Written, choreographed, and directed by Dat Nguyen, Will The Sheep Come to be Clean is an evening of performance that reflects on his disjointed experience living in a foreign country as a gay man. By employing collage and avoiding the traditional narrative structure, Dat creates vibrant dreamscapes and juxtapositions to develop a multidimensional experience that parallels his internal turmoil of past relationships. The layers of guilt, humor, desire, nostalgia, resentment, and atonement all piece together, forming a bigger picture of extreme anxiety and despair to be felt in all its lows and highs. These fragmented sensations, in return, foster various spaces for his own reflection: a solitary state that is neither lonely nor fulfilling; a playground to examine the selfless giving that is conditioned by selfish desires; and a battleground to grapple with the pain and delight of belonging and yet wanting to belong.
“Nguyen shakes things up nicely, commanding even those audience members who think they are progressive and enlightened sufficiently to realize that many artists might prefer playing it safe in Utah’s peculiar culture of sanctioned perfectionism.” - Les Roka from The Utah Review
“With an approach based on the chopping, blending, obfuscation, and scrupulous arrangement and rearrangement of visual collages, Nguyen ricocheted between nearly a dozen wildly diverse and splintered stories, both masterfully and delightfully.” - Emily Snow from loveDANCEmore
“Will The Sheep is mesmerizing in its complexity. The overall work is a collage of movement, sounds, and narrative. This is a dance experience that certainly transcends the usual expectations of most dance concerts.” - Brian Gray from Front Row Reviewers Utah
Written, Directed, and Produced by Dat Nguyen
Choreography: Dat Nguyen in collaboration with performers
Performers: Eliza Kitchens, Erica MacLean, Tori Meyer, Nora Lang, Emma Sargent, Emma Wilson
Stage Manager and Lighting Designer: Aileen Norris