Hail the New Puritan
Charles Atlas

Charles Atlas
Hail the New Puritan (1985-1986)
English without subtitles
84’

Exuberant and witty, Hail the New Puritan (1985-1986) is a simulated day-in-the-life “docufantasy” starring the British dance celebrity Michael Clark. Charles Atlas’ fictive portrait of the charismatic choreographer serves as a vivid invocation of the studied decadence of the 1980s post-punk London subculture. Contriving a faux cinema-verite format in which to stage his stylized fiction, Atlas seamlessly integrates Clark’s extraordinary dance performances into the docu-narrative flow. Focusing on Clark’s flamboyantly postured eroticism and the artifice of his provocative balletic performances, Atlas posits the dance as a physical manifestation of Clark’s psychology. From the surreal opening dream sequence to the final solo dance, Clark’s milieu of fashion, clubs and music signifies for Atlas “a time capsule of a certain period and context in London that’s now gone.”

Director/Editor: Charles Atlas. Choreography: Michael Clark. Dancers: Gaby Agis, Leslie Bryant, Michael Clark, Matthew Hawkins, Julie Hood, Ellen van Schuylenburch. Music: Glenn Branca, The Fall, Bruce Gilbert, Jeffrey Hinton. Camera: John Simmons. Producer: Jolyon Wimhurst.


Charles Atlas (b.1949) is one of the premier interpreters of dance, theater and performance on video. Working in film, video, installation, theater and performance for over four decades, he has created works for screen, stage, gallery, and television. A pioneer in the development of media-dance, he has expanded this genre into an original new form, inventive pastiches of narrative and fictional modes with performance documentary.

Source: EAI