MEN in charge

A documentary by directors Melanie Kloetzel and Linnea Swan, MEN in charge highlights the possibilities and provocations that arise from the intersection of dance and politics, offering a humorous physical and artistic take on a sector enthralled by 'alternative facts’.

MEN in charge came from a fascination with both gender and politics. On the political front, the project—which began in 2015 as the live performance event It began with watching—commenced before any of the bizarre happenings of the 2016-2020 time period. But, as events grew more outlandish in the political sphere, the performance work was able to transform to reflect this. From a documentary perspective, ‘MEN in charge’ has been able to capture this transformation, witnessing the performance work’s development into a dark comedy as it commented on the antics of would-be celebrity dictators and the puppeteers manipulating them from the shadows.

On the gender front, the film documents how seven women took on the roles of ‘men’ and lived in those characters on and off for five years. Such longevity is unusual in the dance performance arena as projects often come and go in a very brief period. To witness the transformations of these women over time – and across space as the project transformed from a stage work to a site-based performance work (and back again) – offered significant fascination for us as directors. As these women toyed with, adopted and/or rejected the behavioral mannerisms of men, we learned much about gender roles and representations in North American culture.