SEX TAPE + NUPTIAL BLITZ At The Flea Theater Begins January 8

Choreographer Gabrielle Revlock presents two works, SEX TAPE and Nuptial Blitz, January 8-12, 2020 (7pm Wed-Sat, 3pm Sun) at The Flea, a staple of New York City's downtown performing arts scene located at 20 Thomas Street in Tribeca. Tickets cost $20 and are available by phone at 212-226-0051 or online at TheFlea.org. A restorative contact class ($12 drop in) will be offered Sunday, January 12, 11:30am-1pm:

For SEX TAPE (2019) the found choreography between Revlock and a male lover, documented on video, has been reconstructed by Revlock and a longtime female friend. "I wanted to complicate notions of what friendship can look and feel like, repatterning my own search for care" says Revlock. SEX TAPE is the second project where Revlock has recreated a moment in her life but shifted the focus by removing the man. In 2016 she premiered, I replaced him with a lamp, a solo extracted from an accidental video recording of herself receiving verbal feedback from an older, established, male artist.

Reflected Revlock, "On a visit to the National Portrait Gallery I came upon a sculpture by Patricia Cronin of two women, her and her partner, embracing. It wasn't passionate, it was tender. And while the work is titled Memorial to A Marriage and depicts two lesbians who would not have the right to marry for another 10 years, what I saw was a depiction of care that resonated with me and transcended the politics of sexuality and legality." In the midst of the #metoo movement SEX TAPE physicalizes and brings into the public sphere an image of care and a positive representation of touch. As a supplement to the performance text exchanges between Revlock and potential suitors have been posted to Instagram (@gabriellerevlock).

Nuptial Blitz (work-in-progress) is an exploration of the choreography of wedding photography - how shape and tableau, and the use of space and touch convey emotion and story. For this interactive performance six audience members will be invited to participate in the contemporary ritual that is wedding photography, posing alongside the artist as her partner. Participants will receive a wedding photograph following the performance. Revlock remarks, "To dress up and take wedding photos with friends and acquaintances doesn't feel that odd because the practice itself is very much rooted in fantasy." This irreverent and playful project brings our attention to a growing cultural practice and democratizes the image of love. Images of Revlock, with various non-romantic partners, in wedding photo clichés are being posted daily to Instagram.

Both works use a process Revlock calls "found choreography" or "performance as embodied anthropology" to direct the audience's attention to meaning present in everyday movement and gesture.

Gabrielle Revlock is a dance-maker whose work often depicts complicated but relatable interpersonal relationships using a vocabulary that embraces the pedestrian, abstracted by degrees. Described by the press as inventive, rambunctious, and mesmerizing the work has been presented at American Dance Festival, JACK, Gibney, FringeArts, Joyce SoHo, Barnes Foundation, Art Omi, Center for Performance Research, New York Live Arts, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, Seattle International Dance Festival, Philadelphia Dance Projects, ODC, Velocity Dance Center, Dance Place, Joe's Pub, Provincetown Dance Festival, and the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts among others. Internationally she has performed in Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, India, Hungary and Russia. Her work has been supported by LMCC, The Pew Center for Arts & Heritage, Independence Foundation, a LAB Fellowship through FringeArts, PA Council on the Arts, SCUBA National Touring Network for Dance, Puffin Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, and the US Department of State. She is a 2019 Target Margin Institute Fellow and was awarded 'Newcomer of the Year' by tanz, the German journal of ballet, dance, and performance for Show No Show which was presented at the Flea in 2018. Choreographic residencies include Chez Bushwick, Elizabeth Streb's GO!, LiftOff, Dance Omi, Culture Mill in cooperation with American Dance Festival and New York Live Arts' Fresh Tracks. As a dancer, she has performed for Lucinda Childs, Jumatatu Poe, Susan Rethorst, Christopher Williams, Vicky Shick, Bill Young, Jody Oberfelder and is a company member with Jane Comfort and Company. Revlock has taught at The Fabric Workshop and Museum, American Dance Festival, Barnes Foundation, Abrons Arts Center, Movement Research and Gibney. Interested in bridging experimentation and populism, she created the online video "So You Think You Can't Understand Contemporary Dance?," a two-minute conversation with her favorite five-year-old which has 20.6K views. GabrielleRevlock.com

The Flea Theater, under Artistic Director Niegel Smith and Producing Director Carol Ostrow, is one of New York's leading Off-Off-Broadway companies. Winner of several Obie Awards, a Special Drama Desk Award for outstanding achievement and an Otto Award for political theater, The Flea has presented over 100 theatrical, musical and dance performances since its inception in 1996. Past productions include premieres by Steven Banks, Thomas Bradshaw, Erin Courtney, Bathsheba Doran, Will Eno, Karen Finley, Amy Freed, Sarah Gancher, Sean Graney, A.R. Gurney, Jennifer Haley, Hamish Linklater, Enrique Gutiérrez Ortiz Monasterio, Itamar Moses, Anne Nelson, Qui Nguyen, Adam Rapp, Jonathan Reynolds, Kate Robbins, Roger Rosenblatt, Elizabeth Swados, and Mac Wellman. Successes include Drama Desk nominated She Kills Monsters, These Seven Sicknesses, Restoration Comedy, The Mysteries and ten World Premiere productions by A.R. Gurney, including the WSJ Best New Play of 2013, Family Furniture.