serpentwithfeet

created by serpentwithfeet
directed by Wu Tsang
choreographed by Raja Feather Kelly
co-written by serpentwithfeet & Donte Collins
A Joyce Theater Production
Produced: The Joyce Theater
Co-Produced: Kampnagel International Summer Festival
Co-Commissioned by: The Joyce Theater Foundation, Kampnagel International Summer Festival, The LA Phil - with generous support from Linda and David Shaheen, Seattle Theatre Group, Hancher Auditorium at the University of Iowa

A theatrical dance piece celebrating gay Black love from the alternative R&B wizard.

serpentwithfeet’s experimental electronic music explores passion and love between gay Black folks so tenderly, The Guardian said of his 2021 record DEACON, “There can be few albums this year more wholesome, soppy, or unabashedly life-affirming.” He joins with MacArthur “genius” fellow Wu Tsang and choreographer Raja Feather Kelly to present Heart of Brick, a theatrical dance and musical performance that tells the story of two men finding themselves and falling in love in a gay dance hall—and captures the multi-generational spirit of the Black queer community. Combining music created for the performance with material from serpentwithfeet’s new album, as well as older songs, Heart of Brick is an evocative new work that embodies the sweetness and sincerity at serpent’s core.

“The music serpentwithfeet makes is immediately distinctive, harnessing his gospel and classical training to a startling emotional openness. He works largely as a one-man studio band, fusing his own vocals, instruments and electronics. And he creates songs that are rhapsodic, pensive, harmonically complex, meticulously orchestrated and, often, constructed with layer upon layer of otherworldly vocals.” - The New York Times

Photo credit: Justin French