janessa clark

Tiny Dances Project (2017- present)

The Tiny Dances Project began in 2017 and is an ongoing multidisciplinary endeavor activating dance, film, sound art, photography, installation, and co-authorship with the public. The project embodies anonymous letters sent from around the world. Some letters confess buried secrets while others reveal private moments and memories, all of them weaving together a tapestry of hidden experiences. For every letter received an artist interprets its contents into a 'tiny dance', be that a dance film, a sculpture, a musical score, or a photograph. For every country or community visited, there is a new volume created.

Letter writing is at the sole discretion of the author. By contributing a letter each author is able to create an extension of their presence in the world without compromising their privacy. The information shared in the letter cannot be bought or sold to information gathering agencies, targeted marketing, or civic surveillance. There are no boxes to tick 'I Agree' in order to engage with the world at the expense of another layer of our autonomy, agency or privacy. The project aims to be a platform for sharing and connecting within an economy of anonymity, so that we may all experience our commonalities as humans and to create invisible bonds with others around the world.

Artist Janessa Clark has collected over 100 letters and physically interpreted more than 35 of them into dance films during the first three years of the project. Since 2020 the project is open to other artistic interpreters working in different mediums in order to expand the ways in which we can engage with the letters and the stories they contain.

Concept, curation, cinematography and editing by Janessa Clark

The Tiny Dances Project has been expanded and developed by a grant, the Crojik’s Largesse, awarded by The Croft Residency, and by Brooklyn Arts Exchange.

Below are the most recent Tiny Dances (#37-54) which were filmed during 2021 & 2022.

For the full series of Tiny Dances, please visit: THE TINY DANCES PROJECT