DeNada Dance Theatre Will Perform Queer Take on MADAME BUTTERFLY

Mariposa (‘butterfly' in Spanish) is choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra's queer reimagining of Puccini's seminal opera, Madame Butterfly. An operatic dance drama, it transports Puccini's Orientalist libretto to post-revolution Cuba, to a dockland world of faded showgirls, hopeful rent boys, troubled sailors and divine queer spirits. Engulfed in a tropical storm of repressed desires, the production is a passionate and deeply moving exploration of what we are ready to sacrifice in order to be loved and accepted.

Nicknamed ‘the Pedro Almodovar of dance' by the BBC, Carlos Pons Guerra is one of the UK's leading voices in contemporary queer dance. With a truly distinctive style, theatricality and aesthetic, his work explores gender, cultural and sexual identity. Carlos' work often stems from his personal experience and his desire to put LGBTQ+ narratives on the dance stage, stylishly staged in ways that evoke his Hispanic/Latinx cultural heritage.
Created in 2021, Mariposa revisits the problematic gender and colonialist aspects of Madame Butterfly and asks how iconic operas and narratives like this can remain relevant today.  

Mariposa is set to an original score by three-time winner of the Spanish MAX Wards for the Performing Arts, Luis Miguel Cobo, which takes its inspiration from Caribbean sounds as well as Puccini. The libretto is by French-Indian writer Karthika Nair (whose feminist, award-winning poetic retelling of the Mahabharata, Until the Lions, was adapted for dance by Akram Khan).  Costume and set designs are by 2023 Olivier Award Nominee Ryan Dawson Laight and lighting is by Guerra's long-time collaborator Barnaby Booth.

An exceptional cast includes Miles Kearly (Arlene Phillips' House of Flamenka) as Mariposa, Dan Baines (BalletBoyz) as Preston, the sailor, Holly Saw (Matthew Bourne's Edward Scissorhands) as Kate, while Elle Francis-Woods (Northern Ballet and Leipzig Ballet) and Jaivant Patel (Jaivant Patel Dance) will share the role of Madame Gertrudis, the brothel owner. 

Tour Dates

Monday 10 February
Drama Studio, Sheffield
Shearwood Rd, Broomhall, Sheffield S10 2TD
Box office: 0114 222 8888 / https://performancevenues.group.shef.ac.uk/whats-on/

Friday 14 February
Harrogate Theatre
6 Oxford St, Harrogate HG1 1QF
Box office: 01423 502116 / https://www.harrogatetheatre.co.uk/

Tuesday 25 & Wednesday 26 February
The Place, London
17 Duke's Rd, London WC1H 9PY
Box office: 020 7121 1100 / https://theplace.org.uk/whats-on

Friday 28 February
Mansfield Palace Theatre 
Old ABC Cinema, Leeming St, Mansfield NG18 1NG
Box office: 01623 463133 / https://www.mansfield.gov.uk/palacetheatre/

Friday 14 & Saturday 15 March
Stanley & Audrey Burton Theatre, Leeds
2 St Cecilia St, Leeds LS2 7PA
Box office: 0113 220 8008 / https://northernballet.com/venue/leeds-stanley-audrey-burton-theatre

Friday 21 March
Arena Theatre, Wolverhampton
Wulfruna St, Wolverhampton WV1 1SE
Box office: 01902 321321 / https://www.wlv.ac.uk/arena-theatre/

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