Serpentwithfeet / Raja Feather Kelly / Wu Tsang

Josiah Wise savors romantic moments under his alias serpentwithfeet. The 34-year-old Los Angeles-based artist with a background in R&B and classical music expresses desire and pleasure in songs so beguilingly gentle that he has become one of the most exciting alternative R&B voices. Now he is developing his first stage work with award-winning visual artist Wu Tsang, who expresses queer identity in films and is resident director at Schauspielhaus Zurich. Completing the team is Raja Feather Kelly, who made his first appearance at last year’s Summer Festival and is one of New York’s most luminous choreographers, with both Pulitzer Prize-winning Broadway works and his own experimental dance works; as well as Solange and Bob Wilson designer Carlos Soto and poet Donte Collins. TTogether with seven dancers, the team interweaves surreal and film aesthetical elements into a story about a Black gay nightclub, intimacy and community. This is where the utopian potential of a safe space and an intensely tender love story between club owner Brick and serpentwithfeet unfolds. The latter is on stage himself – with songs from his new album “Grip” in this Summer Festival premiere.