performance Space (Los Angeles) – and was created with generous support from the California Arts Council, Creative Work Fund, Fleishhacker Foundation, Kenneth Rainin Foundation, National Dance Project, National Performance Network, Phyllis C. Wattis Foundation and San Francisco Arts Commission.
