Stars

Stars is a cinematic dance work based on the solo originally created by Alan Lucien Øyen for Aurélie Dupont, étoile and former Director of the Paris Opera Ballet.

In 2022, Daniel Proietto became the first male dancer to perform the work, premiering it at the Kuopio Dance Festivalin Finland. Later that year, with Øyen’s consent, he reworked the solo into a cabaret form for his drag persona, DRAMA, allowing the piece to enter questions of identity, exposure, and self-construction.

Lineage

The choreography unfolds in dialogue with the song Stars, written by Janis Ian and famously performed by Nina Simone. Simone’s interpretation — fragile, commanding, and unguarded — transformed the song into an act of shared vulnerability between artist and audience.

Stars speaks to the condition of the performer: visibility without protection, recognition without intimacy, presence shaped by expectation. It is within this tension that the work operates.

From Stage to Screen

Filmed at Chela in Buenos Aires, the cinematic adaptation brings the work into a new spatial and visual register. The camera follows the body closely, allowing gesture, breath, and stillness to carry narrative weight.

Through the figure of DRAMA, the film blurs distinctions between performance and self, masculinity and femininity, control and exposure. Rather than illustrating the song, the movement listens to it — allowing rhythm, pause, and fracture to guide the body.

Context within KNOW NATION

Stars forms part of Know Nation’s early engagement with dance on film, approaching cinema not as documentation, but as an extension of choreographic thought.

The work is presented without commentary, allowing the encounter to unfold through movement, voice, and attention.

Credits

Cabaret version — choreography & performance: Daniel Proietto
Based on the original choreography by: Alan Lucien Øyen
Music: Stars, performed by Nina Simone

Light design, photography & camera: Dario Koran, Edgar Espinoza
Motion graphics: Ramiro Iturrioz
Assistant: Manuel Ojeda
Make-up & hair: Caio
Costume design: House of Drama
Producer: Mauro Proietto

Filmed at: Chela, Buenos Aires
Photography: Paula Brunelli