Nuptial Blitz

Overview

Sitting on a couch in Portland, OR I flipped through my brother’s wedding album, fascinated by the story being told through these images, clearly directed by the photographer. I began researching wedding photography and became obsessed with how certain positions and gestures appeared so frequently. For example, the suit-wearing partner standing behind the gown-wearing partner and hugging ‘her’ waist (a trope I call “The Protector”).

Due to my personal views about the institution, I’ll never get married and experience wedding photography as a bride, but why couldn’t I participate in this ritual in my own way? I began inviting friends to pose in wedding photos around Philly and NYC generating thousands of images. “Nuptial Blitz” explores the “choreography,” the visual tropes and cliches, of contemporary wedding photography and is a work that exists as a series of photographs, and now as a performance.

Each night five audience members will be invited backstage where they’ll be offered a drink, have their pick of fabulous costumes, and join me on stage for a stylized photo shoot posing as my partner in their dream location. Participants will be provided with high res wedding pictures in the days following the show.

Wedding photography is glossy, rooted in fantasy and frequently gendered. In stepping into these tableaus, I point to the power of images to solidify cultural norms. Can I democratize the image of love by embodying these shapes with people other than my romantic partners? Can I chip away at still entrenched gender norms by inviting play? Nuptial Blitz is a safe space to metaphorically and literally try something on including touch and tenderness with a stranger.

*Each night will be available for live-stream viewing. One live stream ticket gets you access to ALL three streamed performances.

Want to know more? Read a review of the New York showing here:

Gabrielle Revlock

Gabrielle Revlock is a Bessie Award winning dance-maker working out of Philadelphia and NYC whose work depicts complicated but relatable interpersonal relationships using a vocabulary that embraces pedestrian movement, abstracted by degrees. Described by the press as inventive, mesmerizing, and a gifted comedian, Revlock has performed in Japan, Netherlands, Singapore, Hungary, India, Russia, and across the USA. Philly venues include The Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts and FringeArts which presented the sold out and critically acclaimed “Show No Show.” Her work has been supported by the Independence Foundation, PA Council on the Arts, Puffin Foundation, Foundation for Contemporary Arts, LMCC, American Dance Abroad and the US Department of State. Choreographic residencies include Chez Bushwick, Elizabeth Streb’s GO!, LiftOff, Dance Omi, Fresh Tracks, Catwalk, and the Orchard Project's Liveness Lab. In 2018 she was named ‘Newcomer of the Year’ by the performance journal Tanz. As a dancer, she has performed for Lucinda Childs, David Gordon, jumatatu m. poe, Susan Rethorst, Vicky Shick, Leah Stein, Almanac, and Jane Comfort. Revlock is the creator of Restorative Contact, a mindful touch-based empathy practice, co-founder of The Apocalypse Singles Club and she created the online video “So You Think You Can’t Understand Contemporary Dance?,” a two-minute conversation with her favorite five-year-old which has 20.6K views.

Credits

Concept & Direction: Gabrielle Revlock, 

Performers: Gabrielle Revlock, Bonnie Friel + Audience volunteers,

Photographers: Ryan Collerd (2021), Dave Ratzlow (2019-2020)

Costumes: Gislane Maldonado + donors