They/Them
World Premiere 2018 / Peter Martin Wege Theatre
Choreography Loughlan Prior
Company Grand Rapids Ballet
Music Original composition
Gareth Wiecko
Costume Design William Fitzgerald
Set Design Loughlan Prior
Lighting Design Mellissa Slack
Images Isaac Aoki, Jade Butler
Program Notes: Gender expression and the debate to use gender neutral language, they/them instead of he/she, is an ongoing and multilayered issue. Our social landscape, as it has developed over thousands of years, is fixated on binary ways of thinking and exists under a very genderised ideology.
Tradition dictates the portrayal of gender and gender identity in ballet dancers as almost always exclusive to male and female partnerships and strict gender-specific roles. This work aims to present gender identity as a fluid construct highlighting the importance of the individual as a neutral entity undefined by gender or physical form.
Are traditional gender constructs holding us back, and would adopting a gender fluid, gender non-binary ideology help to decrease trans issues and gender inequality? Are we more than the sum of our parts?