Virago-Man Dem: World Premiere

The Latin prefix “vir” means “man”; the suffix “-ago” indicates female. Thus, the term “virago” has, since ancient times, suggested that elusive flicker between genders we know so well and deny so violently. Into this liminal space enters choreographer Cynthia Oliver and performers Duane Cyrus, Jonathan Gonzalez, Ni’Ja Whitson, and Niall Noel Jones, who excavate layers of racial and gender performance through the shared lens of their Afro-Caribbean and African-American ancestries. With radical tenderness and dizzying force, Virago-Man Dem celebrates black masculinities in their infinite variety and nuance, constructing a sweeping tableau of embracing, sashaying, speaking, screaming, soaring individuals.