In my belated boyhood I use the literature of my adolescence, of a Nebraskan christianity, to mold a movement vocabulary based on the temple of a trans body. Pulling from a religious midwestern landscape of rolling plains and conservative iconography I unpack what it means to leave a reluctant vessel for a chosen one. Whether that be moving from one physical location to another, biohacking a body through hormones, or deviating from the church into the spirituality of queerness, my work understands transition and the holiness it incorporates.
My artistic practice includes personal research on trans and queer history–for my work I study how queer culture has been shaped over the years through memoirs, archives, and other historical documentation. A tongue and cheek reshaping of theology. With dance and text I depict the parallels of the queer community and religion–if partnership is god, then the community is the church. How do we find communion in a world that has deemed us sinners, excluded? I believe that answer lies within a group of people who like me revel in their queerness. A congregation in which I can know god, and through which I render their divinity. Perhaps the viewer, upon witnessing this church, will find the same reverence that is known for stained glass and hymns.
Noel Olson is a dancer and choreographer from Omaha, Nebraska, based in New York City. They studied at The Ailey School, graduating from the certificate program in 2023, and with GibneyPRO, led by Alexandra Wells. As a performer they are versatile, with multidisciplinary credits. They have worked with Red is Dancing in a tribute to Judy Chicago featured in Elle Magazine. They also worked alongside Katy Pyle in Travesty Doll Play Ballez (After Copelia), and is listed as a featured performer in the PBS documentary Travesty. They performed Algorithm Ocean True Blood Moves, created by Ana Pi and Julien Creuzet, at the Leman Ballroom in New York in 2023, in Studio Boekman in the National Opera & Ballet in Amsterdam in 2024, and at the Palais de Justice in Dakar in 2024. They have also performed works by Adam Barruch, Sidra Bell, Ronald K. Brown, Peter Chu, Laja Field, Ana-Maria Lucaciu, Darrell Moultrie, and Lea Ved. Noel’s practice incorporates elements of drag and dance theater in nightlife settings including their performance in GODSPAWN created by GODCOMPLEX, and Lover Boys co-created with Jules Assue. Their choreography focuses on different elements of queerness, as seen in their work Do You Still Believe?, performed at NYU Tisch and The Tank as a part of the WADE residency, and at the Stella Adler Studio of Acting as a part of Physfest, and Nebraska Clarified in residency with Homeport Art House.
