2020: The year of all years

2021 never looked sweeter…

Like everyone, BODYART found 2020 one of the most challenging years in recent memory. However, with these challenges came unexpected revelations. For the first time in a long time, we found ourselves slowing down, reflecting, and gathering the courage to make some hard but necessary decisions. Not knowing when or if the pandemic was going to slow down, we kept pushing towards our goals. We kept dreaming, planning, adapting, and learning. This year was hard, but our accomplishments tasted even sweeter.

New Engagement Programs

Without realizing it, the world shutting down for a pandemic offered non-profits the unique experience of forced reflection. It was no different at BODYART. We regrouped, restrategized, and challenged each other to think critically about the issues most affecting our communities. Two new engagement projects were born, Moving to Heal and Placeholder.

Since the emergence of COVID-19, domestic violence worldwide has skyrocketed. Survivors of domestic violence require resources and support for lifetimes, sometimes spanning generations. At BODYART we know the power of dance, how it can heal and mobilize resilience. For this reason, we created Moving to Heal, a new engagement program that brings trauma-informed dance classes to women’s shelters. Moving to Heal is still in its early stages. We spent the second half of 2020 researching and developing the curriculum, raising funds, and planning pilot modules. We are ending 2020 with hosting our first Moving to Heal classes at Hagar’s House and Eden House in New Orleans, where we will test the validity of the curriculum and measure participant impact.

“Placeholder” is an extension of our film residency program, The Decay Project. However, the focus of “Placeholder” projects are specifically on low-income BIPOC communities with high rates of urban blight and low rates of BIPOC home ownerships. “Placeholder” projects investigate how urban blight and inequitable city planning policies affect cultural identity.

Performance Re-Imagined.

We left 2019 with great hope at the amazing opportunities laid before us for the 2020 season. BODYART was invited to perform at the 2020 Sibu International Dance Festival in Malaysia and received the US Artists International Grant from the MidAtlantic Arts Foundation to support the company’s first Southeast Asian presentation. Due to COVID-19 presenters all over the world have had to reschedule (See you in 2021 Malaysia!) or adapt. We were thrilled to see South Africa’s benchmark dance festival JOMBA! respond to the world’s challenges by delivering its first digital festival. BODYART was delighted to participate in the 22nd International JOMBA! Dance Festival. BODYART’s dance films Afternoon Gold, Re/Stage, and Legal Canvas, and recorded live-performances Water Story and Thread were all presented over the course of the 12-day virtual festival.

In the Works

Isn’t it amazing the things that we create out of adversity? We think so. Forced into quarantines and lockdowns made us re-evaluate how art is made and consumed. This led us to explore spaces we had never delved into before. In partnership with NightLight Labs BODYART is creating Remnants: An Augmented Reality Experience. Remnants is a new AR app that will integrate digital visual (and audio) content into the user’s real-world environment. Users will use their smartphone to turn their living spaces into a virtual world filled with images, sounds, and text. Remnants was born from the pining for human connection that comes from mass isolation, it was born out of necessity to connect, create, and remind ourselves of the ingenuity and exceptional achievements of human beings. We look forward to Remnants beta launch Spring 2021.

Isolation tends to make us take stock of the ways in which humans opt to connect (or disconnect) from each other. Right now we find ourselves curious about the ways in which the digital landscape is sculpting our culture and identities, such was the inspiration behind our newest project. Digital Magpies is a new performance that explores the ways in which we collect, curate, and present identity in the digital landscape. Part interactive performance, part multi-media installation, Digital Magpies asks the audience to compare our physical selves to our digital selves. Dancers, performers, and audiences investigate the culture of social media and how it’s influenced the state of our lives. Look for invites to see workshop presentations of Digital Magpies Fall 2021.

Global Connections

BODYART will embark on our first South American tour in April with a cultural exchange tour to Chile. BODYART will create new work with Chilean dance companies Corredor de Danza Valparaíso and Centro de Experimentación Escénica (CEE) inspired by public spaces in the Valparaíso and Valdivia regions of Chile. The tour will culminate with BODYART presenting hymn + them at four venues across Valparaíso. In the fall we look forward to attending the (rescheduled) Sibu International Dance Festival in Malaysia and reconnecting with JOMBA! Dance Festival in South Africa. We are deeply connected to our global collaborates and look towards 2021 with hope, but remain flexible to the needs of our partners.

Today is #GivingTuesday!

BODYART depends on the support from people like you! BODYART is committed to increasing accessibility in the arts. Your donation supports our collaborators, community partners, and engagement programs: Moving to Heal and The Decay Project. Any support, large or small, is greatly appreciated! 2020 presented us with unprecedented challenges. This past year reminded us that resilience is a collaborative effort. We thank you for your support and look forward to offering you new opportunities for artistic and creative growth this coming year.