Created and Performed by Laryssa Husiak
10-25 min
No Set necessary
Adaptable for various performance venues and parties. Or have Debutante host your event!
Debutante: where coming out is not what it used to be. Escorted by comic conflations, stylized movements and her big puffy white dress, performing artist Laryssa Husiak cordially invites you to the collision of several Ukrainian debutante generations, passing down tradition from one lesbian at time. Debutante is comprised of three generations of debutantes: Lecia – the grandmother with her thickly accented Ukrainian debutante tradition, Svetlana – the sharp witted and self-praising host and stepmother and Cornelia – the young woman coming out. Debutante is as absurd as it is touching. Braided together by physical gesture, video instruction and pressing histories these larger than life women share their wildest and most personal moments with the audience and each other through dance, projections, raging incantations and dialogue with intimate egg puppets. Cornelia serves as the receptacle of history and tradition for the woman her life and the debutante culture that they imbue. The question arises: how does tradition transform? What happens when you take a tradition of purity, heterosexuality and high class and apply the same language and ritual to a young, radical performing and lesbian culture? You find yourself dancing with Laryssa Husiak’s Debutante. Photo Credit: Sunita Prasad
Performed at: La MaMa (w/Taylor Mac), Frontera Festival – Austin, TX, Dixon Place, Ephemeroptora