Joshua Monten presents "Doggy Style" at Queer NY International Arts Festival
Company:
Joshua Monten
Joshua Monten (Switzerland/U.S.)
Doggy Style (U.S. premiere)
Friday, September 25, 9pm, and Saturday, September 26, 8pm
Abrons Arts Center, Experimental Theater
Tickets: $20 / abronsartscenter.org
Doggy Style is an evening-length performance at the intersection of dance and sign language. Its starting point is the behavioral patterns of dogs, transposed onto human bodies and minds. These hybrid forms provide the basis for a choreography dealing with otherness, communication, and long-term relationships (like the one between dog and owner) that are deeply unequal, yet rewarding and sustainable. The performance features four professional dancers—all of them human. Doggy Style is co-produced by ROXY Birsfelden (Basel) and
LOFFT–Das Theater (Leipzig), and has been touring extensively since March 2015. The performances are accessible to both hearing and hearing-impaired audiences.
Joshua Monten was born in New York and received his BA in literature and cultural anthropology from Duke University, moving into a dance career via his participation in the 1997 American Dance Festival. After further studies at UNC, Buenos Aires, and an MA from Ohio State, he moved to Europe, becoming a member of the Tanztheater Irina Pauls at the Stadttheater Heidelberg and of the Bern Ballet. Monten has worked with many international choreographers, performed and toured throughout Europe, and is regularly commissioned by the Bern Ballet. In 2010 he choreographed the opera Platée for the Ballet National du Rhin. He writes on anthropology and dance, and teaches dance at the University of Bern.
