ManTango Opera Lounge (Excerpt)
Gregg Bielemeier Presented by Shaun Keylock Company
Photo courtesy of Gregory Bartning
ManTango Opera Lounge (Excerpt)
STAGED BY
Shaun Keylock
PERFORMED BY
Salvatore Bonilla and Kenny Frechette
MUSIC
Giuseppe Verdi, José Padilla
COSTUMING
Laurel Leverton, Adam Arnold
Gregg Bielemeier is a dance artist who has worked on the West Coast and in Europe as a featured choreographer, performer and teacher for over 50 years. He frequently collaborates with musicians, actors and visual artists, creating suave, witty dance works that have been described as “wonderfully inventive,” by the Los Angeles Times, and as “marvelously goofy,” by the Seattle Post-Intelligencer.
Shaun Keylock Company (SKC) is one of the Pacific Northwest’s leading contemporary dance companies. As a commissioner, collaborator, and presenter, SKC performs locally and nationally with the top choreographers, artists, and dancers while proudly celebrating LGBTQ+ identity in dance and the performing arts. Since its founding in 2018, the organization has been an originator of many unique projects and collaborations, from staging the first queer chamber opera “When the Sun Comes Out” to preserving the archives of community dance elders. In the progressive, independent spirit of Portland, its aim is to advance the artistry of contemporary dance and queer performance while fostering an exchange of ideas between artists and communities.
PROGRAMME NOTES
In 2020, SKC initiated a new project to restore, archive, and present the work of LGBTQ+ dance elders that have made a significant impact on the dance history of Portland and the Pacific Northwest. Tonight’s performance of Gregg Bielemeier’s “ManTango Opera Lounge” is supported by this new initiative. To date, the company has preserved over 10 historic works by Bielemeier and regularly perform them as part of their repertoire.
