Sound and vision from the past, present and future
Over the last 30 years Stephen Petronio has established himself as one of the most influential names in American dance. His iconoclastic works fuse eclectic elements of pop culture to often explosive effect. He talked to Civilian about some of his landmark productions
"Pig is mythic, macho and very serious about what it wants to say. But what does it want to say?"
"It looks like a classic teen comedy – all California pop colours and Charli XCX – but it’s a genre movie of a darker kind: rape revenge"
"Todays conservative Millennials and Gen Z readers will view all this as if it’s a TikTok from another, more prurient planet, and recoil"
"Pandemics, zombie cities, political coups attempted by inept supervillains – the stuff of fiction invaded real life this year"
"All this is bleak stuff. Delighted as I always am to see my home city represented in fiction, and to rewalk its geography in prose, I also cavil at depictions of Glaswegian life that are unremittingly grim"
Neil D.A. Stewart dives into the biggest book of the year
"She got up at the end and – wiping tears from her eyes – said it was the best day of her life"
"Don’t expect celebrity tidbits, although there are a few, such as Brad Pitt’s on-set flatulence (hey, he’s only human)"
"My dad had to impale his mother at her funeral, so she wouldn’t become a striga after burial"
Unpacking the much-maligned masterpiece Showgirls
