Hans-Christian Wagner

The Sunshineboy Hans-Christian Wagner

"I have run away from the place where I grew up to conquer the world and found my home on an island. I fulfilled my dreams, loved more men than I can remember, danced, acted, choreographed and produced, designed and managed, healed and taught. I shared the wealth of my father and enjoyed the naked freedom of having nothing. But the more I gave away; it came back and blessed my life. The echo of love returned to the little boy with the sunshine smile."This is the long-awaited autobiography of Hans-Christian Wagner, born in 1952. Christian, the "sunshine boy" of its title, recounts his origins in an Austrian town on the outskirts of Vienna, his career as a dancer and choreographer, ... and the numerous ways of how finding his identity was part of developing his sensibilities as a gay man. Now settled on the island of Palawan, Philippines, he is designing homes for other liberal-minded people and provides a haven for travellers from all over the globe. The life told on these pages is a roller-coaster ride of amusing anecdotes, wisecracks and erotic adventures. Liz King, the prominent dancer, choreographer and pioneer of the Austrian dance scene, writes: "When I first met Hans-Christian in a cold and grey Vienna way back in the early seventies, it is clear now that this was a day in another century. As he came through the door all those years ago, I immediately warmed to the blond, curly haired young man in my dance class aware that something in his aura was special. As it would later show, this quality would reveal itself as a rare gift. We worked together as dancer-choreographers from time to time and in the following years we would occasionally meet to exchange ideas. "The Sunshineboy" describes those years in vivid pictures with valuable references to the world of stage and theatre in Vienna at that time. Hans-Christian, has in his book, given readers an insight into the perception of gender issues in post war Austria through describing touchingly his brave acts of defiance and the beautiful path he has chosen of healing and forgiving."