2025 ESTROGENIOUS: All In

The final weekend in the 2025 Estrogenious Festival: ALL IN. It was a special culmination, curated by Melissa Riker, as the last two performances were by two of the three festival-wide curators: Sabrina Canas of tidbit collective, and Portia Wells.

The evening began with tidbit presenting back pocket, from their first ever solo show. Huddled in the
lobby, guests arrived at Downtown Art venue. The theater doors were closed, but music could be heard
pulsing from behind. Sabrina and Olivia Rousey came through the doors, and overlapped their bodies in front of the check-in table.

After garnering the lobby’s attention they made their way on top of the table, treating us to a comedic, pedestrian introduction. Sharing a CapriSun juice-box, they reflected on a story from their twenties, celebrating a birthday, trying to remember where they were in time, knowing they were somewhere with water. It ended with the convincing argument that adult swim and floaties should be normalized.

Taylor Woodie, the third member of the tidbit trio, popped through the closed theater doors: “Come back”.
We all followed. As guests settled, movement began. In dim worklights the two from the lobby steadily moved through a soft sequence, tracing their bodies in space. Taylor traced the lines on the floor, until joining them.
They were connected, moving with immense control, getting closer to the floor. When a synth beat stirred, the timing of the room sped up; something was energetically building. They broke away from the unison, and you could qualitatively sense the density of the air on their skin. They wound through space, until red led lights interrupted. The movement exploded and bass-driven pop music drove the scene.

Following the eruption of movement, Olivia grabbed a stool and a spotlight illuminated her reading
from a magazine. She monologued a crossword, depicting the ideas that were interlaced into the
intention of the performance. The words were viscerally provoking.

The trio reunited in a call and response procession, trading off expansive, liquid solos, lit gently by warm
lighting filling the space. We joined them on a comedic journey, wearing sunglasses, throwing them off,
sitting in splits, crafting cocktails, gifting it to the audience, and staring the audience down. Party 4U by
Charli XCX played instrumentally, and the group’s movement swelled.

One left and two ‘swam’ to the sides of the stage. She returned with a Russian-doll-style gift box, separating them until looking at iterations of the “present”. The piece finished swimming in the memory from the beginning. Together, a blow up pool on stage, CapriSun in hand, adult swim-floaties on, reminiscing, reflecting, in time.

EYE ON THE ARTS, N Y — Emma Morris