Fischerspooner and Rufus in a Dance Dance Revolution

Music took center stage at Joyce Theater as The Stephen Petronio Company gyrated and twisted their way through two world premiers and a five-part encore. Petronio, the first male dancer of the Trisha Brown Dance Company, is known for choreographing unique “movement language,” and for his interplay between chaos and organization. Referencing Warhol as an artistic idol, Petronio said he’s heavily influenced by visual art and film. Much of the movement in the show was inspired by photos of female icons who have used their bodies as canvases—Isadora Duncan, Martha Graham, and burlesque star Dita Von Teese.

Petronio took his bow with the company. He was wearing gold shoes. “You can get them at Barneys,” he told the audience.

The first half of the show began with “Beauty and the Brut,” set to a commissioned score by Fischerspooner, “Danse en France.” Their lyrics tell tales of irrational attraction to the opposite sex—the men danced crudely with their hands on their crotches, while the women spun around them. Petronio said the song was based on the true story of a French woman who was harassed by a crude American who asked her questions like, “Do they dance in France? Do they have hot water in France?” And then she slept with him.

Rufus Wainwright wrote a special song for the second part of the show titled “Bloom,” with live accompaniment by the Young People’s Chorus of New York. The performance ended with “This is the Story of a Girl in a World,” a group of five related works set to songs and a score by Antony, Lou Reed, and Nico Muhly.