NEWS (2006) adaptation (2011) Premiere

Choreography: Deborah Hay

Adaptation: Michael O’Connor

Performance: Jai Jai Sincere

Music: Michael O’Connor, Joan Jett & the Blackhearts

Costume Accessory: Gina Drewes


News is something that interests us when it is shocking, moves us when it is compelling and informs us when it is out of reach. However, more often than not, news is forgotten simply because it is not new anymore. Keeping things new is what grabs attention and sells, but is also the place where change and perspective can grow.

Caught between personal agenda and political activism, Jai Jai Sincere becomes the site of the experiment where personal and political combine. To do so, she ignores both nightclub and burlesque dance and steps up to a different perspective of performance than she is used to. However, exposing perspective is as much as she can do within the balance of art, form and agenda. The political aspect also lies within the audience and their willingness to broaden their viewpoint.

Deborah Hay, a member of the New York Judson Dance Theater in the 1960s, created NEWS in 2006 for Michael O’Connor, who after the three month commitment of practicing the solo, passed the work on to Jai Jai Sincere five years later and started the practice again from a different perspective.

Accordingly, NEWS is a hymn to queerness, in which the artistic identities of Deborah Hay, Michael O’Connor and Jai Jai Sincere intermingle.

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copyright Bernd Hofbauer