BACKGROUND
On January 19, 1919, ballet great Vaslav Nijinsky gave his final public performance, Wedding with God. He spoke the words, “Now I will dance the war, the war which you did not prevent and are also responsible for.” A pianist played Chopin’s Prelude for Piano, Op. 28: No. 20 in C Minor while Nijinsky waited for God to move him. He improvised his response to World War I: the carnage he’d seen, the experience he had as a political prisoner, and, most importantly for Nijinsky, his feeling about all of it.
This same day, he also began a diary that charted his mental state over the next three months, at the end of which he was institutionalized for what was diagnosed as schizophrenia. He spent the next thirty years in and out of institutions, never to dance publicly again.
On January 19, 2025, 106 years to the moment that Nijinsky’s final performance began, in the midst of war and sociopolitical upheaval, I will begin THE BUCKTOOTHED F△GG⊙T (or THE NIJINSKY INCANTATION). This 27 hour durational performance expands upon 2023’s THE WALL, itself performed for 27 hours at The 1300 Gallery at 78th Street Studios. THE WALL was supported by The Satellite Fund administered by SPACES, and funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program. It was co-produced by myself and Ohio City Theatre Project.
“THE BUCKTOOTHED F△GG⊙T (or THE NIJINSKY INCANTATION)" is an act of Solve et Coagula: dissolving something into its smallest pieces to coagulate them into a higher, integrated whole. This communal incantation is born from automatic writings recorded on a wall in my studio during my 18 month pandemic lockdown. The result is a raw, intimate, dreamlike transmutation of sexuality and Self exploring fascism’s effect on the individual and society, and patterns of marginalization of the Queer population that we then take into ourselves and hopefully learn to undo:learn to trust our own beings, impulses, and desires. Its raw vulnerability and immersive reflection is a journey of acceptance toward the wholeness of ourselves, and each other, before our time is through.
“THE BUCKTOOTHED F△GG⊙T (or THE NIJINSKY INCANTATION)” is brought to life through homoerotic paintings, photography, audio, video, and what the space inspires you to leave behind, with my shapeshifting performance between self and character at the nexus of this living art experience. Each performance, and the space, are an improvised, intuitive action painting layering atop and adding texture to what came before. The performance is influenced by who and what is in the space from moment to moment. In here, memories are tied together through the logic of feelings.
It comes at a time of societal transformation. The space will serve as a record of, and solace from, this inflection point in American history.
Where do I end? Where do you begin? And what happens in-between? What happens when we embrace our present experience over linear story and time, to step completely into the unknown together? On the razor’s edge of the moment.
“THE BUCKTOOTHED F△GG⊙T (or THE NIJINSKY INCANTATION)” expands upon, and creates something entirely new from 2023’s THE WALL, performed for 27 hours at The 1300 Gallery at 78th Street Studios. THE WALL was supported by The Satellite Fund administered by SPACES, and funded by The Andy Warhol Foundation for the Visual Arts Regional Regranting Program. It was co-produced by Caspio and Ohio City Theatre Project.
Ray Caspio is a 2024-25 Premiere Fellowship recipient, administered by Cleveland Public Theatre and funded by Assembly for the Arts. “THE BUCKTOOTHED F△GG⊙T (or THE NIJINSKY INCANTATION)” is their Fellowship performance.
PERFORMANCES HAVE CONCLUDED. THEY WERE:
•Sunday, January 19: 11am-2pm AND 3:30-6:30pm (Free, no reservation required)
•Monday, January 20: 6-9pm (Free, no reservation required)
•Tuesday, January 21: 6-9pm (Free, no reservation required)
•Thursday, January 23: 7:15-10:15pm (Soft Launch, choose what you pay)
•Friday, January 24: 7:15-10:15pm (Soft Launch, choose what you pay)
•Saturday, January 25: 7:15-10:15pm (Soft Launch, choose what you pay)
•Sunday, January 26: 1-4pm AND 5-8pm (Free, no reservation required)
The space opens and the performance begins at the time listed. You may come and go as you wish during each three hour performance.
WHERE
Cleveland Public Theatre
6415 Detroit Ave, Gordon Square District
Cleveland, OH 44102-3011
TEAM
creator/performer: Ray Caspio
collaborator: Amy Schwabauer
movement & choreography, performance coach: Pandora Robertson, Ohio City Theatre Project
performance coach: Marjo-Riikka Mäkelä, Chekhov Studio International
”Her Breaths, Final, as Witness” collaborator: Paul K. Bisson
sound recording: Lisa Wiley
door & plexiglass construction: Bobby Ayala Perez, Greg Owen & Jordan Ficyk
THE BUCKTOOTHED F△GG⊙T costume: Kevenn T. Smith
WHAT ARE THE THINGS YOU LONG TO SAY? TO MANIFEST OUT OF THE MIND?
Adjacent to the enclosure in which I performed during THE WALL was a wall inviting patrons to leave behind what the space was bringing up in them. Here are some responses.
