This chapter explor the tensn at the tersectn of classil ballet and gay cultur. Central to the study is a crique of ballet’s exclnary heterocentrism—“the ballet closet”—exemplified by the image of the classil ballet...
Contents:
- SWAN LAKE REVIEW – DADA MASILO FFL FEATHERS WH GAY REMAKE
- PK FEATHERS THE BALLET CLOSET: THREE GAY REMAK OF SWAN LAKE
- DANCE; 'SWAN LAKE': IS IT THEATER OR DANCE, GAY OR STRAIGHT?
- NOT THE GAY SWAN LAKE
SWAN LAKE REVIEW – DADA MASILO FFL FEATHERS WH GAY REMAKE
* swan lake ballet gay version *
Siegied, however, is gay, and Masilo's homophobic South Ai unable to be wh Odile, the man he lov.
PK FEATHERS THE BALLET CLOSET: THREE GAY REMAK OF SWAN LAKE
Wh the terms of this society, neher "heroe" nor "villa" n have the man they gay readg of Swan Lake evably v parison wh Matthew Bourne's productn, yet Masilo's is like no other I've seen.
DANCE; 'SWAN LAKE': IS IT THEATER OR DANCE, GAY OR STRAIGHT?
At this time, I was also the procs of g out as gay. It was not an openly homophobic environment, but s nservatism and heterocentrism, rooted an orientatn to the past, prented extra plexi to navigate for a young gay man g to terms wh his sexualy. My experience wh this environment felt ntrast to the seismic soc-polil shifts I was wnsg through my engagement wh gay male subcultural art, polics and social spac.
Cght between the two ntexts, I felt at once stuck the past, while also propelled forward by a wave of progrsive chapter trac my journey through the tensns, navigatg a relatnship to masculi and sir through a queer readg of ballet culture proposed by three key choreographic works that rpond to the polemics of gay sire ballet.
NOT THE GAY SWAN LAKE
I argue that the works were created rponse to ballet’s excln of gay men; the way each work addrs gayns, masculy, and shame reflect some of the soc-polil and cultural tensns of this particular moment Gay Swan LakThe aforementned works are three “gay remak” of the classil ballet Swan Lake. I have labelled them lightly as “gay remak” based on two creria: one, bee the choreographer of each of the works intifi himself as gay; and two, the central romantic uple—the Prce and the Swan—is performed by two men. I argue the versns of the classil ballet were created at a time of shiftg gay polics, both wh and outsi the world of ballet, and they perform the polemics of this moment, each different ways.
I have stctured my analysis of the works, not only the orr I enuntered them, but also the way they reflect my own journey of navigatg the plexi of the gay male body ballet.