!!simon
says~~!:));)$$

(2024)

ABOUT

Photos by Steven Pisano and Logan Zemetres

We follow instructions. We fail at following instructions. We are described. We are indescribable. We steal the Declaration of Independence. We face our fears on the dance floor. We leave with no fears.

CREDITS

PRESENTED BY

Gestating Baby at the Brick Theater (September 2024)
OUT-FRONT! Festival by Pioneers Go East Collective at Judson Church (January 2025)

MUSIC BY

Dream Dolphin, DJ Sabrina The Teenage DJ, Ludwig van Beethoven (Power Music Workout version), Fitnessgram Pacer Test (Lame Fame Remix), Rimsky Korsakov (Pio Palumbo Remix), Donna Summer (ProSound Karaoke Band version), Panic! At The Disco & Mike O’Donnell (oneboredjeu mashup), Nine Inch Nails & Lipps Inc. (William Maranci mashup), and PG NP Easy Drum Warm up for Beginners. All sound arranged by the creators.

This work was made possible with a Space Grant from MOtiVE Brooklyn.

PRESS

8 Performances Heating up Stages this January

Courtney Escoyne, Dance Magazine

"Pioneers Go East Collective puts on its third Out-FRONT! Festival, centering LGBTQ+ and feminist voices, at Brooklyn Academy of Music’s Fisher space and Judson Church Jan. 7–13."

Out-FRONT! Festival 2025

Karen Hildebrand, Brooklyn Rail

"!!simon says~~!:));)$$ is...refreshingly humorous, while also calling subtle attention to inherent power structures and what it means to follow certain rules.... Brown and Weiss inhabit the posture, flexibility, and presence of trained dancers, but the show’s choreography is task-based. I get a sense of Laurel and Hardy. A mixture of pop workout and disco tunes operates in the background, like the soundtrack for a silent movie."

A Very Serious Unserious Dance and Some Rigorous Instructions for (Queer) Joy?

Theo Armstrong, CultureBot

"A flurry of sweeping weight shifts, swirling arm gestures, spirals on spirals, moments of landed equilibrium, luscious paint-stroke limbs through space, and athletic lunges and pivots. A duet in synch, two bodies moving in unison with kinetic awareness and rhythmic dexterity....Noa and Miranda gamely hurry to complete the tasks, smiling and sweating and looking at each other with intense focus. It’s unclear what the reward is besides the promise of more tasks, but Noa and Miranda are eager, working in tandem to be sure that both of them slap the balcony as a provisional ceiling to satisfy the mysterious omniscient request. Who is asking? Why do they care? It’s irrelevant"