Tapestries is an evening-length dance theatre piece told through the curious narrative of the Unicorn Tapestries (1495–1505) and a queer reimagining of Ukrainian folklore. It consists of eight vignettes, each representing a different tapestry and folklore, threaded together to tell the tale of the Magical Unicorn. This hour-length performance unfolds through rigorous and quirky dance vocabulary abstracted from Ukrainian folk dance, ballet, post-modernism, and modern dance, alongside projections of newly imagined tapestries illustrated in a surrealist, dreamlike form by Emmy Castellani, a meticulously crafted, eclectic score by Katie-James Rushin, and costumed by visionary designer David Quinn. Tapestries serves as an embodied archive of the LGBTQIA+ people; an ever-evolving abstract multi-disciplinary Сморгасбург (Smorgasbord) of queer Ukrainian culture and history. This piece was developed in part during a Baryshnikov Arts Residency.
credits
Composer: Katie-James Rushin
Illustrator: Emmy Castellani
Costume Designer: David Quinn
Lighting Designer: S.C. Lucier
Administrator: Paulina Meneses
Performers: Jay Beardsley, Piper Makenzie Dye, Paige Barnett Kulbeth, Pilar Mellon-Reyes, Kate Antoinette Reyes, Dalton Young
Run time: approximately 1 hour
history
world premiere: April 23 + 24 | Baryshnikov Arts
development: Tapestries was made during a residency at Baryshnikov Arts Center in May of 2025.
