The Circular Valley is inspired by Paul Bowles’ story of the same name, concerning a non-being bound to a space in South America, which inhabits being’s bodies. The Atlájala is curious, and seeks sensation. What happens when the Atlájala tries on human bodies?

“..the floor to this ramshackle civilization that we have built cannot bear much longer our weight. It was Bowles’s genius to suggest the horrors which lie beneath that floor, as fragile, as the sky that shelters us from a devouring vastness.” -Vidal

This work of dance/theater draws from butoh, belly dance, pop ‘n lock and tutting, and Balinese dance.

About the writer: Paul Bowles (1936-1999) was a queer writer, composer, and translator. He influenced many writers, including Ginsberg and Burroughs, and was friends with Tennessee Williams, Gore Vidal, Camus, and many others. He lived most of his life outside of the US, in Morocco, but lived in France as well New York. He met the writer of Cabaret in Berlin in 1931, and the writer was so enamoured by Bowles, Cabaret’s main character is Bowles’ namesake. Bowles was married to Jane Auer, another writer, in a marriage of platonic companionship as both writers preferred samesex romantic affairs. This kind of radicality of relationship and sexuality was almost unheard of when they married in 1938.

About Holly Chernobyl: Holly Chernobyl has been a working artist for over a decade–her work spanning poetry, storytelling, bunraku puppetry, and movement and performance art. Holly has shown work in Chicago, Seattle, Quebec, Berlin, Brazil, the UK, and NYC. She continues to create solo pieces and collaborate with a talented array of Chicago artists. She has performed in numerous Antibody Corporation works, including The Future is Physical, featured in Rapid Pulse International Performance Art Festival 2014, and in NYC at Le Petit Versailles. Holly is interested in creating dreamscape environments for her audience, and disrupting the everyday. Public performances are the most exciting for her. Her work plays with tension between the beautiful and the grotesque, attraction and repulsion.In 2014, she was honored to be a Featured Artist in the Chicago Artist’s Month festival, and is the recipient of a 2015 DCASE Individual Artist Award, both presented to her by the City of Chicago. In 2016, she has been awarded four artist residencies, in rural Finland, Germany, Wisconsin, and through DCASE at the Chicago Cultural Center’s Dance Studio.

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Tags: Chicago, Chicago Cultural Center, Holly Chernobyl, Loop, The Circular Valley