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Trey chic

Boise-based dance outfit at Harmon Hall this weekend

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Trey McIntyre Project
8 p.m. tonight;Ā 2 and 8 p.m. Saturday
Washington Performing Arts Society
at Sidney Harman Hall
610 F Street N.W.
Tickets $25-$75,
Wpas.org or shakespearetheatre.org/tickets
202-547-1122

Trey McIntyre (Photo courtesy of Trey McIntyre Project)

When the Trey McIntyre Project performs tonight in Washington, viewers, obviously, will have a sense of what theyā€™re in for. But thatā€™s not always the case in Boise, Idaho, where the company is based.

The 41-year-old Trey McIntyre chose the unlikely locale after a nationwide search for a host city and, all things considered, found Boise the best fit. His dancers have made a splash there by launching what they call ā€œSpUrgansā€ ā€” spontaneous urban performances ā€” where McIntyre says, “we will go into an office or into a park, or into a restaurant, do our dance and get out,” basically, guerilla-style dance done with a boom-box for music and flying feet and swiveling hips, startling observers.

The whole point of a “SpUrban,” he says, is to surprise, to connect viscerally and unexpectedly, site-specific however, seeing the dance environment writ large ā€” to go directly where people live and work in the community itself. His dancers also perform at games of the Idaho Stampede, the local NBA team, where they sold 300 tickets to one performance.

This weekendā€™s performance, of course, will be less out of the blue.

At Harman Hall, McIntyre promises a high-profile presentation of three works, two of them ā€” “Ma Maison” (2008) and “The Sweeter End” (2011) Ā ā€” he choreographed to be performed to the recorded music he commissioned from the New Orleans jazz band, Preservation Hall, in two salutes to “the Big Easy,” a city he has grown to love.

The brightly colored “Ma Maison” costumes feature Mardi Gras-style skeleton costumes and the dance is inspired by ritual and celebration of both death and the afterlife. “The Sweeter Endā€ premiered in New Orleans in February. The troupe will also perform “In Dreams” (2007), a darkly lyrical ballet he created for five dancers set to the music of Roy Orbison songs, including the eponymous “In Dreams,” a song McIntyre remembered from its use in the 1986 film by David Lynch, “Blue Velvet.ā€

McIntyre is famed already after a star-studded career of more than two decades as a choreographer, with his canon of more than 80 works of contemporary ballet, set to scores as varied as classical music (Beethoven and Chopin), rock ā€˜nā€™ roll (from the Beatles and Beck to Roy Orbison), folk (Peter, Paul and Mary) and jazz (Preservation Hall Jazz Band).

McIntyre says he never came out per se. His parents asked him about it when he was 14 and matter of factly started dating a boy. The Wichita, Kan., native established his dance career after leaving home at 17 for the Houston Ballet Company. By 19 he was hired, enjoying a long run there that lasted until 2008 by which time he had been working as a choreographer, his own dancing days ending in the mid-ā€™90s.

McIntyreā€™s partner of eight years, 29-year-old John Michael Schert, met in New York and knew early on theyā€™d form a company together. It began in 2005 as a summer touring company and was established in 2008 as a full-time company, now with 10 dancers.

The dancers ā€” now five males (including Schert) and five females, salaried for 35 weeks a year and with full health benefits ā€” are happily settled in Boise. Now in their third year there, they are also touring with upcoming concerts at Harman Hall in Washington tonight and Saturday, hosted by the Washington Performing Arts Society (WPAS), and were scheduled to participate in a community “engagement” outreach with the Washington Ballet School, Maryland Youth Ballet and the Duke Ellington School for the Arts.

The company will also host tonight a free warm-up class and WPAS-sponsored performance for local schools at Harman Hall of excerptsĀ from the three dances to be performed there tonight and Saturday.

Since arriving in Boise three years ago, the city has taken the Trey McIntyre Project to heart,Ā bestowing a grant of $25,000 on the company, by far the city’s largest arts award ever, and naming the Project its first official cultural ambassador. Affiliated with Boise State University, which is renovating a 450-seat campus theater to make it suitable for dance, and housed for offices and studio space at Foothills School of Arts and Sciences, McIntyre and the company’s dancers have become virtual rock stars, recognizable wherever they go and showered with free gifts.

In 2005, the company began as a summer touring troupe, until landing on its feet full-time in Boise three years ago. Its now funded on a $1.5 million annual budget and boasts a blue ribbon national board and an advisory council with stars like Shirley MacLaine, Tony Award-winning actor Alan Cumming, and Lar Lubovich, legendary artistic director of the Lar Lubovich Dance Company.

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Theater

Celebrate Valentineā€™s Day with one of these three plays

ā€˜Waitress,ā€™ ā€˜Love Birds,ā€™ ā€˜Fuenteovejunaā€™ offer differing takes on love

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MALINDA plays Jenna in ā€˜Waitressā€™ at Olney Theatre Center.

For theatergoers seeking to mark Valentineā€™s Day with live music, love, and friendship, the DMV offers some new spins on traditional themes. 

Poised to make its regional debut at Olney Theatre Center, Sara Bareillesā€™s hit musical ā€œWaitressā€ (Feb.13-March 30) may not seem like a usual love story, but itā€™s a love story nonetheless. 

ā€œItā€™s about learning to love and value yourself,ā€ says MALINDA who plays Jenna, the showā€™s titular server/baker with aspirations to bake prize-winning pies and change her life. ā€œItā€™s also about sisterhood. From the start, the women involved in the show decided to be there for each other onstage and off, and it shows. For anyone with girl group love in their lives, this is an especially good show to see.

ā€œJenna doesnā€™t get a lot of satisfaction out of her primary partnership. Along with self-love she explores the antithesis of that ā€” partner violence. Our director [Marcia Milgrom Dodge] took the lesson of community support and community love to heart.ā€

Prior to coming out as bisexual in 2022, MALINDA considered herself more of a “quiet queer.ā€ However, the inspiration derived from Irish music (“music of the oppressedā€), which sheā€™s famed for singing on TikTok, compelled her to go public. 

She didnā€™t always believe her queerness to be special: ā€œFor me,ā€ MALINDA says, ā€œit was like saying my eyes are hazel. There wasnā€™t much to celebrate. But then I realized there were missing voices in my community. Felt like the right thing to do, and itā€™s been one of the great blessings of my life.ā€

Six years ago, after her Helen Hayes Award-winning turn in ā€œOnce,ā€ MALINDA took a break from musical theater. She needed time to age into dream parts, and one of those roles was Jenna. She recalls, ā€œGoing back to theater was prominently featured on my vision board, so when Marcia asked me to commit to ā€˜Waitress,ā€™ I happily agreed.ā€ 

For her, Valentineā€™s Day is an opportunity to reach out and tell friends, family, and, of course, romantic partners, just how much you love them. 

And she adds ā€œthatā€™s exactly how I plan to celebrate.ā€ 

D.C.ā€™s delightful Holly Twyford is spending Valentineā€™s Day working at the Folger on Capitol Hill. Sheā€™ll be on stage, her wife will be in the audience, and depending on the length of the program, theyā€™ll go out to dinner afterward.

For four performances, the multi-Helen Hayes award-winning actor is serving as narrator for ā€œThe Love Birdsā€ (Feb. 14-16), a new Folger Consort work that blends medieval music with a world-premiere composition by acclaimed composer Juri Seo and readings from Geoffrey Chaucerā€™s ā€œA Parlement of Foulesā€ by Twyford. 

Standing behind a podium, sheā€™ll read Chaucerā€™s words (translated from Middle English and backed by projected slides in the original language), alternating with music played on old and new instruments.  

ā€œThe new music is kind of dissonant with the sounds of birdcalls and nature sounds, painting a picture of whatā€™s going on in Chaucerā€™s poem thatā€™s beautiful and funny. Chaucer describes the male eagles pleading for the hand of the female eagle. Chaucer seems almost unwittingly feminist when he has the female eagle ask her eagle suitors to give her a year to think about it.ā€

GALA Hispanic Theatre in Columbia Heights presents ā€œFuenteovejunaā€ (through March 2), a timely production staged by out director JosĆ© Luis Arelleno. Penned in 1613, this work from the Spanish Golden Age ranks among playwright Lope de Vega’s most performed plays.

Itā€™s about tyranny and love, Arellano explains. Within Lope de Vegaā€™s timely tale of brutish power lies an intense love story. In fact, at the top of the show, four characters, two males and two females play a game. What is love? One of the players asserts that love doesnā€™t exist, while the others disagree. Itā€™s a charming way to kick off the play.

The celebrated director isnā€™t one to telegraph messages, preferring audiences think for themselves. That said, he does, of course, make strong directorial choices: ā€œIf I have to choose between love or war, itā€™s more important to talk about love. For me, itā€™s a revolution.ā€ 

And apropos of a Valentineā€™s Day date, GALAā€™s production of ā€œFuenteovejunaā€ (performed in Spanish with English surtitles) is imbued with live music and verse, an important part of any romantic experience, adds David Peralto, the productionā€™s poetry and verse consultant as well as Arellanoā€™s longtime partner. 

The busy Spain-based couple will celebrate Valentineā€™s Day in Seville and couldnā€™t be happier. Arellano describes Seville as the most romantic city in the world.

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Photos

PHOTOS: SMYAL for the New Year

LGBTQ youth services organization holds fundraiser at Shakers

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SMYAL for the New Year was held at Shakers on Jan. 30. (Washington Blade photo by Michael Key)

The LGBTQ youth services organization SMYAL held the “SMYAL for the New Year” fundraiser at Shakers on Thursday, Jan. 30.

(Washington Blade photos by Michael Key)

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a&e features

Valentineā€™s gifts for the queers you love

Fragrances, X-rated sweet treats, candles, and more

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Put a little love in your heart. Thatā€™s what Jackie DeShannon encouraged with her 1969 hit song of the same name, and itā€™s never been more appropriate than in the context of our current state of affairs. Mute the vitriol this Valentineā€™s Day and concentrate on what really matters ā€“ those you love and who love you back. 

Gucci Guilty Love Edition

Sniffies? Youā€™ll put the site on hold after a whiff of Gucci Guilty Love Edition on the nape of his neck ā€“ featuring captivating notes of juniper oil, orange flower absolute and aphrodisiatic Ambrofix ā€“ which one review claims to ā€œmake your brain sparkle like a fine Champagne.ā€ Cheers to that. $25-$133, FragranceNet.com

Hunky Burning Love Pillow

Sweet dreams are on the docket when you rest your head on the Hunky Burning Love faux-suede square pillow printed with illustrations of shirtless himbos pining for your affection. An exercise in fantasy more than reality, but it beats sitting alone at a bar getting no attention at all. $30, ThePillowTopShop.com

Love Deck

Whatā€™s in the cards for your love life in 2025? Fuck around and find out with astrologist Lisa Stardustā€™s 70-card Love Deck, a tarot set of short spells, meditations and rituals designed to conjure enough love, passion, clarity and confidence to make Potion No. 9 jealous. $13, Amazon.com 

ā€˜Making the Case for Equalityā€™

Weā€™ll continue to fight the good fight over the next four years and beyond ā€“ perhaps harder than ever ā€“ and Lambda Legalā€™s ā€œMaking the Case for Equality,ā€ a detailed half-century history of our hard-won judicial victories, is a solid reminder of how far weā€™ve come in the war for LGBTQ+ rights. $45, Amazon.com

Lola Blankets

Schedule an at-home streaming marathon of this yearā€™s Best Picture noms before the big night ā€“ thereā€™s a lot to love in 2024ā€™s Oscar picks ā€“ and the coziest way to settle in is all snuggled up in the squishiest Lola blankets, reminiscent of the adorable ripples of the cutest Shar Pei. Pick up a couple for the cuddle puddle. $109-$299, LolaBlankets.com

Asa Akira x Cake Life Cookies

Cue the collaboration you didnā€™t see coming: Adult film star Asa Akira teams up with award-winning trans-owned bakery Cake Life Bake Shop for its sweet-and-spicy Conversation Heart Sugar Cookies, featuring Akiraā€™s XXX-tra special curated box decorated with NFSW phrases like ā€œCowgirl,ā€ ā€œCream Pie,ā€ and the ever-subtle ā€œAnalā€ ā€“ that are sure to leave mouths agog at your Gaylentineā€™s get-together. $19-$21, CakeLifeBakeShop.square.site

Mind Games Candles

Since the late 1990s, the Backstreet Boys have implored us to quit playinā€™ games with our loversā€™ hearts, which is probably why we play mind games instead ā€“ and now they come in luxury scents like Jasmine Milk, Tobacco Tonka Bean and Cherry Sandalwood, so you can enjoy mood lighting with your gaslighting. $135, MindGamesFragrance.com

Delysia Chocolates

Inspired by Greek Goddess-of-Love Aphrodite, Delysia Chocolatierā€™s 16-piece, limited-edition truffle collection includes four each of symbolic Passion (almond-honey-fig), Adoration (raspberry-rose petal-hibiscus), Unity (pomegranate-strawberry), and Love (spiced wine-berry) bite-size chocolates rich enough for savoring and abundant enough for sharing. $60, Delysia.com

DIY Whiskey Hot Sauce

Variety is the spice of life in Thoughtfully Gourmetā€™s Whiskey-Infused DIY Hot Sauce Kit that combines your favorite cereal spirit with high-quality global ingredients, like Mexican hot peppers, to create sophisticated flavor experiences of varying Scoville heat levels, handsomely housed in fancy decanters. Recipe book, spices and seasonings included; alcohol and antacids are not. $20, Amazon.com

Mikey Rox is an award-winning journalist and LGBTQ lifestyle expert whose work has been published in more than 100 outlets around the world. Connect with Mikey on Instagram @mikeyroxtravels.

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