Video Promo: MAD SCENE by Performa Dance, June 10 and 11, 2022

(Video Promo by Performa Dance)

 

Fame: who doesn’t want it? It means being adored, envied, desired, even feared. With the democratization and ubiquity of social media, the collapse of a private world, and the rise of the “influencer,” we all have the opportunity—or misfortune!— to realize our “15 minutes of fame.” And yet, the longing for fame is timeless. As France’s Louis XIV, the self-titled “Sun King” and the man who popularized classical ballet, once said, “In my heart I prefer fame above all else, even life itself.” Louis XIV’s sentiment rings contemporaneously in our attention-yearning present day. 

 

Performa/Dance, Austin’s world-class contemporary dance company, is lighting up the stage this summer with a full-length mad-cap romp on fame, The Mad Scene. This 90-minute, darkly absurdist dance-drama, dives into the human longing for fame. The Mad Scene is pop fiction meets black comedy, exploring themes of celebrity, desire, power, fantasy, and the mercurial strands of the human psyche. 

 

Skipping through time periods and rollicking in anachronisms, The Mad Scene begins in the 17th century court, makes a pit stop mid-20th century, comes to a screeching halt at our current internet-fueled celebrity culture, and in the process, skewers the veneer of performance, propaganda, and artificiality. Follow this work’s ten characters as they battle to win your attention. 

 

Performa/Dance is an award-winning 501c3 non-profit founded by Artistic Director and choreographer Jennifer Hart and Ballet Austin dancer Edward Carr. Instagram: instagram.com/performa_dance

 

 

 

 

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The Mad Scene
by Jennifer Hart, choreographer
Performa/Dance

June 10 & 11, 2022, 8 pm 

AustinVentures StudioTheater @ Ballet Austin 

Tickets: performadance.org

Email: performadance@gmail.com

Photographs by Sarah Annie Navarrete

Feature by Jeanne Claire van Ryzin, Sightlines Magazine, June 8, 2022