anyyywayyy whatever

anyyywayyy whatever is an hour-long performance composed and choreographed by artist Barnett Cohen. Cohen’s kaleidoscopic writing fractures linear time, gender identity, and sexuality into precise yet elusive forms—figureless existences that gesture toward subversive political action.

The work features six performers engaged in choreographic clashes of movement vocabularies. Fragments of postmodern dance melt into cheerleading formations; beauty pageant gestures evolve into rave patterns; TikTok viral sequences morph into modern dance routines.

The performers embody a movement gradient that reflects the turbulence of our current political moment. Carefully staged collisions, stylized combat, and queer touch unfold across the space: bodies crash safely into one another before settling into prolonged holds that become tender embraces. Performers initiate brief, consensual haptic connections with audience members. With a gentle palm on a shoulder, a finger tracing a forearm, they dissolve the traditional boundary between performer and spectator. Punctuating these intimate gestures are bursts of stylized violence: punches, kicks, chokes, and slaps rendered in choreographed sequences. This spectrum of movement reflects contemporary body politics, from burbling rage and fantasies of violence to strategic invisibility, defiant presence, and the desire for intimacy.