BIPP - Dana Baitz

“In this piece, I explore the social space of gender transition. While transitioning is unusual in that few people experience it, it’s also persistent or usual for those of us who are trans. The drive to improve oneself may be widespread. But in the context of transitioning, “successful outcomes” and “being better” can feel particularly ruthless. The demands of unrealistic gender expressions and beauty standards form the theme of this presentation. “BIPP” is the product of two trans women’s artistic voices: my aerial work combined with music by electronic producer Sophie. The unlikely combination of experieces I’ve brought to this project (namely aerial dance, gender transition, artistic production and critical theory) makes “BIPP” feel like quite a special and personal artistic statement.

I’ve designed this piece for online consumption, since live audiences are impossible at this stage in the COVID-19 pandemic. The digital nature of this platform corresponds perfectly to the aesthetic of the song and to the theme of “heightened” ways of being. Therefore, almost none of the clips presented in this piece could exist in real life. The digital manipulations that I’ve introduced reinforce the idea that the ways we see ourselves habitually, and especially the ways we imagine our ideal selves, are unrealistic. Yet this digital space does more than enhance the meaning of the project. It also reflects the kinds of “displaced” space that many trans people inhabit. Social stigma sometimes creates for me the need for a safe space, a breathing space. Yet this can at times seem like a confined space and a marginal space. The digital context of this project reflects all these experiences of space.

As a junior performer, I am grateful for the opportunity to develop my skills through this showcase, and thank Hercinia for their support. I also thank Sophie for granting me permission to use her music in this project.”

Creator and Performer - Dana Baitz
Music - Sophie
Instagram: @the.element.to

Dana Baitz is a pre-professional static trapeze artist. Her aerial work is enriched by her experience as an established musician, trans woman, mother and doctoral musicologist.

Dana’s doctoral research into the interplay between art and social change influences much of her artistic practice. Her writing on trans representation in art has been published by Oxford University Press, and her work on music theory has been presented internationally (in Canada, Wales, England, the US and Mexico). She holds an ARCT in Piano Performance from the Royal Conservatory of Music, Toronto, and has taught music privately and in post-secondary institutions since 2010. She has composed music for film, theatre, contemporary dance and aerial arts, and has appeared on over a dozen commercially available albums. Dana’s transition (male-to-female, roughly 20 years ago) has involved countless social, legal and medical barriers, and this likewise informs her academic and artistic output.

Dana’s aerial training spans roughly five years, and reflects both dedicated practice as well as the physical challenges of medical gender transition and her status as a mature student. Although most of her live performances have been limited to student shows, she contributes more widely to the field of trans circus arts through online, print and now video media. Her writing on the relationship between circus training and the gendered body was published in the December 2019 issue of This Magazine.

Dana’s piece in (Un)usual Spaces features the music of Sophie. Sophie is a prolific electronic musician and trans woman, originally from Scotland and currently based in Los Angeles. She recently worked with Charli XCX and Madonna, and worked as a producer on Lady Gaga's latest album, Chromatica.