Henry’s Last Dance
PRHBTN 2023
at Loudon House
This piece is a triptych in three acts and incorporates the forward vision of LBC (Lexington Ballet Company) Executive Director Mia Isaacs. Henry’s Last Dance is the starting point of a happening where LBC dancer Kayleigh Western flew through the middle frame, via a detachable canvas, to begin the corp dance from “Swan Lake” as directed by Ayako Hasebe Lloyd.
Inspired by a Henry Faulkner exhibition at the Headley Whitney Museum, curated by Christina Bell, I formed a world staged with inequitable beauties: cruise ships, microplastic filled fish, swans in different stages and an owl who is the evil overlord in some versions of Swan Lake. The sign Do Not Feed Me is not only the ironic command for the swans in the lake but represents the world’s barrage of negativity which nobody wants. At least not in my world.