TDT and Buddies in Bad Times partner to present Make Banana Cry, by choreographers Stephen Thompson and Andrew Tay with an international cast of performers from the Asian diaspora. An important Canadian work where 6 artists confront the tension between their cultural identities and stereotypes in a parade of body politics meant to trouble the Western gaze.
Acclaimed internationally for its examination and protest against clichés of Asian-ness, this bold performance blends fashion-show aesthetics with political critique, exposing the commodification of cultural identity–all set within a fake museum exhibition created by visual artist Dominique Petrin. After successful presentations at Implustanz (Vienna), Kampnagel (Germany), MDT (Sweden), and the Portland Institute of Contemporary Art, this will be Make Banana Cry’s Toronto premiere.
Complementary programming will include conversations led by Toronto’s East Asian community members. This programming aims to provide audiences with multiple entry points for understanding the broader implications of the work including histories of anti Asian racism and the reduction of the diverse spectrum of Asian identity into singular categorizations . Partnering with Buddies in Bad Times Theatre, Canada’s oldest queer theatre, further amplifies TDT’s commitment to 2SLGBTQI+ representation in the performing arts.
About the Choreographers
Andrew Tay is a hybrid performer, choreographer, and dance curator. In 2005, he cofounded Wants&Needs Danse with Sasha Kleinplatz. Together, they produce the popular dance events Short&Sweet and Piss in the Pool in Montreal. He received the DanceWEB Scholarship (2012 Impulstanz Vienna), and has presented his work at FIerce Festival (UK), Kampnagel (Germany), and Festival TransAmeriques (Montreal) among others. Tay received the Award for Risk and Innovation at the SummerWorks Performance Festival (Toronto) and was named “50 under 50 shaping tomorrow” by Concordia University in 2022. He was the first artistic curator at Le Centre de Création O Vertigo (CCOV) in Montreal and is currently the Artistic Director of Toronto Dance Theatre.
Internationally renowned artist Stephen Thompson began his career as a figure skater. Hailed by the New York Times as one of the “best male dancers” of 2014, he worked with such companies as Decidedly Jazz Danceworks and Fondation Jean-Pierre Perrault, as well as with acclaimed artists Benoit Lachambre, Trajal Harrell, Adam Linder, and Antonija Livingstone. His collaborations have received accolades, including a Bessie Award (NYC), two Dora Mavor Moore awards, and a Mohn Award during the 2016 Made in L.A. Biennial. In 2016, he also received the Canada Council for the Arts’ Victor Martyn Lynch-Staunton Award.