ILBIJERRI Theatre Company (Australia): Blood on the Dance Floor

Cost: $33.33

Find tickets: here

Co-presented with SFU Woodward’s Cultural Programs and Talking Stick Festival
By Jacob Boehme

Running Time: 55 minutes
Speaking of Dance Pre-show Talk, times and guest TBA
Post-show Social, TBA

Warning: Adult concepts (sexual & drug references), coarse language, loud music.

A descendant of the Narangga and Kaurna nations of South Australia, choreographer/performer Jacob Boehme was diagnosed with HIV in 1998. In search of answers, he reached out to his ancestors. Through a powerful blend of theatre, image, text and choreography, Boehme pays homage to their ceremonies whilst dissecting the politics of gay, Blak and poz identities.

Created with ILBIJERRI, one of Australia’s leading theatre companies creating innovative works by Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander artists, Blood on the Dance Floor weaves together generational history with personal memoir. From a “gay elder” grieving young men lost to disease and despair, to the current culture of hookups and casual sex, deeper moments sketched between Jacob and his father underscore the legacy of racism, homophobia, and shame that permeates both personal and cultural histories.

Grounded in Aboriginal dance and storytelling, Blood on the Dance Floor incorporates activism, autobiography, and performance into an incendiary work of raw and radical emotion.

“There are many large issues at play in Blood on the Dance Floor, but the work’s emotional pulse is in the ordinariness of Boehme’s need for love and for a sense of belonging.” – Real Time Magazine

“Blood on the Dance Floor lays bare those painful realities through unguarded vignettes, but it never clots into sentimentality (or worse, trauma-porn). Much of the artistry resounds with the pulse of life. It’s a song, in the end, of resilience and hope – a tragicomic fumbling towards the possibility of love.” —The Sydney Morning Herald
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