DeNada Dance Theatre Will Perform a Queer Dance Take on MADAME BUTTERFLY

Carlos Pons Guerra and DeNada Dance Theatre will present Mariposa, a Queer Tragedy inspired by Puccini’s Madame Butterfly.

Under the flickering neon lights of a distant Caribbean port, a local rent boy and a foreign sailor fall ominously in love and a young man is asked to sacrifice his gender in exchange for love and a better life…

Mariposa is choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra’s queer take on Puccini’s seminal opera Madame Butterfly. An operatic dance drama, it transports Puccini’s Orientalist libretto to post-revolution Cuba, to a dockland world of faded showgirls, hopeful rent boys, troubled sailors and divine queer spirits. Engulfed in a tropical storm of repressed desires, the production is a passionate and deeply moving exploration of what we are ready to sacrifice in order to be loved and accepted.

Nicknamed ‘the Pedro Almodovar of dance’ by the BBC, Carlos Pons Guerra is one of the UK’s leading voices in contemporary queer dance. With a truly distinctive style, theatricality and aesthetic, his work explores gender, cultural and sexual identity. It often stems from his personal experience and his desire to put LGBTQ+ narratives on the dance stage, stylishly staged in ways that evoke his Hispanic/Latinx cultural heritage. Premiered in 2021, Mariposarevisits the problematic gender and colonialist aspects of Madame Butterfly and asks how iconic operas like this can remain relevant today.

Mariposa is set to an original score by three-time winner of the Spanish MAX Awards for the Performing Arts, Luis Miguel Cobo, which takes its inspiration from Caribbean sounds as well as Puccini. The libretto is by French-Indian writer Karthika Nair, costume and set designs are by 2023 Olivier Award Nominee Ryan Dawson Laight and lighting is by Guerra’s long-time collaborator Barnaby Booth.

An exceptional cast includes Dan Baines (BalletBoyz) as the sailor, Holly Saw (Mathew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands) as Kate and Elle Taylor-Francis (Northern Ballet and Leipzig Ballet). Two more performers are to be announced.

Tour Dates

Monday 7 & Tuesday 8 October
The Dukes, Lancaster
Moor Lane, Lancaster LA1 1QE
Box office: 01524 598500 / https://dukeslancaster.org/

Monday 14 & Tuesday 15 October
The Lighthouse, Poole
21 Kingland Rd, Poole BH15 1UG
Box office: 01202 280000 / https://www.lighthousepoole.co.uk/

Tuesday 22 October
Drama Studio, Sheffield
Shearwood Rd, Broomhall, Sheffield S10 2TD
Box office: 0114 222 8888 / https://performancevenues.group.shef.ac.uk/whats-on/

Friday 22 & Saturday 23 November
MAST, Southampton
142, 144 Above Bar St, Southampton SO14 7DU
Box office: 023 8071 1811 / https://www.mayflower.org.uk/

Monday 25 & Tuesday 26 November
Lakeside Arts, Nottingham
University Park, Lakeside Arts, Nottingham NG7 2RD
Box office: 0115 846 7777 / https://www.nottingham.ac.uk/externalrelations/lakeside-arts.aspx

13 & 14 February
Harrogate Theatre
6 Oxford St, Harrogate HG1 1QF
Box office: 01423 502116 / https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/
Monday 24 – Wednesday 26 February
The Place, London
17 Duke's Rd, London WC1H 9PY
Box office: 020 7121 1100 / https://theplace.org.uk/whats-on

Thursday 13 – Saturday 15 March
Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds
2 St Cecilia St, Leeds LS2 7PA
Box office: 0113 220 8008 / https://northernballet.com/venue/leeds-stanley-audrey-burton-theatre

Friday 21 March
Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton
Wulfruna St, Wolverhampton WV1 1SE
Box office: 01902 321321 / https://www.wlv.ac.uk/arena-theatre/