Alexis Vaughn

Cody Perkins

Chris Emile

Long Beach Opera

Choreographer and dancer Chris Emile, last seen at LBO creating the innovative choreography for LES ENFANTS TERRIBLES (2021), returns to live performance with an intimate new work that combines Emile’s exceptional movement direction with operatic ritual. Audiences are invited to partake in a meditative and captivating experience driven forward by a raucous, irreverent original score and soundscape by Cody Perkins and astonishing vocals by cross-genre performer Alexis Vaughn.
THE HORSE evokes the supernatural experience of spiritual possession. In Vodun tradition, a “horse” describes a person who has been possessed and is being “ridden” by a possessing deity. In combining somatic practice with theology and research into the origins of ballet, Emile reassesses how traditional balletic training regards the role of the performer/dancer. The resulting work embodies ancestral knowledge, reverence for African religions, and the human-divine connection while reclaiming the relationship between body and spirit as all are invited to witness and experience in this shared catharsis.

The Horse