Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies

"There are people who are born to make art, to make us think, to make us question what we do, and Miguel is one of those people." -- Carley Petesch, The Brooklyn Rail

I am perfect and

You will love me and

Everyone in this room is in this fucking dance

Retrospective Exhibitionist/Difficult Bodies is an evening of two works presented as a diptych, back to back. This evening looks at the two sides that are in every performance: what the performer presents and what the performer feels. In Retrospective Exhibitionist, a landmark solo for Gutierrez, he shuttles through his own real and imagines performance history, excavating to find the vulnerability of what it is to be watched by others. Using a TV/VCR, boom box, mic and amp, video camera, and other simple props, Gutierrez looks at the merciless unraveling of time and its impact on live performance and the life on the stage. In Difficult Bodies, Gutierrez continues his confrontation between performer and viewer, with the three women of MGPP as his foil in a celebration of individuality and the tension of togetherness. Their insistent actions fill the space with the rhythms of attraction and repulsion, as they continually approach and resist the audience. Gutierrez supplies the original music for the work manipulating his own voice live onstage.

Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies (2005)
Created by Miguel Gutierrez in collaboration with Anna Azrieli, Michelle Boulé and Abby Crain
Music by U2, Interpol, Kate Bush, Destiny's Child and Miguel Gutierrez
Lighting design by Lenore Doxsee
Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies had its world premiere at Dance Theater Workshop in New York City on November 30, 2005

Retrospective Exhibitionist and Difficult Bodies is a co-commissioning project by Dance Theater Workshop in partnership with Diverse Works and the National Performance Network Creation Fund. The Creation Fund is sponsored by the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, Altria, and the National Endowment for the Arts (a federal agency). Additional support provided by The Josephine Foundation and individual donors. This evening was developed at residencies at Ensemble Studio Theater's Lexington Center for the Arts, Hollins University and in Pittsburgh, PA with LABCO Dance.

Photo by: Alex Escalante