♪ That exchange of energy between artists and audience member is, is something that can't be replaced.

And so we were really, really lucky that we have this beautiful space here at Kaatsbaan to share with artists and and art lovers alike.

♪ We are getting it quite done.

Quite done, it is getting.

We are summoning all the beatboxers.

♪ This residency means a lot for me, and I know the crew as well, because there isn't a long form version of any of this anywhere.

Zero.

And if it, if there is, it's very much like, look at this beatboxing.

Whic to me is kind of lame because it's like, you're, this is just the tool.

This is just a tool that you're going to be using to communicate.

Right?

But it's not about that.

It's just, those are just the skills that we're going to use in order to like talk, ♪ We need this right now.

Like, we need this, like just to get us even that, that sense of hope because that's what artists do.

We have a responsibility to start that conversation.

Look, the world's burning in a lot of ways, but we're still going to do everything that we can to like, give something to you.

We're going to give ourselves and share this energy with you.

Hopefully that it'll like lift your spirit in some sort of way.

And that will be a win.

You know?

Cause that's what it is.

Art is transformative.

And like you can really shift people's lives in a different direction by sharing your own experience.

And that's what we want to be doing through this time.

♪ Game over.

It was the first live performance I'd seen since February 2020.

It was also the first live performance that most of the audience had seen since February 2020.

Not only was the whole audience ecstatic, to be able to see people perform and to once more engage and cheer and clap and respond.

But the performers themselves finally heard a live audience and they could, they could react to it.

It was, it was wonderful.

I just, what I get from them is this sense of just wistful, ecstatic, euphoria, the few of us staff members just sat in the audience, watching these dancers dance after so many months of not knowing when that was ever going to happen again.

And it's really hard to articulate why it was so moving.

That's why people love art so much.

Because it's, something you can't articulate.

It's something you can only feel in your heart, in your gut.

Hey everyone!

Welcome!

Oh my god it's so many people!

Hey hey!

How are you?

Long time no see, how's everything?

I see we're wearing the same colors.

Welcome everyone to the Kaatsbaan Mock Ball.

My name is the Legendary Omari Oricci The Founding Father of the House of Nina Oricci and I'm so happy that you're here at our first annual Kaatsbaan Mock Ball.

So!

My work has to represent growth.

My work has to represent a questioning of identity and self, but then at the same time, a realization, an awakening of community and what that really means DJ.

Let's get another beat because they're about to battle.

Are you ready judges?

You got to pick who you want.

The Old Way.

It's a battle.

Battle battle battle of The Old Way.

Talk about lines, talk about precision, talk about grace, talk about attitude, talk about Old Way.

to The Old Way to The Old Way to The Old Way Which one of em is not like the other one which one of em just doesn't belong?

Which one of em is not like the other one Old Way elements in strong.

Which one, which one?

Let's go, let's go.

Let's go.

Don't make me get loud.

...but I don't have to tell you because you know you're ugly.

Everyone laughs, and kikis.

And everyone laughs, and kikis.

♪ The artists need, we need these opportunities to, especially, I mean right now with COVID, you know yeah.

An opportunity to bubble ourselves, you know, I mean we're already bubbling ourselves up.

But just the opportunity to get out, and, and, and, really do something in that time, we need that, you know, and it makes us feel worth something like we're still worth something.

You know what I'm saying?

Like, Oh, this world still needs us.

Oh the world's shut down.

Oh, artists, artists are just out every man for themself.

No there are artists coming together.

You know, there are artists coming together to help fund other artists, you know?

And maybe that's another thing.

Like we need more institutions, institutions to allow us to create these connections with other artists and bring us together with other artists.

From other forms of art Ladies and gentlemen, Les Ballet Afrik We need to give Stella a LSS.

Yeah!

Ms. Stella, Ms. Stella, Ms. Stella, Ms. Stella, I love you guys.

We don't need a mic.

Say what?

We want you to get some sleep!

Ms. V!

Ms. V!

We want you to get some sleep!

This project never to me was going to be a project that just involved a performance.

It involved collecting oral histories that are going to live at the performing arts library.

It also involves connecting with communities.

You know, in my mind, we would go to a city to perform and we would have an evening of doing the performance, but then another evening where we would connect with the community of dancers in whatever city and they would share their story.

And it's about what this community has done for so many people changed our lives.

♪ Baby, it's good to be young.

You better believe it.

Work, mama.

♪ To be honest, it's a friendship.

It's so strong, and then you can see, you can tell, on stage, we're such good friends, like best friends, we talk about everything.

You can see when you watch us, how fun, and how like we are connected.

♪ Okay.

So yesterday got me thinking.

It was when Greg and I were having this meeting and we were talking about all the qualities that all the performers, uh, in our company have.

And Greg went on and on and talking about everyone.

Me, Noé, José, Gisele, And obviously he didn't talk about him, and I didn't hop on him.

On saying, expressing his qualities that I admire on him, not as a musician as a performer on the stage.

♪ I, I know his voice.

I know his language music wise.

If I hear composition from him, I can tell this to music somehow, you know and I can't point exactly on what is this special thing that he brings, but there is, uh, it's his signature, but as a performer, he is always trying to connect with everyone on his stage and like is always make eye contact and really to connect and like to understand what's going on on your mind when you are performing and like having a communication, you can always go through his eyes and like find support.

Um, and he's always like gauging eyes to support himself too as well.

And I think that's, that's that, that, that shows a lot when you're performing, because it shines.

♪ ♪ I, I feel supreme trust that our, our relationship will always work out because at the end of the day, I'm just usually excited for Leo's ideas.

And it's not just choreography, you know, like we have, we have songs where he wrote the melody, you know, or he is really coming up with ideas that aren't just tap, he's coming up with melodic and making them work.

So it's really exciting for me to encourage him as a composer and be like, yo, no, that's dope.

Like it's like a relationship, you know, things are going great, but it's still good every Sunday night to sit down and be like, Hey, how was your week?

You know, you can't just assume that people always know what, what you're feeling or what you're thinking.

♪ Ooh, I like that.

Keep working that back don't know how to act Slow motion for me slow motion for me.

♪ Limes ♪ Tequilla ♪ Jose Cuervo It's time to celebrate.

The most exciting thing about this type of residency coming from quarantine for me personally, is, well, one of the most important things is just human contact.

Just like the worry-free guilt-free ability to share a meal with someone, to give someone a hug really meant a lot to me.

Hello.

Goodbye.

♪ Ah, that's how we used to do.

This is the Chef V. We are so honored to have her love of food amongst us.

I am making four chicken breasts stretch for nine people.

Michelle's here now.

Skill.

You just cut it thin and put a bunch of vegetables on top of it.

Boo-yah.

What ya got, Patterack?

So how was rehearsal today Jamar?

Rehearsal was, um, very good, actually good rehearsals actually don't they don't for me, they don't always mean when things go smoothly.

It was good because, um, I presented an idea and I've fought to the max to stay committed to the idea.

Can we go back to that?

♪ You just, gotta feel yourself.

I thought I knew what I needed, but I think this residency has sort of allowed me, um, it's sort of peeled back the covers on a whole nother level of necessity and it's more and it's deeper and that is daunting because I'm like, really, I really felt like in the past, like I was digging as deep as I possibly can, but I think there's something about this moment that makes me feel like there is more, which means going deeper into myself.

And I can't even imagine what the work would look like in ten years from now.

I mean, I hope dance would be able to handle it.

♪ When, Duke offered this residency, um, I grabbed at it because it was an opportunity for us to move from Zoom meetings to actually be in a studio with part of our cast.

And it, it's still going to be early to have Vivian involved because we're literally going to go there and just, you know, with Josh and Jeffrey and a couple of dancers start the bare bones of what this is.

How was it to work on something and n ot know when it's going to be premiered?

Great.

I think it's great because it, it keeps me honest.

I think it keeps me honest and it keeps me, um, yeah.

Yeah.

That's kinda like the main thing.

♪ Ah!

All right.

We're going to dance with some trees at Lincoln Center so we're practicing, although these trees are different, um, we're doing the best we can so that we can be on point when we go and film.

How close are the trees?

They're as close as they are on the photo.

Yeah.

Cause if it's like this?

It's kind of like this, look, check this out.

Like that.

So yeah, you have room.

Totally.

There's a magic window on these Bubbles, where on the very last day of the Bubble, before these artists exit the Bubble and go home, there is a window that these performers can all perform together.

And our hope was to shuttle these dancers into the rotunda of the Guggenheim.

One of the most social distance conducive spaces in New York City.

We were a little bit naive.

It was June.

We thought the museum would be open by August.

That's not the case.

Um, but when we realized the museum, wasn't going to be open to receive these dancers and that governor, the governor was still not permitting indoor performances to happen.

We thought, how do we sequence these Bubbles and create more opportunity for these dancers?

And so we reached out to multiple presenters to see if they would work with us.

And Lincoln Center, uh, jumped right in.

They realized this window of opportunity to have double, rapid tested 14 day isolated dance projects.

In essence, their passport is stamped.

And so Lincoln Center welcomed four different Works & Process Bubbles onto the Lincoln Center campus, which was closed off to the public.

Performances, outdoors happened that were filmed, really serves as a model for how these Bubble residencies can be generative, uh, rather than existing in isolation.

♪ Hello, hello, we are at Lincoln Center and, we're doing our filming.

at Lincoln Center, with Works & Process.

Um, it's been a wonderful experience in the two week Bubble, from Isolation to Creation.

COVID-19 free woop woop!

Negative!

This feels weird, a mask feels strange, I know we were, like, I was just at Lincoln Center just like, you know, 13 days ago doing a site visit before we left.

And yet I feel like I haven't been here in years.

I think back.

Perfect.

Crazy thing.

I'm motivated.

I'm a little scared, because it's like going back into isolation, it's like, blah.

I wish it was longer.

But hopefully we'll be back.

♪ We spent the whole day there with them.

It was utterly exciting.

But the absolute joy that happened because they could all work together was, was, astounding.

♪ So an eight change, One two three four five six seven eight change, So give that, but we don't see them.

Um, and then again whenever we're done with the taping, it's too hot, come right back over here.

Work Shay, work Shay.

♪ Yes.

It's nothing!

It's nothin!

♪ ♪ Ok, great, let's do it Full energy Mark Ready?

Yep OK, going going going Rolling ♪ ♪ ♪ It's okay it's okay.

slowly you pull it out.

You wiggle it out.

Pull pull Good Yay!

That was suction.

[Cheering] You got stories!

Michelle and Archie!

Yay!

Woo!

Aw.

♪ What is truly exciting about these Bubble residencies and the model that we've created is that we know with scientific data that this works.

How do we know that it works?

We double rapid test the artists on the way in.

And just two weeks ago, we tested all 19 artists on the very last day of their Bubble residency and all 19 tested negative.

So they're negative on the way in they're negative on the way out.

And this is a working model for artists to safely gather and create again.

♪ To feel a part of a community that is the power of the arts to build community.

It provides a place for people to belong In the wake of this time, where we have all had to remain so isolated, we will foster this building of community again.

♪