Daniel Victoria, Michał Salwiński, Aljoša Lovrić Krapež: HIGH (Two or three words about ecstatic masculinity)

performance
(Mexico, Poland, Slovenia)

Following on from his successful solo Love, Feathers and Javier Solis presented at last year’s Mladi Levi festival, the Mexican theatre artist Daniel Victoria returns this year with his Master’s degree performance High, subtitled Two or Three Words About Ecstatic Masculinity. Masculinity is an omnipresent word, complex and controversial – one that a certain paradigm may view as a signifier designating »the ideal features of male representation« in its attempt to deconstruct the notions of patriarchy and manhood. The announced engagement with masculinity via the performance title certainly generates expectations towards presence of a male body. The performance High faces and deals with »masculinity« in a physical manner, through explosive energy driven by ecstasy. The photographs could mislead one to expect a dance performance, however High is actually about three male performers immersed in a process of experimentation with extreme joy, pleasure and happiness. All of this with one specific goal in mind – to overcome the dark times. In doing so they draw on the DJ, nudity and a series of found objects that serve as a connective tissue between the three bodies. As we see them getting high on playful acts of affection, we stand witness to them rescuing each other from the threatening nothingness of stage and life. And this, in response, brings a tangible sense of tension in the bodies of audience members – a natural high.

60 minutes

Direction: Daniel Victoria
Co-creators: Michał Salwiński, Aljoša Lovrić Krapež
Sound design and DJ: Andrés Silva
Light design: Michael Lozano, Daniel Victoria
Stage design: Mara Ingea
Dramaturgy advisor: Sodja Lotker
Movement advisor: Tomáš Janypka

Photo by: Michael Lozano