Earlier this month, Perfume Genius (Mike Hadreas), choreographer Kate Wallich and Dance Company The YC debuted their project, The Sun Still Burns Here in Seattle. Today, Perfume Genius shares “Pop Song,” another work from the immersive dance piece and a follow up to the previously released “Eye In The Wall.” “It’s the sound of dancefloor euphoria,” said Pitchfork. “The color of lights flashing as you move through a crowd, the touch of skin damp and warm against everyone else’s.” Both songs, included in the full performance, can be seen live when the production arrives at the Joyce Theatre in NYC on November 13th. Additional performances will take place in Minneapolis in December and Boston in January.
“Pop Song” is a riveting exploration of one’s physical form as an emotional conduit. “I imagined an ecstatic pile of bodies preparing to be consumed by the gods,” Hadreas says of the track. “A joyous communal sacrifice of the physical to spiritually level up. The lyric is like a conjuration spell to be sung when the mountain of bodies settles in position and is held still as an offering.” The track premiered yesterday on Sirius/ XMU and is available today at all streaming services.
Hadreas and Wallich created The Sun Still Burns Here together with longtime Perfume Genius collaborator Alan Wyffels, the artists in Wallich’s company The YC, costume stylists cuniform, Art Director Andrew J.S., and Production Designer Amiya Brown. The work features Perfume Genius, Kate Wallich, Lavinia Vago (The YC, RUBBERBandance, Sidra Bell), Thomas House (The YC, Kyle Abraham, Merce Cunningham Trust), David Harvey (The YC, Alonzo King Lines Ballet) and Andrew Bartee (The YC, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet BC).
This work has been in development for over a year, supported by creative residencies at the Joyce Theater Foundation’s Artist Residency Center and technical residencies at Mass MoCA and at The Moore Theatre in Seattle.
‘The Sun Still Burns Here’ is commissioned by Seattle Theatre Group and Mass MoCA and was commissioned and created, in part, with the support of The Joyce Theater Foundation’s Artist Residency Center, made possible by lead funding from The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Howard Gilman Foundation, LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust, and Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Production of ‘The Sun Still Burns Here’ is made possible with major support from Studio Kate Wallich.