What happens when the sacred meets the sensual...
When ceremony meets performance...

the 5th annual

CONEY ISLAND RITUAL CABARET FESTIVAL

NOTICE: UNTIL THE RESOLUTION OF COVID-19, THE FESTIVAL IS POSTPONED.
WE ARE WORKING WITH CONEY ISLAND USA TO RESCHEDULE... STAY TUNED.

WHEN: April 24 & 25 @8pm // April 26 @4pm

WHERE: Coney Island USA, 1208 Surf Avenue, Brooklyn

TICKETS: One night: $18 // Festival Pass (all three nights): $40

Festival Pass includes entrance to VIP closing ceremony/party with festival performers.

** Appropriate for 18+ **

THE AUDIENCE TOO is encouraged to come be a part of the performance!
Wear your most expressive/outrageous costume/look,
and help celebrate the festival's theme of TRANSFORMATION.

The Coney Island Ritual Cabaret Festival marks International Culture Lab's (ICL) 5th consecutive year probing the fantastical partnership of ritual and entertainment on Coney Island USA's (CIUSA) Sideshows by the Seashore stage. This year again ICL has assembled an array of performance artists, musicians, aerialists, puppeteers, and dancers, all of whom have been tasked with presenting original works that define "ritual cabaret" through the lens of their own particular aesthetic, discipline and lineage.

The history of the Coney Island Ritual Cabaret Festival is informed by dancer/choreographer Tatsumi Hijikata who in the 1950's originated butoh with his ensemble of burlesque dancers in an effort to defy and subvert authority, including conventional notions of dance, thereby seeking transformation -- on the personal, societal and human level.

Inspired by this historical reference, in its call for proposals, ICL challenged artists to deconstruct and reinvent their particular art form, whatever it might be. We asked: If the goal is TRANSFORMATION -- of the self, of society, of humanity -- what will it take to bring this about? Is it possible to invent a new genre? What is Ritual Cabaret to you?

Cabaret, burlesque, vaudeville, and circus sideshow have a long & storied history in Coney Island, and Coney's rich legacy of amusement, community, and innovation make CIUSA the perfect venue to explore the boundaries of ritual & entertainment.

CHECK OUT THESE FANTASTIC FESTIVAL PROFILES IN REVIEWFIX AND NITELIFEEXCHANGE!!

PERFORMERS:

Mx Saturn Rebirth Ritual -- by PNK VLVT WTCH Ensemble
Cabbage Dance Suite: Gaki Burlesque & Brassicaceae -- by Baby Powder Naked Man
As yet untitled -- by EDGE
Whispers of Regeneration in the Concrete Jungle -- by Iván Espinosa and Robyn Bjornson
Rite of Spring -- by Crux Rhodes
Xylgön & Shmeebs -- by Xylgön & Shmeebs
Tre Chic the Beauty Borg: Plasticine Transformations-- by Katherine Adamenko AKA Ladypants
PHYLAX TULPA -- by Dead Guy
Excerpts of Gotham -- by L'iat
Little Old Limber Lady Senior Stretch Yoga Devi Dance -- by Amazing Amy
Zone and the River of Wax -- by Zack Fuller
Super Flat Ritual Cabaret -- by Margo Korableva Performance Theatre
Flux -- by Mistral Hay
As yet untitled -- by Anjoli Chadha
As yet utitled -- Wharton Tract
Death and Jazz -- by Jonathan Kopp
Multicursal Unicursal Waiting Room Toy -- by Liz Oakley
Rye-Me, or Call me Crazy -- by Yokko
Mark on Her Soul -- by Dancing Rubies

Durational performances by Jacquelyn Marie Shannon, Aída Miró, and Evan Troost

Poster and Set Design by Si Golraine