Erotic gay smash Heated Rivalry is a well-timed defense of intimacy coordinators | Adrian Horton

Erotic gay smash Heated Rivalry is a well-timed defense of intimacy coordinators | Adrian Horton

The small screen phenomenon, and its publicized use of intimacy coordinators, has arrived as established Hollywood names have started to criticize the role If you could pinpoint a moment where things change for Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams) and Ilya Rozanov (Connor Storrie), the two professional hockey players secretly hooking up in the show Heated Rivalry – a moment when the relationship breaks through into fraught emotional territory, when the hazy, undefined thing has become a thing – it would be midway through episode four. Ilya’s couch, mid-morning, post-breakfast. (The exponentially growing fandom of this six-episode show from Canadian streamer Crave, which premiered in North America in late November with virtually no promotion and has rapidly become one of the most organic TV phenomena in recent memory, knows exactly what I’m talking about.) Hollander overhears Rozanov’s distressing phone call from home and asks how his father is (he doesn’t know Russian, but agitation needs no language); Rozanov responds by wrapping a sculpted arm around his neck. The two then get intimate, in one of the show’s many near-wordless sex scenes, culminating in them each using the other’s first name for the first time. Continue reading...

Resolution festival review – admin hell, an epic club night and flamenco voguing

Resolution festival review – admin hell, an epic club night and flamenco voguing

The Place, London Intriguing works by Seirian Griffiths, Qi Song and Isadora D’Héloïsa explore in-between states in this month-long showcase of the future of dance Each evening at the Place’s Resolution festival of new choreography showcases fresh green shoots and this particular triple bill of bright, idea-driven dance was united by intriguing concepts. Each piece is a consideration of in-between states, most outlandishly the standout, Interchange, a questing solo by Seirian Griffiths. In a particularly bureaucratic purgatory, the recently deceased Michael is informed, via a brisk yet personable voiceover from Sam Booth, that he has some excess baggage to process. The only way forward is to revisit the loves of his life, from his mother to fleeting relationships. The setup, with its slightly overdone pastiche of muzak-accompanied admin hell, prompts a dance of not quite exorcism but certainly cleansing as Michael spins through his past. The occasionally galloping pace suggests the near-death notion of events flashing before your eyes, as Griffiths makes graceful yet quicksilver transitions between contained bouts of torment that are strikingly well acted and boosted by his own coiled compositions. The hip-hop stylings are featherlight, too, when he pivots with a headstand or practically levitates, his shadow like a chalked outline below. Continue reading...