David Roussève Returns to the Stage with a Multigenerational Dance-Theater Meditation on Love, Loss, and Legacy

This fall, the dance-theater world witnesses the return of a singular voice as David Roussève, a Guggenheim Fellow and Distinguished Professor at UCLA, unveils "Becoming Daddy AF"—his first evening-length solo performance in more than twenty years. The world premiere takes place September 26–27, 2025, at the Kelly Strayhorn Theater in Pittsburgh, followed by the Los Angeles premiere October 17–18 at UCLA’s Center for the Art of Performance. The production arrives in a milestone year for Roussève, marking his 40th anniversary as a professional choreographer, writer, and performer.

Roussève’s career has long been defined by works that blend deeply personal narrative with political urgency, and "Becoming Daddy AF" continues this tradition. The piece is created, written, and performed by Roussève himself, with dramaturgy by Charlotte Brathwaite, video design by Meena Murugesan, a soundscape by d. Sabela grimes, lighting by Christopher Kuhl, and costumes by Leah Piehl. The show is supported by a coalition of major arts institutions, including the National Performance Network, Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, Kelly Strayhorn Theater, National Center for Choreography Akron, MASS MoCA, and Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, with additional funding from the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, the Doris Duke Foundation, the Mellon Foundation, and the MAP Fund.

"Becoming Daddy AF" is structured as a series of nonlinear chapters that move fluidly through time, place, and character, employing a fragmented, queer approach to storytelling that resists conventional narrative arcs. Roussève, now in his mid-sixties and recently divorced, uses the work to explore the evolving nature of love—particularly as a queer Black man navigating dating and sex apps for the first time, against the backdrop of a society that often seems devoid of love yet deeply engaged in struggles for social justice. The piece is both an intimate self-portrait and a broader meditation on purpose, fulfillment, and the construction of legacy.

Drawing on more than 35 years of movement-making, Roussève revisits and reinterprets material from his own repertory, asking whether a choreographed work—like memory itself—is fixed or malleable, open to reinterpretation through the shifting lenses of social, political, and personal change. The work’s title, "Becoming Daddy AF," plays with contemporary queer vernacular while signaling a candid exploration of aging, desire, and the performance of masculinity within LGBTQ+ communities.

Roussève’s life story is central to the work. He shares his journey as a gay African American with both humility and humor, tracing strands of his genealogy across six centuries and multiple continents—France, Portugal, Germany, Mali, Senegal, the Dominican Republic, Haiti, and Cuba—to explore the explosive intersections of whiteness, melanin, freedom, and fulfillment. His lived experience with HIV and the shattering loss of his husband of 26 years are woven into the fabric of the performance, offering a rare, unfiltered look at queer aging, grief, and resilience.

The piece also interrogates the concept of the archive—both as a record of artistic production and as a chronicle of a life. Roussève questions what it means to leave a legacy, and whether the documentation of a life can ever capture its complexity. These themes resonate powerfully within LGBTQ+ communities, where the act of remembering and archiving has often been a form of resistance against erasure.

"Becoming Daddy AF" is described as one of Roussève’s most compositionally adventurous works, featuring character and genre leaps that may initially disorient but ultimately build toward a personal and universally profound crescendo. The production is multi-sensory, integrating movement, text, video, and sound to create an immersive experience. Roussève’s collaborators bring a wealth of expertise: Charlotte Brathwaite’s dramaturgy sharpens the narrative’s emotional contours, Meena Murugesan’s video design layers visual texture, d. Sabela grimes’ soundscape grounds the work in aural richness, Christopher Kuhl’s lighting shapes mood and space, and Leah Piehl’s costumes reflect the shifting identities explored onstage.

The production arrives at a moment when conversations about queer aging, desire, and visibility are gaining momentum within LGBTQ+ media and culture. Roussève’s willingness to center his own body—a 64-year-old Black queer man—onstage challenges prevailing norms around who gets to be seen, desired, and remembered in queer narratives. By openly discussing his experiences with HIV, grief, and the search for new love, Roussève amplifies voices often marginalized even within LGBTQ+ communities.

The show’s nonlinear structure and embrace of complexity reflect a queer sensibility that resists tidy resolutions, instead inviting audiences to sit with ambiguity and contradiction—a hallmark of much queer art and theory. Roussève’s work also highlights the importance of intergenerational dialogue within LGBTQ+ communities, as he revisits and recontextualizes his own artistic archive for a new era.

Early previews and interviews suggest that "Becoming Daddy AF" is poised to be a critical and audience favorite, further cementing Roussève’s reputation as “one of the modern dance world’s great stage personalities,” as noted by The Washington Post. The piece is expected to spark conversations about love, loss, legacy, and liberation, both within dance-theater circles and among broader LGBTQ+ audiences.

For those unable to attend the live performances, a video interview with Roussève on Queerguru TV offers an intimate glimpse into the creative process and the personal stories that animate the work. The production’s official website also provides opportunities for audience engagement, including donations to support the project and information on future bookings.