For a newly commissioned video piece by renowned US-based artist Michael Portnoy, the international festival for contemporary art steirischer herbst in Graz, Austria, is looking for dancers in either Berlin or New York City.

The Artist

Michael Portnoy comes from a background in dance and stand-up comedy. His performance-based work employs a variety of media—from participatory installations to sculpture, painting, writing, theatre, video, and curation—and is largely concerned with bending language and behavior, often to brutally comic effect. The artist lives in New York. 
For more information on Portnoy’s work please visit his website: www.strangergames.com

About the Piece

Progressive Touch is a newly developed commission by Portnoy for the 2019 edition of steirischer herbst festival in Graz. The humorous video series explores absurdist sex through the complication of the rhythm and gesture of intimate touch. 

Requirements

For his piece, Portnoy is seeking highly skilled, expressive and inventive movers with a great sense of rhythm, of all ages, genders, etc., who are ideally Berlin- or NY-based. Applicants should be comfortable with nudity and willing to engage in sexual acts (although rigorously absurd and musically complex) with other dancers. The piece requires no speaking. Couples welcome to apply.

Audition: 9.–10.7.19

Rehearsal period: 11.–31.7.19 (four–five days scheduled within this period)

Rehearsal time: Approximately five hours per day

Shooting period: First week of August

To take part in the casting process, please send a CV, images and videos of yourself performing to: perform@steirischerherbst.at

Deadline: 3.6.19 

Successful applicants will perform in the video piece shooting in August and will be paid a flat fee for rehearsal and performance.