About the performance

In a highly personal and visual performance, Joseph Mercier relives his time in the world of tights and tutus, reflecting on body image, body limits and the constant temptation of his favourite pair of sleazy black boots. Funny, moving and embarrassing, this is an intimate story of how one’s dreams can collapse and transform, told through dance, kink and exhaustion.

Key Personnel

Joseph Mercier - Performer and Choreographer
Clara Giraud - Producer
Ziggy Jacobs - Lighting Designer
Zlata Camdzic - Dramaturge

Production Information

Running time at full length: 65 minutes, no interval.

Suitable for 16+, contains nudity

Use of light text

Use of recorded music

Requires a clear understanding of English

Touring Information

Small scale show (up to 400 seats)

Appropriate for a dance theatre, stage in end-on position.

Number of people on tour: 3

Number of peformers on stage: 1

Available to tour from Autumn 2011

Not suitable for rural touring

Outreach and Educational Work

Workshop - ‘Walk Like a Man’: Gender, Movement and Performance

This workshop is a practical introduction to queer politics and gender theories through movement and basic dance. It explores ways of using theories of gender and sexuality to develop a physical vocabulary. It provides an introduction to some basic composition and movement techniques. No prior experience is necessary and the workshop is open to anyone of any ability.

Company History

Joseph started training at the age of 20 in classical ballet at the School of Alberta Ballet and then at Boston Ballet. He had a brief career as a classical dancer in Nutcracker, before ‘retiring’ to pursue broader performance interests. Since then he has worked in dance, live art and theatre, creating highly personal and politically charged shows. He is also the founder and director of PanicLab, physical theatre company.

Recent Productions / Tours

Giselle, or I’m Too Horny to be a Prince, is Joseph Mercier’s first solo show. It has toured around the UK, to Homotopia Festival (Liverpool), OutBurst (Belfast), In The Flesh (Plymouth), Dance City (Newcastle), Dublin Gay Theatre Festival and to Oslo Queer Festival in Norway.

Joseph Mercier is the artistic director of PanicLab Theatre Company, with which he has toured in the UK and to Montreal (Canada), since 2008.

Reviews

From Bryony Kimmings, Director of the Chisenhale Dance Space:
“What interests me most about this Giselle is the relationship of the performer/creator to his body as a tool, a body so riddled with training yet so desperate to be free from this training that it becomes charged with an electric passion unique to Joseph as an artist. Mercier has a cunning, original and unique view on the world of ballet and allows his work to hold secrets that we want access to... in a far more truthful and honest way than we are privy to in the mainstream world of classical dance. Joseph is a rare find and a great artist of the future.”

Audience feedback from performancesat Homotopia (Liverpool) and OUTBurst (Belfast), November 2010:
"A brilliant theatrical performance. Dance, comedy, mime - narrative. Well done!"

"Beautifully soulful, witty and resonant, fantastical queer, and comfortingly human; one hopes that its warmth should speak to the human nature within even a resistant audience."

"Very personal performance. Joseph wears his heart upon his collar. I enjoyed my evening."

"Very enjoyable! Very different to the usual events available."

"An unflinchingly honest view of societal pressure and expectation seeping unremittingly into what should be an artist's most private experience - himself. I admire your bravery."

"Fabulous!"