Work in Progress Dance Performance: Potemkin Village

Inspired by the idea of “Potemkin villages”—facades built to hide uncomfortable truths—this piece by Denver-based dancer and choreographer Elle Hong explores identity, perception and transformation through the lens of trans identity and experience. Through movement, reflection and connection, dancers create a shifting world that invites us to consider what is real, what is hidden, and how we find our places within it.

Made possible with the support of the National Performance Network’s Creation Fund, the final Potemkin Village performance will premiere Nov. 5-7, 2026 at Denver’s RedLine Contemporary Art Center.

Elle Hong (she/her) is an antidisciplinary artist currently based in Cheyenne/Ute/Arapaho territories (Denver, CO). She holds an MFA in Dance and a Graduate Certificate in Emergent Technologies & Media Arts Practice from the University of Colorado Boulder, and a BA in Dance & Sociology from Wesleyan University. Currently, she provides dramaturgical support for artists Helanius J. Wilkins and LA Samuelson and has toured as a performer for Michelle Ellsworth. Elle’s work spans across dance, media arts, text, sound, and pedagogy, often employing queer/diasporic collaging techniques for creating performances that reenvision history and form. Her work has been shown both nationally and internationally, including the Thessaloniki Queer Arts Festival, SPEKTRUM Berlin, Asian Arts Initiative (Philadelphia, PA), ODC Theater (San Francisco, CA), BMoCA (Boulder, CO), among others. Elle’s creative research works to uncover the embedded politics and power structures inherent to viewing and being viewed. She is invested in exposing the complex dialectic between interiority and exteriority, paving way towards new methods of being that actively resist and transcend categorization.