Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia) continues Ballez’s mission to radically reimagine the ballet canon. Coppélia was originally performed as a travesty ballet in 1870 in Paris. Ballez brings that his/her/theirstory to light with an entirely trans and non-binary cast, making clear that gender variance and transgression have long been a part of ballet, and that Ballez dancers are its rightful inheritors. This new story ballet focuses on the relationship between the Dolls and their Doll-Maker, meditating on cycles of abuse between teachers and students, on control and freedom, on fake and real, and on perpetually being forced to automate the performance of gender in order to belong... ultimately, these dolls play with mainstream notions of gender until they fall apart.

PREMIERE-

May 24-26, Chelsea Factory, NYC

tickets $20-40

showtimes:

- Friday 7pm, Saturday 2pm (includes screening of TRAVESTY documentary and talkback), Saturday 7pm, Sunday 2pm, Sunday 5:30pm

(Can't come? You can still use the ticket link above to donate tickets to low-income and LGBTQ+ youth)

Choreography: Katy Pyle
Original Score (played live): Lavinia Eloise Bruce & Scott Killian

Lighting Design: Amanda Ringger

Costumes: Karen Boyer
Performers: Jules Assue, Cove Barton, Jay Beardsley, MJ Markovitz, Katy Pyle & Arzu Salman

Watch the documentary about the process of making this show on Past, Present, Future, commissioned by ALL ARTS/WNET/PBS

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The cast is composed entirely of trans and/or non-binary dancers; with an extraordinary group of 5 highly ballet trained young dancers playing the Dolls, alongside Katy Pyle playing the Doll-Maker.

The music, a collaborative score by Lavinia Eloise Bruce and Scott Killian, appropriates, electrifies, and rebuilds the 1870 Delibes Coppélia score.

Visual design and costuming are informed by trans artist Greer Lankton’s transcendent and terrifying dolls, genderqueer artist and Club Kid Leigh Bowery’s extravagant non-binary looks, and Claude Cahun and Marcel Moore's gender-bending self-styled portraits, with costume-design and construction by Karen Boyer. The world of the Doll-Maker and their Dolls is illuminated by Lighting Designer Mandy Ringger, evoking a workshop, a garish Weimar era theater, a queer club, an apocalyptic landscape and a romantic, glowing haven.

This project has been developed with the support of:
a development commission from the Joyce Theater, a documentary film commission from WNET’s All Arts, a technical residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center, a creative residency at Tremper, rehearsal space grant from the Mellon Foundation, grants from Harkness Foundation for Dance and New York State Council on the Arts, the supoort of the University of Wisconsin Milwaukee, and fiscal sponsorship from Brooklyn Arts Exchange.

photos by Yael Malka