Compartmentalizing art makes it difficult to decide what goes in what showcase

Spending last week in Montréal for the 17th edition of The Edgy Women Festival, I return home to Edmonton with the same question two years in a row: would Festival City be open to this type of festival, and how would the works be viewed and contextualized? Last year’s festival favourite Jess Dobkin returned with her first full-length piece, “Everything I’ve Got,” and speaking as both a critic and organizer who has been trying to bring this piece into town, I remain at a loss as to which of our city’s array of festivals her work could possibly fit in to. It’s not just that the performance may be radically queer, which would align it to new kid on the block, Exposure: Edmonton’s Queer Arts and Culture Festival, or that the work needs to be understood as performance art, which would fit into Visualeyez: Canada’s Annual Performance Art Festival; or that it needs to be formally staged as a theatre piece exploring the physical vulnerabilities of the human body, which would maybe fit into The Expanse Movement Arts Festival.

Image credit: Jess Dobkin by David Hawe

Dobkin’s works, like many contemporary works that are of interest, do not fall neatly or even hardly into any single artistic category—and nor should they. The question I am asking is this: if the most innovative works continue to exist outside of our predetermined themes, how will we ever make room for this type of work to be shown here in predetermined Festival City?

Shannon Cochrane, who founded and continues to curate Toronto’s 7a-11d International Festival of Performance Art gave an exemplary performance of a work that could exist in various worlds, from white-cube galleries to site-specific to black box theatre. Cochrane’s work is deeply methodical in its acknowledgment of its own art history, with a focus on intent and transparency. When following performances by old school circus theatre and aggressive contemporary dance from France, Cochrane was not contextualized nor constrained under a single lens, but existed as another shade of artistic engagement.

Audience development is always of interest, and always a learning curve when it comes to interdisciplinary work. The audiences that packed Tangente Theatre in Montréal were a real cross-section of the population that could have just as easily shown up to any art gallery, concert or just gone out to dinner. There was no framework that the festival was politically and formally aligning to queer feminist performance works, though that recurring theme was neither a given nor a surprise. This was mostly about a chance to see more women on stage, and though maybe the politics have been taken for granted, they also don’t need to be repeated reassuringly into the marketing strategies—the programming should say it all. One of the resulting gems of lining up mixed nights is that no one art form can purport to be marginalized, as there is a false hierarchy between disciplines such as theatre, dance, music, film and performance art that many artists have unfortunately lived up to.

Art has been said to be a state of encounter, one that I read as mutually affecting both artist/performer and audience in an almost chemical way that is also visceral and mental, emotional and spiritual. I believe this, and so I wonder why we continue to group our intakes of art into such discrete compartments.

While pedantic, disciplines are important for distinguishing formal concerns and progress, though there has always been constant and vibrant overlap between the disciplines throughout history that push each form to grow and remain relevant. Once a discipline has been named, we as artists, audience and media need to remember that disciplines are not fixed, but fluid concepts that should be open for questioning.

*First published in Vue Weekly and republished on Prairie Artsters

- Amy Fung

Primordial Vaudeville est une pièce conçue et mise en scène par Krin Maren Haglund, à la croisée des chemins entre cirque et théâtre physique. Avec ses acolytes Anna Ward et Marie-Soleil Fortin, elles nous emmènent dans un monde étrange peuplé de femmes chauves et muettes, dotées de talents extraordinaires… L’ouverture de la pièce sur des sortes de cocons suspendus contenant les personnages est très poétique, et la performance de Krin avec la roue Cyr, à 6 mois de grossesse, est à couper le souffle !

La Zampa, compagnie ariégeoise (sud-ouest de la France) de danse contemporaine, présente Dream On track 1, un solo tripal et tripant de Magali Milian. Le coup d’envoi de la performance est au sens propre un coup d’éclat, et c’est sur des bris de verre que la danseuse s’élance et vibre. Terrain dangereux s’il en est, et au combien efficace pour susciter une tension que le corps et la musique sauront exacerber au fil de la performance. J’ai hâte de voir la performance de la compagnie le 10 avril prochain au Studio 303.

Shannon Cochrane présente quant à elle Well Known Performance, une performance interactive féministe et politique comme on les aime… C’est très drôle, très second degré. Elle donne à voir notre époque avec une ironie mordante et offre en guise de final une Cène peuplée de femmes se partageant un produit destiné exclusivement aux hommes en perte de virilité… C’est juste génial (comme disent les parisiens…) !

Merci à toutes et à tous pour ces deux semaines de découvertes tous azimuts, de rencontre et de partage !

I’ll admit up front that circus work has never been a favorite of mine. But as circus elements from trapeze, hoop, and contortion find their way into other forms of the performing arts, I can respect elements of their physicality that don’t make me feel like I’m clapping for human tricks. The three piece trio directed by Krin Maren Haglund started off with a strong image of androgynous beige pods coming to life. But it was immediately clear that they were creating work for a much larger space than the Tangente, as rope and fabric work was completely lost in the lights and their  projections of movement could have hit audiences across the street. Arranged as a series of personal and artistic discoveries from the first applications of cosmetic colour to the act of self expression in a series of specialized solos, the piece as a whole appeared to want to break out of traditional circus conventions, but remained very much still trapped in that framework from music choices to their relationships with the audience.

Shifting then into “Dream On, Track 1” from La Zampa, the piece explodes open with an image of a shattered bottle filled with sand filling in the space between performer and audience. Capturing the entire piece in this one image, the summation can be simply noted as going from sexy and potentially raw to predictable and safe. Magali Millian, who co-choregraphed the piece with partner Romuald Luydlin, brings together a lot of pretty elements and rides on the jarring visceral tones of PJ Harvey’s “Rid of Me”, but the movements themselves never seem to cater to the abandonment that it tries to achieve by all other means. The work remains very soft, and controlled, and unfortunately, contrived.

Perhaps as the best performance I saw at the festival this year, Shannon Cochrane’s “Well Known Performance” crafted some of the most profound images through contemporary performance art that was both highly thoughtful and engaging. From her methodical steps to set up the scene of a long dressed table and her own preparation of self care and hygiene, to meeting or trying to meet every single member of the audience, the tone of deadpan seriousness was intensely precise, yet earnest in execution every step of the way. As she prepares for her own party, Cochrane takes out a tetra pack of Viagra pills and shows them to the audience, before popping one herself. She goes on to do some light levitation, eats a banana, and gives the audience a brief backgrounder on the drug and its representation as inequality in the business of pharmaceuticals and research and development.

Through reductive questioning that basically leaves a cross section of single women over the age of 18 with no dietary restrictions or family histories of heart conditions, Cochrane invites up those members of the audience for a store bought chocolate cake that she laces before them with crushed up Viagra and sprinkles. The unpredictable and unscriptable reactions from the participating audience now sitting along this table adorned with glassware and a bouquet of flowers range from expressions of genuine concern, unimpressed, curious, and just slightly gleeful as they wondered if they were actually going to be taking Viagra on stage. Their expressions, which capture the essence of the piece, was the absolute highlight of the show. Cochrane also prolongs this moment by addressing her having to either pull the piece, change it significantly, or sign a “release from responsibility” letter clearing Tangente and another other third party producers all legal responsibilities for the health and safety of any audience member ingesting Viagra. Exploiting the paradox that her piece is about free will, and that the form now stipulates that she the artist is responsible for her audience regardless of whether they eat the cake or not, all of the women represented their rights as individuals in eating the cake, not eating the cake, eating around the laced icing, or digging right into it, and gradually relaxed into chatter and enjoyment of the moment amongst themselves. Accompanying their digestion with a somber cake eating song about having no castration fear, the piece in that moment worked extremely well within the black box of theatre, holding your utmost and deserved attention in a way that a gallery space could not, playing off the presence of the participating audience that was simply exceptional.

- Amy Fung

Tout d’abord, revenons sur la performance de Jess Dobkin. Comme pour le Edgy Challenge, j’ai filmé la performance et du coup je ne l’ai pas vraiment vu. J’ai toutefois pu observer un étonnant foisonnement de formes, d’idées et l’enthousiasme du public !

La soirée d’hier, à laquelle vous pourrez encore assister ce soir, rassemblait 3 artistes à Tangente : Yumiko Yoshioka (Berlin), Lise Vigneault (Montréal) et Karen Sherman (Minneapolis).

Yumiko Yoshioka présente « En on » une pièce d’inspiration butô dans laquelle on retrouve la forte esthétique du mouvement de danse contemporaine japonaise, le rythme lent, le corps blanc et quasi nu, le grotesque de certaines scènes.  La pièce est une métaphore de la vie que l’on pourrait résumer radicalement comme suit : la difficile naissance (la créature se libère de son cocon), la fougue désordonnée et violente de la jeunesse (la créature s’ébroue en louchant), la fin apaisée et heureuse. L’interprétation remarquable et l’excellente bande sonore nous invitent à l’introspection. Cette fin douce, libérée des désirs, « c’est un rêve » me glisse plus tard Yumiko avec son sourire espiègle, « il faut toujours avoir des rêves ».

Lise Vigneault et son « Keep it to your self, dear » explore cette maladresse qui, poussée à son paroxysme, s’avère un vrai frein à la vie sociale… Incarnant tour à tour un sévère docteur et une patiente à la limite de l’autisme, sa démonstration délirante sur fond de video old school et didactique, s’achève par une chorégraphie aux petits oignons (ça c’est pour rendre la pareille aux québécois qui m’apprennent leurs incroyables expressions…), drôle à souhait.

Dans « Demolition Boy », Karen Sherman apparaît comme une sorte de Buster Keaton féminin. Son français déplorable (« ça reste entre nous »), ses chorégraphies déroutantes exécutées avec le plus grand sérieux, son usage de la video comme instrument de (auto-)flagellation, tout comme ses autres propositions, concourent à faire de sa performance une expérience surprenante et jubilatoire. Sans compter qu’elle répond à la question qu’on se pose tous : Qu’est-ce qui se passe quand on se frotte (le cul) à l’ART ?

Rendez-vous ce soir à Tangente, ainsi que samedi et dimanche pour le dernier show et ici-même pour un dernier post !

Demonstrating its international eclecticism as we head into the final stretch of Edgy 2010, the festival lines up Berlin-based Yumiko Yoshioka with up and coming Montréal cabaret favorite Lise Vigneault and American dance and performance artist Karen Sherman for an evening of transformative identities.

Yoshioka, working with choreographer Rena Konstantaki, maintains strong aesthetic roots in the art of Butoh, which as a form unto itself, has been traditionally a male-dominated practice in its embodied and encompassing presence of breath and androgyny. Working with a frame of a life cycle from cocoon to rebirth to desire and self, Yoshioka’s movements progress from taut to flow, complementing this arch of movement with costume and an electronic soundtrack (a soundtrack that was at times competing with its performer, leaving me unsure who was leading who). While the concept of metamorphosis is certainly not new, I was at least hoping for something different to occur, something different in thought and expression that would open up the archetype of metamorphism in a contemporary context, but I was left unsatisfied for such.

Next was Vigneault’s first extended piece, “Keep It To Yourself, Dear”, a video-heavy play on the social faux pas of awkwardness. Making a name in the local cabaret scene, Vigneault’s charm is in her offbeat comic timing, but that timing did not space for pause in the text-heavy video produced in the fashion of pedantic instructional tapes. Learning to use iMovie for this project, Vigneault perhaps gave too much credence to the video when she should have trusted herself as a performer to carry the weight of the work. Shifting in personality from smug scientist to awkward social deviant breaking out in a restrained solo, her interest in the physicality of her characters is noted and I look forward to seeing her next projects that demonstrate better her range of movement.
Finishing the evening with the strongest work, Sherman’s “Demolition Boy” is a strangely captivating exploration of artistic self worth and Tyra Banks. Hovering a very fine line between the serious hardcore of American modern dance to the deadpan absurdity of anyone tapped into the paradoxes of pop culture, Sherman puts forward notions of judgment and failure by using an actual audio recording of a grant jury deliberating the merits of her own work. The crux, however, is that she plays the audio recording as a dub over an edit of Tyra Bank’s “The Gay Truth Booth,” apparently a segment where the stereotypes of gay men are invited onto the women’s talk show to teach and inspire women to be better women, when all the while, the character of Karen in a tie and sweater vest is idolizing the fashion of her friend, Nick, who is activated by an audience member and held captive as her muse. The work as a whole hinges on Sherman’s almost hypnotizing presence on stage, which fascinatingly enough, does not waver over the course of her own judgment.

En On will be at Tangente again on March 26 at 7:30 p.m. with an artist talk to follow

- Amy Fung

As the Montreal premiere for her first full length feature, Jess Dobkin’s “Everything I’ve Got” certainly lived up to its namesake by spilling out idea after precious idea of unrealized and unborn performance ideas from years in the making.

Continuing her startling and heartwarming approach to the concept of vulnerability, Dobkin opens up her notebooks with a palpable sense of urgency and unleashes a flood of one liner ideas from “borrow dogs” to “buy stocks, and sell them” and constructs them into a modern day living shrine.

While perhaps on paper they seem precocious, in live execution, Dobkin’s unwittingly trademark deadpan openness and lack of personal filter brings you into a world of the utmost intimacies and vulnerabilities that any human should hardly be able to stand. From the opening image of a hoodie-clad Dobkin stripping away her layers to reveal the unfleshed dream of a human mirror ball, to the intricate shadow puppetry via a visual presenter for the fable of the unicorn–which arguably stands in for the livelihood of contemporary queers–Dobkin goes on a journey of self-investigation that ranges from dildo-borne alter egos to video-based worm holes, escalating the dreamscape of audience participation into a nexus beyond the expectations of endurance-based performance art.

While the imagery and concepts were at times disjointed, there were powerful moments of narrative that brokered the darkest of black humour and the most honest of self-doubt. The piece as a whole has a feeling it sits unfinished, and as the third showing, it is arguable the piece remains shifting in how it approaches the tedious subject matter of “what is performance?”
If we are to understand the construction of images as performance as two fold, one of which questions where the image comes from, and one which questions where the image is intended, Dobkin’s performance would come up unfinished as the ideas presented are not fully processed by the artist for what they could mean within a larger frame, namely, within the frame of historicity. They currently stand as valid ideas, remaining in notebooks, poignantly shared on stage with such an earnest rawness that it’s difficult to judge, but as a captive audience, there must be a reason for witnessing this performance, and that communication is not yet clear in its execution, but the sentiment to engage is there.

Some of the most interesting elements were the use of diegetic sound, where the rustling of paper was heard off stage, but unseen on (yet unexplored), and the use of prerecorded video altering our live perception of performance was cleverly employed to further expand the limitations of the body on stage.

While her use of dildos is certainly not shocking, nor is it meant to be, an audience question afterwards reminds me that Dobkin’s curiosity with her body, especially her orifices as a performance tactic, remains uncommon in its no nonsense delivery, and is truly an uncommon treat to witness as most other performers hold onto an unfitting ideology or routine when their efforts are actually unnecesssary or blasé in its delivery.

Certainly resembling a suturing of moments easily lost and an exploration of what is “allowed” in the realm of live performance, “Everything I’ve Got” stands as one of the bravest demonstrations of performance I have ever witnessed, avidly asking the stunned audience in a matter of utmost vulnerability, “Do you know what I mean?”.  We may not, but perhaps that is the point, as the lingering question of how we share our most intimate moments is more a question to the audience of how we accept such intimate moments, and unfortunately, it does not appear that we yet know how to embrace intimacy and vulnerability without prefabricated judgments and expectations.

- Amy Fung

A special kind of magic happened at the Edgy Boum on Saturday night! It was an blend that only the Edgy Women Festival could deliver: imaginative performances, intriguing installations, interactive initiatives, right on dj-ing and an incredible crowd of awesome women. I can’t say for sure, but I’m guessing that pretty much everybody got laid too. (ahem)

The evening really got started, oddly enough, in the line up for tickets. The crowd was electric! Buzzing with energy and anticipation for the Edgy Boum that was about to begin. In line was a who’s-who of queer artists, dancers, media moguls, personalities and cool crowdsters. It was exciting to see so many members of our community come out to see the Boum and support the Edgy Women Festival.

“What brought you to the Edgy Women tonight?”, I asked a friend in line with her date. “I’ve been before,” Meghan, a modern dancer and student of physiotherapy, replied, “and I’ve been waiting for Edgy all year! Checking out the newspaper for when it came up. I’m so excited!”

Interactive Performances

In the lobby, was a woman wearing a blue hospital gown covered in employee pink slips, attached with collectible pins. Caroline Boiteau, a multi-disciplinary artist, was gathering messages and cries-from-the-heart from Edgy-goers. Caroline is interested in “how we inhabit our bodies and the words we use to talk about the passages of time”. Throughout the evening, Caroline connected with the crowd by releasing the anonymous anecdotes via megaphone. It was a touching exploration of the intersection of personal and public spheres, private and shared experiences.

Back in the crowd, I asked Kathy Kennedy, a Montreal-based composer/arranger, sound artist and Maha Choir director, “Would you consider yourself an Edgy Woman?” She replied with a laugh, “I have more edges than I care to admit!”

Master MCs

The theatre doors opened (on time, thank you!!) and the full-house audience quickly found their seats. MCs Nathalie Claude and Dayna McLeod kicked things off with a religiously edgy ritual, some ridiculously funny karaoke, and amazing costumes. Their easy french and english banter made the evening accessible to both languages… and put us all in the mood for the great show to come!

“What inspired you to come of the Edgy Boum?”, I asked Topper, a member of the Dukes of Drag, Montreal’s drag king collective. “I was at Edgy last year and saw Coral Short’s performance installation… and I wanted to know what she was up to this year,” Topper noted.

Boum Boum Pow

The show was so fun! Each artist worked with their quote, sound effect, villain and prop with such imagination and playfulness! There was an incredible spontaneity to what happened that night… it was utterly charming, challenging and inspiring!

I loved the piece by T.L. Cowan… trying on styles and styles of panties to the audio of her running inner chatter. It was simple but brilliant. The comedic timing was perfect and the theme was so relate-able… the entire audience loved it!

Another stand-out performance was Leslie Baker’s tap-dance around mental illness. The audience gasped when she tar-and-feathered herself… then ate her young! A most memorable moment!

Sophie Castonguay put words in our mouths, literally, with an interactive performance. Line by line, she handed the script to random members in the crowd. The dialogue was spoken above a video using her assigned prop, blue shoes. The effect was engaging and haunting…

I also loved—well, I loved everything!!—but also loved the hip hop clowning of Cookie LaJar & The Flying Monkey. Their high-energy choreography was a high jinx of cute and sexy… and totally entertaining!

Jackie Gallant presented an emotionally charged musical vibration in sound and movement. Jackie communicated a beautiful depth of emotion, bringing an abrasive buzz to life, making a journey out of noise. A true art experience…

Rounding out the evening were performances by Suzanne Miller & Allan Paivio Productions, a large-scale dance work; and, Mariko Tamaki, engaging our imaginations in the execution of a Care Bear!

Fun and Prizes

Fun prizes by JoyToyz were the cherry on top of a great show!

After the performances, I ran into drag king Bo Stallion. “What did you get out the show tonight?”, I asked. Bo thought for a minute and replied with a grin, “It was like a mix of a childhood birthday party and speed dating.” Whatever THAT means! LOL

The Edgy Boum Party

A great tie-in: The interactive art by Coral Short and Lamatilde was a fantastic social experiment and conversation piece! The other interactive installations were wildly popular and kept the crowd engaged throughout the evening…!

This party totally worked. The crowd felt like friends who hadn’t met yet each other. Everybody stuck around and wanted to be there… and talked and introduced people to people. The performances, the crowd and the venue was a great recipe. There was a chemistry at the Edgy Boum, no doubt. Delicious!

DJ Noisy Nora (mwah!) kept the dance floor jumping and the incredible Edgy Festival staff ran the event smoothly into the wee hours…

A standing ovation to all the Edgy Boum performers… and major congratulations to another successful Edgy Women Festival event!

More Edgy to Come!!

I highly recommend you check out the Edgy programming still to come—Jess Dobkin on Wednesday + more, more, more!—and have your say by commenting on the Edgy Blogs at www.edgywomen.ca/blog/ !

~ Aaron for Edgy Women

In her fourth appearance at Edgy Women Festival, Jess Dobkin returns with her first presentation of a full length piece and a week long workshop on the concept of intimacy.

Finding time after her first day’s workshop at Studio 303, the Toronto-based performance artist explains that she’s not so much “teaching” intimacy, but exploring the idea of what intimacy is, and also what it is not.

“Its complexity as a subject is slippery in nature, drawing more questions than answers–that’s what draws me to the subject. In the last few days, I’ve been asking myself a lot: How do we create value or judge intimacy?”

The questions associated with Dobkin’s intimacy workshop aligns back to the scope of the festival itself, says Dobkin, “I am exploring and interested in these elements of risk, trust and vulnerability. That’s where I was coming from in designing this workshop.”

Catch Dobkin’s “Everything I’ve Got” for one night only on Wed, March 24, 7:30 p.m. Tangente. Get your tickets in advance.

- Amy Fung

Bon, la question du jour c’est : comment écrire sur un spectacle que je n’ai pas vu… ?  Et là vous vous dites que j’ai perdu la raison puisque j’étais au festival samedi soir…  Humm oui, vu comme ça, je ne peux pas dire le contraire… Le problème c’est que je filmais le show qui était retransmis en direct dans la salle dite « lounge » pour celles et ceux qui n’avaient pas pu avoir de place à l’intérieur, et pour les artistes.  Et là vous vous dites que je suis en fait complètement dingue puisque si j’ai filmé le spectacle, je l’ai a fortiori VU !!  Et pourtant non… enfin disons que je l’ai vu oui, mais sans le regarder… Parce que, comment vous dire… Même si je suis très myope, ne sont pas mes yeux qui sont en cause, ce serait plutôt mon cerveau… l’hémisphère gauche qui m’a permis de faire la captation du spectacle était trop actif pour laisser naître les émotions dans le droit… Bilan des courses, j’ai vu et ressenti les deux premières pièces du show (je n’étais pas très concentrée sur la video quoi…) et après, finito !

Donc je peux vous dire que l’intro de mesdames Claude et McLeod était hilarante : elles ont ouvert la soirée comme une messe, communiant littéralement avec le public en distribuant le sang et les « craquelins » du Christ-ine ! Il fallait les voir avec leurs coiffes païennes, en guêpière sous leurs soutanes !!

Puis T.L. Cowan a investi la cabine d’essayage d’un grand magasin, s’emparant avec humour et talent d’une de nos expériences existentielles communes : l’essayage de lingerie.   Ah ! Quel plaisir de se retrouver dans une cabine d’un mètre carré, à essayer par-dessus la vôtre une dizaine de culottes, alors que vous portez encore vos chaussettes jusqu’aux genoux et que l’éclairage au néon vous donne envie de vous pendre… C’est évidemment le meilleur moment pour vous poser de vraies questions : qu’est-ce qu’elle va penser de moi si je porte tel sous vêtement ? Et d’y trouver de justes réponses : mon Dieu c’est affreux, j’ai la fesse plate !

Voilà tout ce que je peux vous dire du spectacle, après j’étais juste concentrée sur autre chose…

Plus tard, une fois la caméra remisée, Lamathilde et Coral short nous ont fait expérimenter la version hard de facebook : elles vous attachent littéralement à un ou des inconnu(e)s en vous disant : voilà, vous êtes amis !

Et puis tout au long de la soirée il y eut aussi des « nano-théâtre » auxquels on pouvait participer individuellement, des performances et un studio photo de Nikol Mikus et Alyson Wishnousky pris d’assaut par la foule enthousiasmée par la proposition et le portant de costumes délirants mis à disposition pour les poses… On a hâte de voir le résultat !

Mon coup de cœur de la soirée, l’invitation d’un charmant marin (Querelle ?) à danser avec son ami/e, Johnny Forever, perché/e sur des talons aiguilles de glace et dansant jusqu’à ce qu’ils disparaissent, en vous chantonnant à l’oreille « Each man kills the thing he loves »… un grand moment de poésie !  La chanson, composée à partir d’un poème d’Oscar Wilde est divinement interprétée par Jeanne Moreau dans le film de Fassbinder, et figure également sur l’album Chambre 1050 de Ingrid Caven… un délice !

Rendez-vous mercredi pour le show de Jess Dobkin à Tangente.

You know the best fest has to be the Edgy Women Festival, a flare of feminist performance art presented by Studio 303, that lasts only a couple of weeks, but challenges and inspires you for-freaking-ever.

Starting the festival in full swing last night: Neon Nightz with The Scandelles (Toronto). Sasha Van Bon Bon, Kitty Neptune, and Countess Christsmasher, took the audience for a walk down memory lane, or a slide down the memory pole, revealing insights of the strip clubs of the 90s in Montreal.

Neon Nightz is a three-woman frottage, harnessing the electricity of the rub where fantasy, feminism, sexuality, art and athletics meet in the world of stripping. The play explores the “paradox of intimacy” through a series of funny, touching and damn sexy vignettes. Drawing on her experiences as a professional dancer, Sasha Van Bon Bon shares her wealth of insight and reveals an incredible compassion and humour for the clients and colleagues she encountered during her career… oh, and did I mention Kitty Neptune’s frequent and fucking-hot pole dances?!

The Paradox of Intimacy
“Creating the paradox of intimacy,” Sasha Van Bon Bon stated at the after-show artists’ talk, “are our emblems of womanhood and our inability to be more diverse in our sexuality.” Sasha started stripping in 1991 and stopped when lap dancing became legal. At that time, she noticed that “the social aspect of the club changed” as lap dancers and clients went off into private booths for dancing, instead of working at clients’ tables. Plus, she wasn’t keen on the undefined physical limits of those early lap dance years and the prospect of on-the-job asshole fingering!

“I like the intimacy of the lap dance,” Kitty Neptune shrugged, “but then I’m more of a slut than she is [gesturing at Sasha]!” The audience laughed…

Reverence and Ritual
What I found most inspiring about Neon Nightz was the eloquent intelligence of the script, rooted in feminist perspective. At the artist talk, Sasha was asked about the link between religion and strip clubs that is referenced throughout play.

“There is an atmosphere of reverence and ritual in the dance clubs that shows a parallel with the reverence and ritual of religion, for example towards the Virgin Mary. Also, there is a strong parallel in the single-facetted portrayal of womanhood, in both the Virgin Mary and the Stripper,” Sasha replied. The theme was wonderfully presented and challenged throughout the performance… Brilliant!

In the full-house audience at the Mainline Theatre, were an impressive count of fellas, a huge cross section of theatre lovers, local burlesque beauties, renowned queer writers, much-loved Montreal-based artists, a couple of drag kings, and a host of fabulous crowdsters. All were enthralled by the charisma and authentic talent of the performers in Neon Nightz, opening the Edgy Women Festival with a bang.

What a fantastic show! A toast to Sasha Van Bon Bon, Kitty Neptune, and Countess Christsmasher for a great night! Congratulation are also in order for the organizers of the 17th Edition of Edgy Women…

I highly recommend you check out the Edgy programming and read all the edgy blogs at www.edgywomen.ca/blog/

~ Aaron for Edgy Women