SUPERCELL
premiering 2023
SUPERCELL is an evening-length multidisciplinary quintet performance, responding to climate change, media sensationalism, desensitization, & environmental collapse. The title refers to supercells, large storms of deep, persistent updrafts often resulting in many tornadoes. While supercells are terrifying, ominous, and harbingers of great damage, they are simultaneously breathtaking environmental events when witnessed from afar. The effect is similar to sensationalist media, instantly amplifying catastrophic events for an insatiable public consumption.
Throughout the creation process we will consult with advisory cohorts in Maryland and Pittsburgh, composed of scientists, educators, climate activists, anthropologists, sociologists, sustainable design experts and a dramaturgical advisor.
In addition to public facing performances, SUPERCELL project also houses a companion workshop titled De-Mystifying the Box. Within this workshop, slowdanger will engage participants in creative process frameworks and somatic experiences to sense deeper into the micro-ecosystems of our bodies. We will use groove, effort, awareness modalities, and authentic movement to move collectively for 1.5 hours. The final half hour will be used to engage in a collective dialogue process surrounding the themes of SUPERCELL and the local impacts of the climate crisis on our Pittsburgh community.
SUPERCELL serves as part 2 in a trilogy of slowdanger works, alongside “VLX” (pt. 1, 2018) and “empathy machine” (pt. 3, 2019). The work will premier in-person in 2023 at the Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and the Kelly Strayhorn Theater.
directed by:
taylor knight | anna thompson
SUPERCELL collaborating artists:
Aj Libert | | Nile Harris
kira shiina | Jasmine Hearn
SUPERCELL design collaborators:
ProjectileObjects
Mad Recital
advisory committee:
michelle king | Nathan Darity | Jennifer Roberts | Jasmine Hearn
project manager:
Joshua Bristow
SUPERCELL made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation..
SUPERCELL is a National Performance Network (NPN) Creation Fund Project co-commissioned by Kelly Strayhorn Theater, The Clarice Smith Performing Arts Center and NPN.
SUPERCELL project is also supported by the Opportunity Fund and The Heinz Endowments Small Arts Initiative and additional residency support from NCCAkron and The Space Upstairs.
