Mannequin Pussy | photo by Scott Troyan | scotttroyan.com
Watch Mannequin Pussy rip the patriarchy in Headhouse Square
This is the best use of Headhouse Square I’ve seen since Philly VegFest a couple years back; local rock four-piece Mannequin Pussy used its brick columns and archways to set the music video for their song “Pledge,” a ripper from last year’s LP Romantic.
Directed by Austin Elston, the video finds a troupe of dancers — including frontwoman Marisa Dabice — crisscrossing and spinning around the space to interpretive choreography by Rhiannon Laymon. As we hear Dabice howl “I pledge allegiance to myself and nothing else,” the bodies in motion on screen deliver a tribute to self-reliance.
As Dabice told DIY Magazine, which premiered the video earlier today:
So many times in our life we find ourselves being influenced from the outside. People try to control us – our beliefs, our movements, our identities, our dress…
The video for Pledge sought to narrate a woman’s experience where her movements are controlled by a man, by the others who surround her and the powerful declaration that she is able to make to herself when she can free herself of the people who seek to conform her.
Mannequin Pussy is currently on a European tour; check out its roster of dates below as you watch the “Pledge” video.
Tour Dates
JUNE 01 Karlsruhe, P8
JUNE 03 Barcelona, Primavera Sound
JUNE 04 Barcelona, Primavera Sound
JUNE 06 Liège, La Zone
JUNE 07 Paris, Super Sonic
JUNE 08 London, The Shacklewell Arms
JUNE 09 Leeds, Headrow House
JUNE 10 Edinburgh, Sneaky Petes
JUNE 11 Glasgow, Broadcast
JUNE 12 Manchester, Gullivers
JUNE 13 Bristol, Crofters Rights
JUNE 14 Brighton, Green Door Store
JUNE 15 Belgium, Gent, Charlatan
JUNE 16 Best Kept Secret Festival