2021
Together We Are (2021) is a new commission realized through the Walker Hotel Greenwich Village and Visual AIDS.
As New York City recovers from the COVID-19 pandemic, New Yorkers are called to reflect on the impact of human connection, whether that is thanking those they leaned on in isolation or rediscovering relationships in the aftermath. Through a series of open-to-the-public rehearsals, Brendan Fernandes and a team dance artists developed a new choreography to explore this idea of community reconnection and what physical closeness feels like in the wake of social distance. Developed site specifically for the Society Cafe at the Walker, the piece engages high touch and high traffic areas, asking viewers to reflect on the ways that COVID demanded we consider the traces each of us leaves on our environment.
The open rehearsals lead up to a finale performance on World HIV/AIDS Awareness and Aging Day. This performance became structured around moments of physical closeness between the dancers and the willing-to-participate public. It provided a chance for all to reflect on the connection between touch and human closeness, and on the powerful memory of the first global pandemic to sweep the arts community—the HIV/AIDS Crisis.
Throughout, the performances drew parallels between the challenges posed to physical intimacy during the HIV/AIDS Crisis and during the COVID-19 Pandemic. Exploring how touch was similarly politicized, stigmatized and lost during both of these times.
Commissioned by Walker Hotel Greenwich Village in partnership with Visual AIDS.
Photographer, Chris Balestra
Dancers,
Héctor Cerna
Chris Tabassi
Khadija Griffith
Charles Gowin
Violetta Komyshan
Ragin Smith