The Sun Still Burns Here, which has its world premiere at the Moore Theatre on October 4, is a perfect fusion of choreographer Kate Wallich’s cold-blooded rituals and Perfume Genius’s pathos-drenched chamber pop. It’s like nothing these artists have ever done before, so it’s hard for them to describe.
It’s a new live album by Perfume Genius, except the album isn’t out yet, and Perfume Genius creator Mike Hadreas says he isn’t sure how faithful he’ll be to the songs the audience hears onstage when he finally records them. Moreover, Perfume Genius isn’t just playing music alongside dancers. Hadreas and the rest of the band have full-on dancing roles, each one with its own character arc. In this way, it’s more like an opera than a live album.
But, because we’re talking about performance art, the show doesn’t really have a strong narrative, per se, so it doesn’t feel like an opera. It feels like a live album. And yet Wallich and her dance company, The YCs, aren’t merely backup dancers for Perfume Genius. Each of the dancers in The YCs appear to be on their own journey, variously embodying the music, disregarding the music, or creating the music themselves. At one point, they even sing.
