The Kate Bush Factor centers performers Elle Hong and Madison Palffy in their journey towards distilling the magic of what makes UK pop star, Kate Bush, so compelling. Recontextualizing experimental film and mockumentary as structured dance-improvisation, the two tap into Bush’s excess, indulgence, drag performance, wistfulness, and longing as embodied strategies for fugitivity and queer worldbuilding. Hong and Palffy become subsumed in their quest for embodying the spirit of Kate Bush; the result is a feature-length identity crisis, or perhaps, identity revelation into the parts of oneself found through attempting to become someone/something else. With additional set design and filmography by a.r. havel, The Kate Bush Factor is a fantastical exploration into the possibilities that unfold through leaning into, as Bush puts so eloquently, the “mm…yes!”
A collaboration by Elle Hong, Madison Palffy, and a.r. havel
Concept & Performance: Elle Hong, Madison Palffy
Scenic Design & Videography: a.r. havel
Original Score & Sound Design: Elle Hong, Madison Palffy, Slipper Grass
The Kate Bush Factor was supported through a B2 Center for Media, Arts and Performance Residency (Hong/Palffy),
an Art Gym Denver Create Award Residency (Hong), and the University of Colorado Boulder Department of Theatre & Dance. The Kate Bush Factor was shortlisted at Free the Kitsch Festival in Athens, Greece.
Premiered at ATLAS - B2 Center for Media, Arts & Performance (Boulder, CO), June 2022.
Additional Screenings: 10Forward, Greenfield MA; New Media Film Festival, Los Angeles CA.
