Heavy Duty

Flexing the muscles lifting bars, flirting at the water dispenser and checking one another out in the changing room. After his debut Lamentations (Rakete Festival 2023), Luca Bonamore continues his explorations of queer cruising – this time, however, he relocates it from the public toilet to the gym. As a temple to the cult of the body and a place to (covertly) search for (a) partner(s), the gym not only stands for bodies of steel but also for issues regarding the pressure to perform, shame and norms. Heavy Duty is a fairytale frenzy that blurs realities and ascriptions. In duet with Fran Klein, Bonamore challenges the performance of masculinity in the context of queer culture and sexuality. The piece examines the complex dynamics and often toxic codes. A playful choreography emerges from physical contact, tenderness, pole dancing, callisthenics and intimate encounters. Heavy Duty tries its hands at the various forms ‘masculinity’ may take and the ways in which masculine-presenting bodies approach each other.