Le Tigre

FAMILIAR WITH HERM CHOREOGRAPH? Well, if you've ever attended a Le Tigre concert, choreographed by band member JD Samson, you've seen it. Herm (slang for androgynous queer) locates Samson and the boy-band-derivative moves one sees at Le Tigre shows--her tributes to how queer bodies negotiate the world. Equal parts dance style and critical intervention, Samson's choreography is just one element of a performance practice that reopens questions about community, fandom, feminism, queerness, and their conjunctions and differences, by drawing on staged spectacle, audience exuberance, and punk-derived dance tunes with sneaky samples and make-your-heart-swell lyrics ("for the ladies and the fags, yeah / we're the band with the roller-skate jams"). Le Tigre toured North America and Europe for six months last year, which was the culmination of a creative spurt for the trio, who have released three records since 2001.