Synopsis  

National Gallery of Victoria performance intervention Sebastian

A response through dance and song inspired by the Italian Masterpieces from Spain's Royal Court Museo Del Prado collection.

Adams draws his response to Guido Reni’s Saint Sebastian performed as duet for dancer and counter tenor live in the Gallery. Adam’s choreography is an arrangement of court ballet syllabus pieces developed through the imagery and historical references, transcended over time of Saint Sebastian piercing arrow depictions. 

The iconography inherent in Guido Reni’s Saint Sebastian has always had resonance in fashion and rave culture and links to erotic history; inspiring film, photography, theatre, queerness and the visual arts. And so this work was the inspiration for Adams to create a response through this commission in dance and song as an intervention live in the NGV Gallery as part of the Italian Masterpieces program.

Dancer and fashion designer Geoffrey Watson with Melbourne’s very own darling and wunderkind of cabaret counter tenor Mama Alto gave an arresting performance of love and death to a crowded room of gallery goers and dedicated audiences. For the occasion, PABL invited 18 volunteers to form a bull’s eye around the room to delineate the space as the site of an arrow target range. Watson performed Phillip’s courtly suite of inspired choreography including the minuet and sarabande.

Creative Team

Choreography: Phillip Adams

Dancer: Geoffrey Watson

Vocalist: Benny Dimas