Meet the choreographer using vogue to bring queer stories to off-Broadway
When I spoke to vogue pioneer Cesar Valentino a few days ahead of seeing Bruise & Thorn, the new off-Broadway play he choreographed, he was a bit vague when I asked about the role of dance in the show.After seeing the play, which runs through March 27 at A.R.T/New York Theatres, I now understand why.
Set in a laundromat in Queens, Bruise & Thorn follows two cousins, both grappling with their identities and wondering what else the world has to offer them.
Dance and music do indeed function as release and as celebration, as Valentino explained to me. But movement has another surprising, hilarious role: When Bruise and Thorn get involved in an illegal cockfighting ring in the laundromat’s basement, the birds are represented by vogue dancers, who battle with spins and dips. (The emcee’s commentary includes some gems—”rotisserie realness,” anyone?) And when the cousins’ conflict reaches its pinnacle, they too don feathers and fight it out through dance.For Valentino, Bruise & Thorn is a rare opportunity to bring vogue—which he’s been dancing since the form’s beginnings—into a theatrical context.
I spoke to him about the responsibility to honor vogue’s origins, how he developed his own style of vogue, and why it’s such a powerful vehicle for queer stories. Tell me about the kinds of dance we’ll see in this show and the role that dance plays. A lot of what you’ll see is voguing.
