FSU School of Dance bar room sessions: house of angels | belly of the wail
bar room sessions:
house of angels | belly of the wail
Jeremy Guyton and Rafael Tillery present bar room sessions: house of angels | belly of the wail in partial fulfillment of the Master of Fine Arts Degree in Choreography and Performance on April 1, 2022 at the Museum of Fine Arts located at 530 W Call St. on Florida State University’s campus. The gallery will open at 7:30pm and performances will begin at 8:00pm. This performance is free of charge. Masks are strongly encouraged, and social distancing protocols will be observed. Limited seating will be available.
Photo Rafael Tillery by Francisco Graciano
House of Angels: (B)asement (Q)ueenz, Black Jesus, and the “T” is the first installment of a series of performative works about families—the ones we’re born into and the ones we choose for ourselves. MFA candidate Rafael Tillery alongside collaborators Sherrod Reid and Elise St. Cyr share an arrangement of solos and duets that weave through the lower-level gallery while the performers methodically weave together dance steps, text, family photos, oral histories and drag into an interdisciplinary “kiki” that uncovers (t)ruths from beneath the surface and considers how black and queer dancing bodies forge spaces of community, kinship, resistance, and visibility. The performance will also feature a live mix by DJ SMADA.
A native of Chicago, IL, Rafael began his dance training at Austin Peay State University in Clarksville, TN, from where he graduated with a bachelor’s degree in Theatre and Dance in 2013. Rafael is currently in his final year as a Dance and Choreography MFA candidate at Florida State University; his studies focus on multidisciplinary approaches in dance composition and solo practices as well as Afro-aesthetics within contemporary dance techniques.
Photo Jeremy Guyton
belly of the wail transports audiences deep into the dark belly of a club called The Wail as they step into the cypher, surrounded by pulsating bass and whimsical melodies, flanked on either side by larger-than-life manifestos. This interactive, multidisciplinary performance uses poetry, archival film, and high-energy music and dance to explore sound, sweat, sex, and grief as they converge for a night out on the town. With choreography and visual design by Jeremy Guyton with assistance from Lauren Rivero, this presentation culminates a three-year exploration of club dance floors as rich sites of Afro//queer aesthetics and expression. The performance will feature musical composition by Caleb Buchanan.
A first-generation Los Angeleno, Jeremy Guyton is an alchemist, dreamer, instigator, and new world conjurer moonlighting as a director, choreographer, multidisciplinary maker, scholar, and teaching artist. Credits include: Solange Knowles, Aluna, Edward Sharpe & the Magnetic Zeroes, Claws (TNT), Jawole Willa Jo Zollar, Kesha McKey, Leyla McCallah and Kiyoko McCrae, Kristin Sudeikis, Maya Taylor, Chris Emile, KM Dance Project, Junebug Productions, B.U.K.U. Dance Krewe, and Goat in the Road Productions.
For more information, visit dance.fsu.edu, or contact La Toya Davis-Craig at ldavis3@fsu.edu.