Project Description

This Dancerie: The Paris Project
A collaboration project by Tony Whitfield, Sebastiano d'Ayala Valva, Klaus Fruchtnis, Thierry Micouin, Nils Nusens, Patricio Sarmiento and Andrew Alden


This Dancerie is a multi-event, multi-site, multi-media work that explores the ways in which gay men have created public expressions of desire despite mainstream prohibitions of manifestations of those aspects of their lives in the context of Paris as a complex historical cultural arena for this exploration.

The pretext of This Dancerie is urbanization as a prerequisite for homosexual subculture and the understanding that despite the absence of “gay ghettos, ” gay men developed and carried on forbidden lives in public it cities around the world. This Dancerie focuses on Paris as a cross-road of queer life in which, although, technically, homosexuality was legal since 1791, decency was legislated and under surveillance.

This Dancerie will create a series of foci on Paris as a site of refuge for queer men and the environments they historically frequented. Particular attention will be placed on developing narratives that include a range of differing intersections of class, race, creeds, ethnicities and gender the collaborators will develop a movement based-work for male groupings drawing upon culturally specific traditions. The role immigration plays in these narratives will also be underscored.

This Dancerie is a multi-event, multimedia collaborative work under the artistic direction of Tony Whitfield. This project will be a collaboration between Whitfield, as Executive Producer and Artistic Director, Thierry Micouin as Director of Choreography, media artist Klaus Fruchtnis as Technical Director, fashion designer Patricio Sarmiento, filmmaker Sebastiano d’Ayala Valva and composer/musician Nils Nussen, all from France and composer/ musician Andrew Alden, and filmmakers Joe Lumbroso and Dyana Winkler, from the United States. Eight to ten sites across the City where same sex desire has created a shifting landscape of criminalized activity, class-complicated entanglements, immigrant freedom, forbidden commerce, transgressive beauty and encoded seduction will be the context for short filmed dance/movement based narratives since 1870. Each three to five minute films will begin with a cruising ritual and be filmed in those spaces. For several evenings the films will be presented in situ as projected images activated by passersby movement. Ideally these installations would be debuted as part of Paris’ La Nuit Blanche in 2017.

These films would then be brought together into a single space to produce an additional evening long performance or “dance party” that would be digitally randomized and improvisationally scored for classical ensemble and world pop musicians. Ideally the space would be situated in a cultural center and include a live performance component that involved local gay residents. Various forms of social media will be employed to augment and reveal aspects of the project's narrative content during the culminating dance party and its scatter site installations.

Several aspects of this project should move it beyond the context of performance based works that explore cultural identity and history. They include: the site specific nature of the public installation that will seek to revive unknown queer histories in ways that immerse the audience in the projected work; the creation of apps that will allow the participant to access deeper know of the history behind the narrative they have stumbled into as well as information about the artwork itself and other components of the work at other sites across Paris as well as multifaceted entries into the "dance party."

It is anticipated that audiences for This Dancerie will include: post modern dance, experimental music, expanded cinema, public art and contemporary performing arts audiences. In addition general public members who are attending events associated with Paris' La Nuit Blanche 2017 and local commmunities adjacent to the various sites in which This Danceries' short constituent works will be situated.This project will seek to engage LGBTQI populations including scholars, artists, performers and youth. Social media, print and electronic media associated with La Nuit Blanche and the venue that will host the culminating event will be drawn upon in addition to apps established specifically for This Dancerie.

The primary goal is to reveal the queer past and present of Paris as an urban geography that has been multifaceted, ethnically, economically, and culturally diverse while also revealing those aspects of queer life that defy normalization, concealment behind closed doors challenge notions of "decency" are tied to desire and find expression despite histories of policing and surveillance. In addition this work will seek to engage collaborative, improvisational and interactive structures and technologies to create social points of entry and discussion among various queer communities across Paris and beyond as a means of expanding current discussions about same sex desire.


Tuesday, March 24, 2015

Food for Thought: Butte Chaumont Park in the 19th

Wednesday, April 27, 2011


The Stunning Buttes-Chaumont Park in the 19th Arrondissement

Rosa Bonheur Guingette/Restaurant

Most visitors to Paris don't make it to the 19th arrondissement, but if you've been here before and are looking for a new area to explore, the Buttes-Chaumont Park is the perfect destination, especially on a lovely day in April.


The Buttes-Chaumont Park, which is located on the site of former gypsum quarries, was created when Baron Haussmann, acting on the order of Napolean III, commissioned Jean-Charles Adolphe Alphand to design a park for the working class village, La Vilette, that had just been annexed to Paris. The park's dramatic terrain, which was enhanced with the use of dynamite, features a grotto with artificial stalactites and a 32 meter (105 ft) waterfall cascading into an artificial lake.  A small temple, reachable by traversing two bridges, is perched atop a large rocky cliff.  It's easy to imagine the delight of the visitors to the World's Fair of 1867, which is when the park was inaugurated, as they strolled through the gardens and marvelled at its beauty.


Revelling in its pastoral pleasures, it's hard to believe that the park is situated on land that was previously used as a public dump, a slaughterhouse, and was also the location of the infamous Montfauçon gallows.  During my second visit to Buttes-Chaumont, the leader of the WICE tour read the famous poem by François Villon, "La Ballade des pendus", or the "Ballad of the Hanged Men", that was a chilling reminder of the area's infamous past.      


With its 25 ha (61 acres) of vast open spaces and secluded corners, Buttes-Chaumont is the perfect place for families, couples, and individuals.  Take a picnic with a bottle of wine or a good book and enjoy your afternoon at the park!


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Rosa Bonheur

Nestled on the peak of the Buttes Chaumont Park in the east of Paris, this young and trendy, gay-friendly spot, run by the former owners of the once-popular but now defunct lesbian glam club Pulp, has a massive outdoor terrace that gets packed when the weather turns warm. If you don’t get a seat at the picnic tables, prepare to squish like sardines with your fellow revellers. If that’s not your cup of tea, you can always take a place just outside the bar on the lawn of the park and soak up the good vibes. The crowd is mixed, but tends to attract hipster queer women and their associates.
Location: Parc des Buttes Chaumont -  2 avenue des Cascades, 19th arrondissement 
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Metro: Botzaris
Tel: + 33 (0)1 42 00 00 45
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PHOTO OF GAY MAN WHO WALKED THROUGH MUSLIM SUBURB OF PARIS WITH BOYFRIEND CAUSES SHOCK

Battered and bruised picture prompts questions about rise of extremism in western cities
Paul Joseph Watson
Infowars.com 
April 10, 2013
A photo of a bruised and beaten gay man who claims he received his injuries while walking through a Muslim suburb of Paris arm in arm with his boyfriend has provoked shock and fresh concerns about the rise of ethnic extremism in western cities.
“A man in Paris, France was reportedly beaten for walking with arm in arm with his boyfriend Olivier early Sunday morning. Wilfred de Bruijn, a French resident, says he was assaulted while walking in Paris’ 19th arrondissement. He says he sustained several injuries, including a missing tooth, broken bones, and fractured pieces of bone in his skull. He posted a photo of his wounds on his Facebook page with the caption “Sorry to show you this. It’s the face of homophobia,” reports Al Jazeera.
The 19th arrondissement of Paris is mainly populated with Muslim and North African immigrant families and who live adjacent to Orthodox jews. The area is known for suffering high rates of crime fueled by “gang warfare,” and ethnically-charged clashes are commonplace.
The 19th arrondissement was also the location of some of the worst scenes of unrest during the city’s riots in 2005. Muslim extremists also attacked a gay club in Paris last year.
While the majority of people responded to de Bruijn’s photo by noting how it reflected the sad state of human rights in 2013, some accused him of faking the story, asking why the wounds were not dressed and why de Bruijn only took 10 days sick leave from work.
It is important to emphasize that most Muslims abhor violence and that those who resort to it are in the minority.
However, many see the rise of Muslim extremism in western cities as a growing menace that is being downplayed as a result of political correctness.
In January 2010, videos began to emerge of so-called “Muslim patrols” in different areas of London. Although condemned by mosques, the aim of the patrols was to create “Muslim zones” where behavior such as drinking alcohol, dressing inappropriately, or appearing to be homosexual was met with intimidation and threats by gangs of Muslim men.
Signs that read “Sharia controlled zone” have also been plastered all over communities in London and other UK cities, with residents warned, “You are entering a Sharia-controlled zone – Islamic rules enforced.”
On the other hand, numerous videos have also emerged of white people engaging in lurid racist rants against ethnic minorities on public transport. Such stories have received massive attention and countless thousands of comments. White people have also been the target of such rants metered out by blacks and Muslims.
The rise of social media and the widespread ability of people to film incidents in real time using cell phones has undoubtedly made it appear as if such activity is on the increase. However, the figures do show that “racist attacks” are increasing against both white populations and minorities in major western countries such as the United Kingdom and America.
Whether by accident or design, the intense media focus on these incidents has served to drive a further wedge between people of different ethnicity, faith and lifestyle – which in the long term will only serve to reduce the ability for people to unite under the banner of freedom in pursuit of their common interests.
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Paul Joseph Watson is the editor and writer for Infowars.com and Prison Planet.com. He is the author of Order Out Of Chaos. Watson is also a host for Infowars Nightly News.
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