The oldest queer performance festival remains the best
HOT! ANNUAL NYC CELEBRATION OF QUEER CULTURE
Various Artists
Dixon Place
258 Bowery, btwn. Houston and Prince Sts., second lf.
Through Aug. 29
Showtimes 7:30 p.m., doors open at 7
$12 or TDF, $10 for students, seniors
For complete festival information, call 212-219-0736
Or visit dixonplace.org
Drag artist Lavinia Co-op takes the stage at the HOT! Annual Celebration of Queer Culture on July 14.
Once upon a time there was not even one queer performance festivals in New York City.
Now it can be hard to keep track of them all.
But as often is the case, the originator, Dixon Place’s “HOT! Annual NYC Celebration of Queer Culture, Theatre, Dance, Music, Performance Art, Literature and Homoeroticism for the Whole Family” is the one that remains the best of the fests.
“This year’s festival,” says Dixon Place director Ellie Covan, “is the biggest and most diverse we’ve ever had.”
Running through August 29, the 14th annual features more than 100 artists including Holly Hughes, Kate Bornstein, Murray Hill, Carmelita Tropicana, Lavinia Co-op, Miss Saturn, Jon Kinzel, Tanwi Nandini Islam and Andy Horwitz, among many others.
This year, HOT! will present two new commissioned works—Susana Cook’s new political play about bigotry and terrorism, “The Values Horror Show” (July 8-30), and Brandon Olson and Rami Raminez’s electronic music driven exploration of New York nightlife, “Party and Prey” (August 18-27).
“Susana is an Argentine poet and has performed as a poet at Dixon Place and WOW Café,” Covan said. “She makes huge theater pieces with 10 to 15 women that she writes, directs and performs in. They’re very political, very funny, always a parody with two or three subplots. She’s intelligent and relentless and always finds the most interesting performers—not necessarily actors—and each woman plays several characters. I’ve watched her grow as an artist and as a director. She makes her audience feel smart, and the best part of the show is her.”
HOT! dance events includes a series call “New Dance” (July 6) curated by Isabel Lewis featuring works by Neal Beasley of Trisha Brown Company, Jonah Bokaer from Merce Cunningham Dance Company, Jillian Pena and Christy Pessagno; a show by two graduates of James Madison University, Kelly Bartnik and Henry Hill (July 12); “Operation: Operation” (July 13), curated by Kimberly Brandt and showcasing the dance of Jesse Phillips-Fein and Jon Kinzel and the non-dance of Lisa Ferber and Hugh Ryan; “Moving Men” (July 20), curated by Arthur Aviles and featuring: Ballet Folklorico Mexicano del Refugio, Kevin Clayborn, Peter Kalivas and Christian Von Howard; and “More Dance Works-in-Progress” (July 30) featuring Jen Abrams, Victoria Libertore, Larissa Velez and Hillary Grubb.
gaycitynews.com