Festival TransAmériques

In 1965, two men took the stage for a heated verbal sparring match in Cambridge, with the writer James Baldwin facing the conservative intellectual William F. Buckley Jr. The former dismantled the myth of the American dream, arguing that it was created at the expense of African-Americans. The latter defended the notion of the United States as a meritocracy, convinced that inequality comes down to individual effort rather than a history of oppression. Two visions of the world collided in a debate that has taken on mythic dimensions thanks to archival footage.  

A strike is on at the sawmill, reeking of sweat and lust. Beyond the picket lines, hungry eyes turn to Querelle, a worker who is impossibly handsome, perfectly free, and perhaps dangerous. Under the eyes of Jézabel, one of the few female workers at the mill, his provocative presence stirs up masculine desire and virility. Bottles fly and bats swing as rage explodes into violence. 

In Braids & Heritage, chosen sisters and collaborators Stacey Désilier and Jossua Satinée destabilize and decolonize the mythology of the cowboy, taking the stage in cowboy boots and launching into a line dance. Playing with their striking resemblance to each other, the charismatic duo juxtapose square dancing with the cake walk, the moonwalk, and twerking in a choreographed piece drawing on both the spirit of the past and Afrofuturist visions. 

Accompanied by a dozen stunning performers, the brilliant Trajal Harrell returns to FTA with a speculative dance supposedly passed down from generation to generation. It unfolds like a ceremony from another time, backdropped by a lavish, diaphanous set

A true gem of contemporary Mexican theatre, Mi madre y el dinero (literally “My Mother and Money”) tackles work, theatre, and economics in a heady blend of social critique, tender lyricism, and political observation. It features director Anarcasis Ramos alongside his mother.