Madonna Meets Modern Dance in Jesse Factor's QUEER FANTASIA This November

Kelly Strayhorn Theater will present dance artist Jesse Factor in a three-part program blending pop music and modern dance. Factor's solo performance, The Marthaodyssey, running Friday & Saturday, November 8 – 9, will re-interpret musical icon Madonna and legendary choreographer Martha Graham through clever use of remix.

KST will also revive a beloved tradition with an opening-night afterparty featuring local queer DJ collective Jellyfish. Prior to the performance, patrons are invited to engage with Factor's creative history at the Citizens Community Dinner on Monday, November 4, and dance workshop, Yielding and Radiating, on Wednesday, November 6.

Part pop dance concert, part drag show, The Marthaodyssey harnesses the rebellious legacy of Graham and Madonna's work, dancing beyond gender into a space of queer freedom. Contrasting a hyper-feminine mask and hair with an exposed masculine chest, bulge, and hairy legs, the work summons a third space that is neither “masculine” nor “feminine.”

Jesse Factor is a performer, educator, choreographer, and notable alumnus of KST's Freshworks program. Factor trained at New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, the University of Iowa, and the Martha Graham School and danced with the Martha Graham Dance Company; his award-winning works have been presented at dance festivals across the country. His project with media designer Scott Andrew, I am A Haunted House, was the last in-person show at KST before the Covid-19 lockdown, making this a particularly apt setting for KST to revive the afterparty event (not seen since before the pandemic).

According to KST's Artistic Director Joseph Hall, The Marthaodyssey is characteristic of the innovative works that the organization seeks to cultivate. Says Hall, “I am extraordinarily proud that we have established KST as a sacred space rooted in the liberation of Black and queer people. Like so many of the artists we support through our Local & Global Performance Program, Jesse Factor's work experiments joyfully with the gendered traditions of his art form, celebrating this community's intrinsic beauty and brilliance. The Marthaodyssey envisions new possibilities, adding visual flair and critical nuance to the current dance landscape.”

As an alumnus of both the Martha Graham School and the Martha Graham Dance Company, Jesse Factor was deeply inspired by the ways that Graham — like his idol, Madonna — unapologetically carved out space for innovations in her work. The Marthaodyssey was born of Factor's attempts to reconcile the gendered roles that stifled him as part of the dance company with the genderless expressivity of Graham's class (where everyone dances every part regardless of gender).

The 3-part program at KST offers a breadth of opportunities for audiences to join this conversation. At the free Citizens Community Dinner, patrons can hear from Factor about his practice and the cultural phenomenon of the diva. Those who are interested in a more embodied approach can explore contraction/release and shift of weight with Factor at the all-level dance class Yielding and Radiating, which is inspired by Martha Graham's technique. The opening night afterparty will celebrate contemporary queer music and dance courtesy of Jellyfish, while the closing night post-performance discussion will foster a direct dialogue with the artist.

This performance marks a return home for Factor, who has performed with KST several times — most recently at KST's summer benefit House Party, which offered audiences a sneak peek of The Marthaodyssey. KST has served as a fiscal sponsor during the development of the work, helping garner funding from the New England Foundation for the Arts National Dance Project, with funds from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. Additional support is provided by the National Performance Network's (NPN) Artist Engagement Fund, the National Endowment for the Arts, and The National Center for Choreography at the University of Akron.

The Marthaodyssey

Friday & Saturday, November 8* – 9^, 2024 | 7:30pm – 9:00pm

Kelly Strayhorn Theater | 5941 Penn Ave.

*Afterparty with Jellyfish

^Post-performance discussion

Tickets for The Marthaodyssey are Pay What Moves You, $20 – $35 per attendee, and can be reserved here.

Citizens Community Dinner

Monday, November 4, 2024 | 6:00pm – 8:00pm

KST's Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.

Tickets for the Citizens Community Dinner are Pay What Moves You, $0 – $25 per attendee, and can be reserved here.

Yielding and Radiating

Wednesday, November 6, 2024 | 10:00am – 11:30am

KST's Alloy Studios | 5530 Penn Ave.

Tickets for Yielding and Radiating are Pay What Moves You, $10 – $25 per attendee, and can be reserved here.

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