Sara Juli's Midseason Mood & Gay Aesthetic: Based on a True Story

Sat, 21 Mar, 2026 at 07:00 pm to Sun, 22 Mar, 2026 at 09:00 pm UTC-04:00

The Dance Complex | Cambridge

The Dance Complex
Publisher/HostThe Dance Complex
Sara Juli's Midseason Mood & Gay Aesthetic: Based on a True Story
Advertisement
Dance-theater comedic artists Sara Juli & Alexander Davis perform their solos on a shared bill (in the conservatory with the candlestick).
About this Event

About Sara Juli's Midseason Mood:

As women's autonomy faces unprecedented threats, Sara Juli's work-in-progress "Midseason Mood " blends stand-up comedy and dance-theater to reclaim what culture tries to erase: our power, our pleasure, our resilience. Set to Max Richter's reimagining of Vivaldi's Four Seasons, this is a woman in a midlife mood to kick some ass.

Sara Juli's newest solo is a dance-theater comedy exploring midlife—a time that stretches well past halfway when you're no longer emerging but suspended in the messy abundance of reflection. The work centers women in midlife finding agency in a culture that renders aging women invisible. Through the integration of stand-up comedy with choreographed and improvised movement, Sara mines the connectivity of the female experience at midlife—the yearning for intimacy, the dangers of "productivity" as virtue, the vulnerability required to be kind to yourself rather than punitive, and the radical act of saying "you are enough."


Maine-based performance artist (she/her) has been creating and performing innovative comedic dance-theater for over 25 years. She has been fortunate to tour her work to venues worldwide including: American Dance Festival, Dixon Place, Performance Space New York, The Chocolate Factory, New York Live Arts, Judson Church, TEDxDirigo, Bates Dance Festival, Bowdoin College, Connecticut College, Dance Complex, SPACE Gallery, 3S Artspace, Capital Center for the Arts, Napa Valley Opera House, Artown Festival (NV), Edinburgh Fringe Festival, Melbourne Fringe Festival, Noorderzon Festival (The Netherlands), Chelsea Theatre (London), Aotea Centre (New Zealand), TSEH (Russia) and many more. Her work has been commissioned by American Dance Festival, Performance Space 122 (NYC), Dixon Place (NYC), SPACE Gallery (ME), Portland Ovations (ME), and The Strand Theatre (ME). Sara is the Founder/Director of Surala Consulting, a fundraising consultancy helping non-profits and artists build and execute fundraising strategies. She was awarded the Arts Management Award from Brooklyn Arts Exchange in 2013, and has been an advisor to the grantees of The Boston Foundation’s Live Arts and Next Step Programs. @sarajulimoves


About "Gay Aesthetic" & Alexander Davis:

In 2024, Alexander Davis was invited to join a prestigious dance project with one condition: would he be "willing to lose weight in order to fit the gay aesthetic of the work." Alex declined the job but embraced the experience as creative fuel for his newest solo. Gay Aesthetic: Based on a True Story is a 45-minute dance-theater work that excavates the history of queer aesthetics, survival tools, and the painful reality of discrimination within our own community. Drawing from Hal Fischer's pioneering Gay Semiotics research, hanky codes, vintage physique photography, and contemporary queer scholarship, this piece blends lecture and movement into what some critics have called "an unearned and over-dramatic existential crisis."

The work asks urgent questions: How has gossip functioned as community support? Is cruising essential to queer survival? Why does he love Gabby Windey but not Colton Underwood? Is that internalized homophobia? Misogyny? Both? Created with writer/director Jeremy Brothers and featuring an original hyperpop score composed and performed by musician Tyler Leif, Gay Aesthetic was developed through residency support from the Samuel H. Scripps Studios and the American Dance Festival, where it premiered in December 2025.
is a Boston-based homosexual, performer, fiber artist, and choreographer. He is currently a Visiting Assistant Professor of Dance at Dean College. He holds an MFA from Smith College (2023) and a BA from Keene State College (2014). Davis was named a City of Boston Artist Fellow in 2019. His performance work includes collaborations with Ryan Landry's Gold Dust Orphans, Boston Lyric Opera, Global Arts Live, and Urbanity Dance. He assisted choreographer Monica Bill Barnes on Greta Gerwig's film Little Women (2019). Davis's fiber art series Federation of Athletic Gentleman (F.A.G.) was exhibited at Childs Gallery in Interlaced: The Fabric of Art, which he curated. His curatorial work includes Gaze: A History of Male Physique Photography and Closet to Quarantine: Queer Art Then and Now.


About the performance space:

The Julie Ince Thompson Theatre (Studio 1) and pre/post-show reception space (Studio 7) are ADA compliant. There is a motorized lift that can bring one person at a time from the ground floor to the theater. There is no elevator. There are handicap accessible restrooms on both floors.

Advertisement

Event Venue & Nearby Stays

The Dance Complex, 536 Massachusetts Avenue, Cambridge, United States

Tickets

USD 7.18 to USD 55.20

Icon
Concerts, fests, parties, meetups - all the happenings, one place.

Ask AI if this event suits you:

More Events in Cambridge

Digital Organizing Workshop
Sat, 21 Mar at 10:30 am Digital Organizing Workshop

The Little Details

Silent Saturdays: A beginners day retreat with Gen Khedrub
Sat, 21 Mar at 11:00 am Silent Saturdays: A beginners day retreat with Gen Khedrub

Kadampa Meditation Center Boston

Celtic Crosses: Irish and Scottish Heritage in Stone
Sat, 21 Mar at 01:00 pm Celtic Crosses: Irish and Scottish Heritage in Stone

Mount Auburn Cemetery

Earlybirds Club
Sat, 21 Mar at 06:00 pm Earlybirds Club

The Sinclair

Earlybirds Club (21 and Over)
Sat, 21 Mar at 06:00 pm Earlybirds Club (21 and Over)

The Sinclair Music Hall

Ooh La La! Tasting French Wine & Cheese
Sat, 21 Mar at 06:30 pm Ooh La La! Tasting French Wine & Cheese

Commonwealth Wine School

Spring Wine Preview\u2014$50
Sat, 21 Mar at 07:15 pm Spring Wine Preview—$50

Formaggio Kitchen Kendall

The John Scofield Trio
Sat, 21 Mar at 07:30 pm The John Scofield Trio

Regattabar

Brave the Caves: Cheese Cave Tour - $75
Sat, 21 Mar at 07:30 pm Brave the Caves: Cheese Cave Tour - $75

Formaggio Kitchen - Cambridge

Calling All Crows: Chadwick Stokes
Sat, 21 Mar at 08:00 pm Calling All Crows: Chadwick Stokes

Sanders Theatre

Mark Erelli: Spring Green Signed CD NOT A TICKET
Sat, 21 Mar at 08:00 pm Mark Erelli: Spring Green Signed CD NOT A TICKET

Arrow Street Arts

Mark Erelli at Arrow Street Arts
Sat, 21 Mar at 08:00 pm Mark Erelli at Arrow Street Arts

Arrow Street Arts

Cambridge is Happening!

Never miss your favorite happenings again!

Explore Cambridge Events