Paris Syndrome / 837 Venice Boulevard

Based on the phenomenon of extreme culture shock experienced by some Japanese tourists when they visit Paris, Paris Syndrome is the latest dance-theatre piece from the international ensemble of women known as Ex.Pgirl. Through their trademark use of humorous video interviews, playful multi-lingual text and physicality, Ex.Pgirl engages the ideas of madness, love, beauty, and cultural misunderstanding that surround this psychological condition. Underscored by original music, Paris Syndrome merges the banal with the spectacular, creating a culturally expansive and entertaining view of our everyday reality.

Humorous and darkly entertaining, 837 Venice Boulevard both satisfies and satirizes our human compulsion to try to solve mystery and understand reality. Choreographer Faye Driscoll examines the relationship between time, identity and memory, structuring childhood memories as a mystery story in her investigation of the universal need to make sense of the past. Dealing with awkwardness, humor and sex, she bears witness to uncomfortable, radiant realities and queer non-normative sensibilities. Driscoll is a former member of Doug Varone and Dancers and a former BAX Brooklyn Arts Exchange Artist in Residence 2005-06.

Paris Syndrome and 837 Venice Boulevard are presented as part of Culturemart 2008.