Austin McCormick: Fusing High Art and Cabaret in Jennifer Nettles’ Giulia
Austin McCormick, founder of the Brooklyn-based immersive troupe Company XIV, is bringing his eclectic blend of Baroque dance, burlesque, and high-art spectacle to the Perelman Performing Arts Center in New York City. McCormick is choreographing Giulia: The Poison Queen of Palermo, a musical written by and starring Grammy Award–winning singer Jennifer Nettles and directed by Tony Award winner Mary Zimmerman, which starts performances on June 28.
The production presents a distinct logistical and artistic challenge for the creative team. Unlike McCormick’s typical repertory at Company XIV—where specialized performers execute rigorous technical choreography—Giulia features no dedicated dancers. Instead, the cast comprises actors and singers who must move while delivering Nettles’ dynamic musical score.
“You say the word ‘dance’ to actors and singers, and people freak out,” McCormick explained, according to reporting by Dance Magazine. “The first thing I do is set the vibe that I’m looking for them to be themselves. I’m not looking for anything outside of who they are and what they’re bringing to the table.”
Bridging Traditional Technique and Theater
McCormick’s background bridges strict classical training and counter-cultural performance art. He trained at the HARID Conservatory and the Conservatory of Baroque Dance Theater before earning a Bachelor of Fine Arts from The Juilliard School. Rather than following a traditional career path, he launched Company XIV in 2006 to merge his affinities for ballet, circus arts, magic, and bacchanalian revelry. That twenty-year tenure yielded Drama Desk and Bessie award nominations, alongside foundational opera choreography credits at the Metropolitan Opera—including Rusalka and Samson et Dalila—and La Traviata at the Lyric Opera of Chicago.
For Giulia, which recounts the true story of a 17th-century woman accused of poisoning her husband and supplying lethal concoctions to others, McCormick looks to historical social dance as a baseline. The narrative incorporates group numbers such as a village festival and sequences featuring a commedia dell’arte troupe, utilizing movement for emotional storytelling rather than ornamental spectacle.
This integration extends directly to the wardrobe. Rather than designing choreography in isolation, McCormick develops movement concurrently with the physical constraints of the period attire.
“I’m not the kind of choreographer that makes movement first, and then we put the costumes on; I think about it as one integrated challenge,” McCormick noted, as detailed by Dance Magazine. “Studying with my Baroque dance teacher, we were really interested in how costumes informed the movement. Big dresses, panniers, shoes, wigs—the obstacle of the costume can lead to more interesting movement.”
Production Logistics and Industry Infrastructure
Staging a major new musical at a high-profile cultural venue like the Perelman Performing Arts Center requires meticulous coordination across multiple specialized sectors. Bringing a complex historical fantasy from the rehearsal studio to the New York stage demands comprehensive support from specialists, who manage everything from complex artist contracting to multi-union compliance. Furthermore, the integration of distinct physical theater styles with large-scale costume and set integration often requires immediate consultation with teams to safeguard intellectual property and manage production logistics efficiently.
As the summer performance window progresses, the creative team continues to refine the physical vocabulary of the production, balancing historical movement with the demands of contemporary musical theater storytelling.
Disclaimer: The views and cultural analyses presented in this article are for informational and entertainment purposes only. Information regarding legal disputes or financial data is based on available public records.