May 1, 2006 | Arts

Dance Program Explores Gender, Sex Roles

By Judy Moore

EVANSTON, Ill. --- “Warriors and Queens: Radical Stagings of Gender and Sexuality in the Chicago Dance Scene” will celebrate local artists whose choreography grapples with gender and sex roles. The event is free and open to the public.

The performance will be held at 8 p.m. Tuesday, May 2, in the Ballroom of the Marjorie Ward Marshall Dance Center, 10 Arts Circle Drive, on Northwestern University's Evanston campus. It will be followed by a discussion with the artists moderated by dance historian and choreographer Rebecca Rossen.

This year's program features performances by Breakbone Dance Theater, Peter Carpenter, Rachel Thorne Germond and Matthew Hollis. Vital contributors to Chicago's vibrant dance community, these artists create visceral and physically demanding works that defy normative ideas about gender and sexuality.

Breakbone Dance Theater will present excerpts from “Datastarve,” which pits fashion mavens in platform shoes against punk-rock amazons.

Northwestern alumnus Peter Carpenter will perform a timely solo about a queer cowboy that probes the lines between hyper-masculinity and femininity.

Rachel Thorne Germond will present “Splendor Twice: Gender Splendor,” a solo that explores the Pop iconography, sexuality and gender-specific movement of both Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley, with video projection by J.T. Newman.

Matthew Hollis will present a gender-bending and hilarious work that delves into relationships between men.

The program is supported by Northwestern University's Gender Studies Program, Dance Program, theatre department, department of performance studies, Interdisciplinary Ph.D. Program in Theatre and Drama, Weinberg Program in Drama and the Simeon F. Leland Fund.

Seating is limited and will be on a first-come, first-served basis. No reservations will be accepted. For more information call (773) 680-0800.