@CPR | Julian Donahue: With Violets in Her Lap

With Violets in Her Lap is a requiem in dance for the generation of queer people lost to AIDS and a celebration of their resistance in the face of an omnipresent existential threat. As a Gen Z queer man, I experience this loss as a void, a gap in the connection between my generation and our ancestors. Telling this story through dance is my embodied search for queer lineage. The AIDS crisis isn’t over, it lives on in the sustained fight for a cure, and accessible treatment; in communities that heteronormative society overlooks; and through the void in our queer ancestry.

CREDITS
Dancer: Julian Donahue. Choreography by Julian Donahue. Set Design by Rubeen Salem. Costume Consultation and Unitard Design by Reid Bartelme.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS
Julian Donahue is a choreographer and dancer based in Brooklyn. Julian danced with New York Theatre Ballet from 2018-2024, performing masterworks by Antony Tudor, Merce Cunningham, Jerome Robbins, José Limón and many others. Julian started dancing with Ellen Cornfield in October 2024. Julian also specializes in Baroque, Renaissance, and folk dance forms, performing with New York Baroque Dance Company, Boston Early Music Festival, and at Lincoln Center. Recently, Julian was awarded a 2025 Support for Artists Grant from the New York State Council on the Arts. His choreography has been presented at the Kennedy Center, Lincoln Center, Tanglewood, Battery Dance Festival, Judson Church, Hofstra University, and more. Julian’s one man show With Violets in Her Lap premiered in April 2025 at the Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, and Transgender Center. Many thanks to the Center for Performance Research for presenting the show and offering an accessible space fo dancers to present their work! Julian will present a program of experimental dances at Arts on Site June 11-14 2026. Visit juliandonahuedance.com for more information about future performances.

Rubeen Salem (b. 1997, San Francisco) is a New York–based multimedia artist working primarily in figurative surrealist painting. Salem creates visual prayers rooted in poetry and devotional symbolism.

Reid Bartelme is a freelance fashion and costume designer who lives and works in New York.    Prior to designing he spent many years working as a dancer for companies throughout North America.  

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Host or Publisher CPR- Center for Performance Research