Trailblazing transgender choreographer Sean Dorsey returns to Velocity for one weekend only! BOYS IN TROUBLE is 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.
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. 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.
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."
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!
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.
Videos