TRAVESTY DOLL PLAY BALLEZ (AFTER COPPÉLIA)

Ballez & Chelsea Factory Present

Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia)

Friday, May 24 at 7:30PM

Saturday, May 25 at 2:00PM
(featuring a special ALL ARTS screening of TRAVESTY & choreographer talk-back)

Saturday, May 25 at 7:30PM

Sunday, May 26 at 2:00PM

Sunday, May 26 at 5:30PM

$20-40

45 minutes

Choreography | Katy Pyle

Original Score (played live) | Lavinia Eloise Bruce & Scott Killian

Lighting Designer | Amanda Ringger

Costumes | Karen Boyer

Performers | Jules Assue, Cove Barton, Jay Beardsley, MJ Markovitz, Katy Pyle & Arzu Salman

Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia) is a full-length Ballez performance which reinvents the 1870 travesty ballet Coppélia. This revisionist creation brings its history to light, showing how gender variance and transgression have always been embedded in ballet, with Ballez dancers as rightful inheritors of that his/her/theirstory. This new story ballet focuses on the relationship between Dolls and their Doll-Maker, on teachers and students, on cycles of abuse in ballet, on control and freedom, on fake and real, and on dancers being forced to perpetually automate the performance of gender in order to belong…ultimately playing with mainstream notions of gender in ballet until they fall apart.

Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia) is the subject of the new documentary TRAVESTY, one of three documentaries in ALL ARTS’ Past, Present, Future dance film festival, running from April 23 - May 7.

Watch the moving film by Courtney Faye Powell, which gives a a behind-the-scenes look at Ballez developing Travesty Doll Play Ballez (after Coppélia) for the stage.

About Ballez:
Ballez was founded in 2011 by genderqueer choreographer Katy Pyle. By centering the experiences of trans, non-binary and genderqueer dancers in practice and creation, Ballez demands that the form of ballet embrace the vitality of positive, inclusive change. Over its thirteen years of existence, Ballez has grown to include a broad community of dancers, audiences and change-makers, gathering around classes, performances and conversations. Ballez has produced three original, full-length story-ballets: The Firebird, a Ballez (2013, Danspace Project), Sleeping Beauty & the Beast (2016, La MaMa), and Giselle of Loneliness (2021, The Joyce Theater). Learn more at www.ballez.org.

Health and Safety Protocols:
Chelsea Factory will be implementing the following procedures to help ensure the health and safety of our patrons, staff, and artists:

• We practice contactless ticketing and will be checking patrons in by name (no need to show printed or digital tickets).

• Masks are optional.

• While Chelsea Factory strongly recommends vaccination against COVID-19, proof of vaccination is not currently required for audience entrance to performances and public programs.

Click here for our full Health and Safety Protocols.