Prostalgia HD is the queer arts duo of laura Hunter petree and Delilah Friedler. For twelve years, we’ve created immersive works that confront dominant myths around whiteness, lineage, gender, and the state. Our community-driven projects serve as scaffolding within which a diverse range of artists contribute layers of performance, music, technology, installations, and design. We re-imagine ritual theater: liberated from the stage, it takes on new, more compelling dimensions. These experiences resist passive consumption, empowering participants—never “audience”—to act within intentional worlds.
Our current focus is LORE, a series of transdisciplinary events that reimagine folktales by hybridizing “show” and “party.” Involving dozens of collaborators, these experiences question worldviews, re-write narratives—and they’re fun. Since December 2022, hundreds of people have been invigorated by LORE events like “Hansel/Gretel,” “Cinderella,” and “little red riding hood,” mounted at NYC venues like Hex House, Rubulad, and Parkside Lounge, as well as at woodland gatherings in Tennessee and Vermont. We have performed LORE material on the Lot Radio and mix series like Rave Scout Cookies and XOXA.
Hunter is a woodworker and performance artist, while Delilah is a freelance writer and DJ. We are active members of Brooklyn’s art and nightlife communities, and have performed together or individually in London, Mexico City, California, and beyond.
LORE: Hansel/Gretel is a communal re-imagining of the classic Brothers Grimm folktale as an immersive dancefloor experience. Spectators are invited to dance while the story is told through original spoken word narration layered into a DJ set, exploring themes of hunger, abandonment, and triumph through self-empowerment.
“My creative history with New Dance Alliance goes a way long. Since my friend, Chivas Sandage brought me to New Dance Alliance to rehearse in early 90’s, the place has become a part of my creative life. The long time existence of the studio and Performance Mix Festival are vital to the artists who seek and explore deep into their process. Whenever I step into the studio, it’s a new space with a lot of memories. I lie down on the floor, listen to my body, and I dance. It is valuable. The time in the space nurtures my practice and artistic vision. Karen’s vision of Lift-Off residency, feedback sessions, providing peer to peer connections are more significant than ever. It has been helping us to get through 2020 and we are going into 2021.”
– Nami Yamamoto
New Dance Alliance
182 Duane Street
New York, NY 10013
All venues are wheelchair accessible.
