ROCKING THE BOAT

CELEBRATING QUEER CONTENT IN CANADIAN CONCERT DANCE

GEORGE

STAMOS

A native Nova Scotian, George Stamos had anything but an ordinary introduction to dance. After a brush with the law as a teenager, he found himself cleaning a dance studio as part of his community service sentence. Some 30 years later, Stamos, based in Montreal, is now known across Canada and internationally as a choreographer, dancer, writer and teacher. Along the way, he performed as a “go go” dancer in international gay clubs, engaged in AIDS activism and studied at Amsterdam’s School for New Dance Development, graduating in 1993. He regards his work as “trans-disciplinary”, the result of collaborating with dancers, musicians, designers and filmmakers. Underlying Stamos’s physically charged, thought-provoking dances are themes that regularly revolve around queer perspectives of gender and identity.

Photo Credit (above): George Stamos by Susan Moss

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  • George Stamos section - Live exhibtion / Photo: Rachel Levitt
  • Promotional postcard for George Stamos’s “Schatje” (2000), Tangente, Montreal, 2003 / Provided courtesy of George Stamos
  • Promotional postcard for George Stamos’s “Monday” (c. 2004), Tangente, Montreal, 2005 / Provided courtesy of George Stamos
  • Poster for George Stamos’s “Red Light Roosters” (c. 1996), PS122, New York City, 1997 / Provided courtesy of George Stamos
  • Clara Furey and George Stamos in Stamos’s “Cloak” (2010) / Photo: Nikol Mikus
  • Costume conceived and worn by George Stamos for his work "Reservoir Pneumatic" (2008) Provided courtesy of George Stamos / Photo: Pamela Grundy
  • George Stamos / Photo: Susan Moss

 

CROQUE-MONSIEUR

Montreal dance artist Sarah Williams commissioned three creators to make works based on the word “gender”. With these works, she produced a show in 2006 entitled Gender Trilogy. George Stamos choreographed croque-monsieur for this purpose.

"In croque-monsieur, gender identities are assembled-disassembled and shuffled, using movement, sound and performance as the building blocks. Conventional gender identities are treated as raw material. In this context of viewing gender as a construct, the spectators are invited to question what is a 'natural' gender identity and to ponder the equation of nature + choice + social context = blank. Where do you fit and why?"

Program Note, Studio 303, Montreal, December 2006

 

croque-monsieur (2013)

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  • Choreography: George Stamos
  • Music: Owen Chapman
  • Lighting: Lucie Bazzo
  • Video Producers: Sarah Williams, George Stamos
  • Performer: Sarah Williams

 

  • Wig from George Stamos’s "croque-monsieur" (2006)/ Provided courtesy of Sarah Williams
  • Promotional Flyer for Sarah Williams’s 2006 show, presented by Studio 303 / Provided courtesy of Sarah Williams
  • Sarah Williams in George Stamos’s “croque-monsieur” (2006) / Photographer: Jerome Abramovitch

 

LIKLIK PIK

Liklik Pik remixes fraternal gestures and animal impulses in a dynamic trans-disciplinary duo. It playfully evokes the pig as a totem animal – the little piggy of fairy tales and its alter ego, the dirty, nasty swine. The performers play with these multiple facets, combining references to pets, gay culture, food fetishes and male stereotypes. Through clever role-play and an intensely physical somatic score, Liklik Pik presents humans in a new light allowing for a free and loose approach to the male body. LikLik Pik favours a collage of situations and absurd humour that is audacious and deceptively light.

– George Stamos

 

Liklik Pik (2012)

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  • Choreographer / Artistic Director: George Stamos
  • Dancers: Danny Desjardins and George Stamos
  • Rehearsal Director: Sarah Williams
  • Sound Design: Jackie Gallant, George Stamos
  • Videographers: Dayna McLeod and George Stamos
  • Lighting / Technical Director: Karine Gauthier

 

  • Danny Desjardins and George Stamos in Stamos’s “Liklik Pik” (2012) / Photo: Johnny Ranger
  • Danny Desjardins in George Stamos’s “Liklik Pik” (2012) / Photo: Belle Ancell
  • Danny Desjardins and George Stamos in Stamos’s “Liklik Pik” (2012) / Photo: Belle Ancell

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© DANCE COLLECTION DANSE 2016