DROP DEAD…GORGEOUS To Have World Premiere At La MaMa This October
Tamar Rogoff’s multimedia dance work will run October 17–November 2, 2025.
By: A.A. Cristi Aug. 21, 2025
La MaMa, in association with Tamar Rogoff Performance Projects, will present the World Premiere of Drop Dead…Gorgeous, an evening-length multimedia dance production by Tamar Rogoff, on Friday, October 17, 2025, at 8:00 p.m. at La MaMa in New York City. The production will have 12 performances through November 2.
Blending dance, theatre, video, and original music, Drop Dead…Gorgeous will take audiences inside a surreal TV game show where contestants compete to shed pounds, gain inches, and reverse the aging process. Moving from humor to pathos, the work examines the pressures of the beauty industry and ballet’s idealized body type while ultimately affirming that all bodies are inherently beautiful and deserving of love.
The Production
Structured in four acts, Drop Dead…Gorgeous will unfold in the studio of a fictional game show led by a charismatic but troubled Game Master. The cast of four includes a curvy dancer, an older dancer, a performer portraying an underweight teenage ballet dancer, and an actor with Tourette Syndrome. A projected video of 60 extras will serve as a Greek chorus and a frenzied studio audience, amplifying the satire of consumer culture and its promises of happiness.
“Drop Dead…Gorgeous is the culmination of my life-long exploration of difference,” says Rogoff. “Finding the beauty in movement is less about how a body looks and more about how a dancer embodies their authentic sensuality.”
The production features original music by Avi Fox-Rosen, with performances by Gina Bonati, Gardiner Comfort, and Gerlanda Di Stefano. Sara Gierc serves as assistant director. Design collaborators include Lianne Arnold (video and scenic design), Nicole Slaven (costumes), and Philip Trevino (lighting). Dr. Judith Brisman, psychologist and eating disorder treatment specialist, serves as advisor, and Rachel Stires is company manager.
Post-Performance Talkbacks
Each performance will be followed by an audience talkback featuring Rogoff, cast members, and invited experts from the medical and performing arts communities. Scheduled guest panelists include psychologist Dr. Judith Brisman, New York Theatre Ballet founder Diana Byer, performance psychology specialist Dr. Linda Hamilton, and Lexi Monroe, executive director of Butterfly Beautiful. Discussions will address topics such as eating disorders, body dysmorphia, and training regimens.
Performance Information
Drop Dead…Gorgeous will be performed at La MaMa, The Downstairs, located at 66 East Fourth Street, New York City. Tickets are $30, $25 for seniors and students, and $10 for the first 10 tickets purchased for each show. Tickets are available at lamama.org.
About Tamar Rogoff Performance Projects
Tamar Rogoff is a New York filmmaker and choreographer whose work explores the outer limits of how people negotiate extreme circumstances. Her large-scale site works, films, and proscenium performances reflect a life-long experimental process. Her Belarus-based work The Ivye Project became the subject of the documentary Summer in Ivye, co-directed with Daisy Wright. She also choreographed a solo for Claire Danes at P.S. 122 and served as Danes’ movement coach in HBO’s Emmy Award-winning Temple Grandin.
Rogoff’s documentary Enter the Faun, created with Daisy Wright, followed actor Greg Mozgala’s experience with cerebral palsy and premiered at The Sundance Institute. Her short film Wonder About Merri won “Most Daring Film” at Dare to Dance in Public Festival. She is a Guggenheim Fellow and has received support from the NEA and the Rockefeller Foundation. Rogoff teaches at La MaMa and NYU’s Experimental Theater Wing.
Videos