Works & Process: “STORM”
SPA is proud to co-present the latest Works & Process at the Guggenheim virtual commission, “STORM,” featuring a stunning performance by New York City Ballet principal dancer Sara Mearns. Choreographed by Emmy Award-winner Joshua Bergasse, “STORM” expresses many of the emotions we’re all experiencing in the pandemic.
“We created this piece in April at the height of the COVID-19 pandemic in New York City, as we tried to make sense of what our communities were going through. We created this piece to inspire hope. So much has happened since then. We stand in solidarity with the protests against racial injustice in our country. They inspire profound hope and we hope, change.” – Joshua Bergasse, Sara Mearns, Zoe Sarnak, and Margo Seibert
“STORM”
Co-presented by Barrington Stage Company, Broadway Dance Center, Kaatsbaan | cultural park for dance, The Kennedy Center, The Joyce Theater, New York City Center, Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Spoleto Festival USA, Society for the Performing Arts, and Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Performed by Sara Mearns
Choreographed by Joshua Bergasse
“The Storm Will Pass Soon Now” – Music and Lyrics by Zoe Sarnak
Vocals by Margo Seibert
Piano by Zoe Sarnak
Filmed by Joshua Bergasse
Edited by Lee Cherry
Artist Statement: Joshua Bergasse “For me this was all about dichotomy; I was feeling so many opposing emotions. Sometimes debilitatingly negative, and then extraordinarily positive and powerful. That’s where the movement came from. And I wanted to capture Sara’s state of being against Zoe’s song of hope.”
Artist Statement: Sara Mearns “We filmed this at the height of the pandemic in New York City, every morning we would wake up to the numbers rising. At that point, I felt lost & questioning what my role or contribution was to society, I felt helpless. I felt my being was crying out, this song and the choreography allowed me to express the pain I was in.”
Artist Statement: Zoe Sarnak “Writing music is a way for me to take an ache that I feel and turn it into some piece of hope. Like so many artists, I find myself trying to make meaning of this moment of confusion, pain, and loss. I hope that this song can provide the kind of strength and solace to viewers that working with Margo, Josh, and Sara has provided to me.”
“STORM” will be entered into the collection of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts representing art created during the Covid-19 pandemic.
Works & Process at the Guggenheim Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for 35 years, New Yorkers have been able to see, hear, and meet the most acclaimed artists in the world, in an intimate setting unlike any other. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, has championed new works and offered audiences unprecedented access to generations of leading creators and performers. Most performances take place in the Guggenheim’s intimate Frank Lloyd Wright–designed 273-seat Peter B. Lewis Theater. In 2017, Works & Process established a new residency and commissioning program, inviting artists to create new works, made in and for the iconic Guggenheim rotunda. In 2020, Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions was created to financially support artists and nurture their creative process during the pandemic. worksandprocess.org.