Choreographing Queer Social Bodies: Chinese Choreographer Hu Shenyuan’s Cross-Stage Practices

Abstract

Mainland Chinese society heavily stigmatizes nonnormative sexuality, and the government imposes strict censorship on media representations of homosexuality. It seems improbable that choreographer Hu Shenyuan, whose dances do not hide homosexual themes, would be so successful as a performer and artist in the Chinese context, which signifies a tension between state control and audience demand. This article reads Hu’s choreography and its reception as queer texts. While queer identities might seem virtually invisible and unspeakable in China, I argue that Hu’s choreography makes visible a culturally unrepresentable queerness and incubates collective reflection about nonnormative identities.