Communion (2020)

Communion is a BESSIE Award nominated experimental screendance response to the isolation and uncertainty we are all facing as artists and humans in the wake of the Covid-19 crisis. Because dancers can no longer breathe together, touch, or share the experience of movement within the physical studio, Communion invites 40 dancers, separated by physical distance and the pandemic, into a digital space to commune together.

Each unique duet is created from videos by two different dancers who are separated by cities, countries, and sometimes continents. Artist Janessa Clark combines these videos to create virtual duets which are set to music donated by a composer also collaborating remotely.

Conceived, curated, and edited by Janessa Clark

Performed by:

Ivy Baldwin (Putnam Valley, New York), Julian Barnett (Burlington, Vermont), Kelly Bartnik (Brooklyn, New York), Kimberly Bartosik (Brooklyn, New York), Alexandra Beller (Brooklyn, New York), Gerald Casel (Santa Cruz, California), Janessa Clark (Brooklyn, New York), David Dorfman (New London, Connecticut), Jeanine Durning (Stockholm, Sweden), Doug Elkins (New York, New York), Sharon Estacio (Florence, Italy), Ori Flomin (New York, New York), Helena Franzen (Stockholm, Sweden), Wendell Gray II (Atlanta, Georgia), Jasmine Hearn (occupied land of the Karankawa and Atakpe people, Texas), Peiling Kao (Honolulu, Hawaii), Catherine Kirk (unceded land of Lenape and Canarsie peoples, New York), Alice Klock (Whidbey Island, Washington), Joanna Kotze (Brooklyn, New York), Leslie Kraus (Norman, Oklahoma), Benoît Lachambre (Montreal, Canada), Catie Leasca (Brooklyn, New York), Rosalynde LeBlanc (Los Angeles, California), aaron lewis (Highland Park, New Jersey), Jordan Lloyd (Brooklyn, NY), Gesine Moog (Stockholm, Sweden), Yutaka Nakata (Lille, France), Jennifer Nugent (Brooklyn, New York), Omagbitse Omagbemi (Berlin, Germany), Laura Peterson (Brooklyn, New York), Kendra Portier (College Park, Maryland), Jess Pretty (Brooklyn, New York), Kumar Ravi (Delhi, India), Dan Safer (Preston Hollow, New York), Gus Solomons, Jr. (New York, New York), Colleen Thomas (New York, New York), Saúl Ulerio (New York, New York), Guy Whitney (New York, New York), Takahiro Yamamoto (Portland, Oregon), and Jessie Young (Port Angeles, Washington)

Trailer: To the Hands, Mvt. VI: I Will Hold You
Composition and lyrics by Caroline Shaw
Sung by The Crossing with the International Contemporary Ensemble from their recording Seven Responses. Recording provided courtesy of Innova Recordings. Donald Nally, conductor

Communion Duet Composers:

George Baldovin (Zagreb, Croatia), Fatrin Krajka (New York, New York), Tim ‘Love’ Lee (Wassaic, New York), Anne Müller (Berlin, Germany), Major Andres Scurlock (New York, New York), David Shane Smith (Santa Fe, NM), Sxip Shirey (New York, New York), and Michael Wall (Salt Lake City, Utah)

Full project run time: 50 minutes

COMMUNION was nominated for a 2021 NY Dance & Performance Award (BESSIE) for Outstanding Production.

COMMUNION is funded, in part, by the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant Program, HERE Arts Center, and private donors. In-progress showings were made possible through Proteo Media’s P/FPF Festival & Art Cake’s Dance Series.