Happy Hour, directed and choreographed by Tomi Paasonen and performed by Queer Church of Ballet, premiered on 25 May 2025 at DOCK 11. It mixes ballet, contemporary dance, and drag to contemplate the notion of happiness.
Happy Hour reminds me of three things:
PAIN: The world is painful.
SELF-RELIANCE: For marginalized people, happiness often exists only in fleeting moments that they create for themselves.
SURVIVAL: So, most of the time, happiness is not something that naturally occurs, but is gained through active practice in one’s heart and body. This practice can also be called survival.The program notes that the piece starts from choreographer Tomi Paasonen and the five performers from his company Queer Church of Ballet studying “their relationships to happiness.” What I witness more of is the pursuit of it, the disappointment caused by failure, and the hurtful memories of obstacles that stood in the way.
SELF-RELIANCE: In the first part, four performers—Joel Small/Reflektra, Ted Littlemore/Mila Dramatic, George N Rose/Lola Rose, and GodXXX Noirphiles—dance with flabby wings that look weak and as if they might break at any moment. Their movement is a mixture of generic ballet and contemporary dance, sometimes with dramatic facial expressions and lip synching to the ever-present music that keeps switching between genres, from opera to pop. When the dance ends and the performers leave the stage, Nancy Nutter shares her story of meeting drag. She experienced gender dysphoria and body dissociation growing up; drag changed her life. As a kid who hid under the bed in fear of being discovered wearing her sister’s dress, she felt empowered by people clapping at her in a dress onstage.
If the performers were angels in this part—an association suggested by Nutter’s live cover of Eurythmics’ “There Must Be an Angel”—the following part depicts fallen angels.
PAIN: All five performers are wearing cheek retractors that pull the skin of their cheeks and lips apart to give them a delirious look. I see them drool. Watching them go through motions that resemble sex, stretches, ab workouts, playing golf, etc. with their faces always distorted, I imagine people chasing after the idea of happiness while actually feeling miserable. At some point, all exit except for Rose. Rose removes the cheek retractor and dances to Nat King Cole’s “Smile.” They continuously pull their cheeks apart with their fingers—a gesture that mimics both the grimace created by the cheek retractors and a forced smile.
After Rose’s solo, GodXXX Noirphiles takes the stage. They share their story: poor family, a single mother, and “making it” with art. However, they were forced to leave the lucrative business because people kept objectifying them as being “too dark skinned” and “too thick.” They walked away in order not to lose their wings completely, they say, adding that they just wish that some purpose would scoop them up.
SURVIVAL: In the nearly two hours-long performance (including a 15 minute intermission), the final scene is a forced conversation between the performers that goes on and on. The awkwardness is clearly intentional with long silences, unnatural laughter, and the performers looking at their phones. I wonder if this shows them making an effort to create a simple joy of togetherness, despite the difficulty of the task. The piece ends with them toasting pieces of sliced white bread and eating together.
Happy Hour, by Tomi Paasonen, premiered on 25 May 2025 at DOCK 11.
