A Slow, Awkward Dance Started It All

A Slow, Awkward Dance Started It All

Without a word, they started to dance. “It was a visual negotiation,” said Alan Emanuel Pierson, who caught Paul Nikolai Melnikow’s eye as they sat next to each other in October 2016 for a “queer prom.” The event was staged about 20 hours into the performance artist Taylor Mac’s 24-hour marathon, “A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,” at St. Ann’s Warehouse, a performing arts space in Brooklyn. (The 246-song cycle began in 1776 at noon the day …