Where Do They Go

A Testament of flight

2021

Summer 2021 was an unusual transition period. The COVID-19 pandemic was still roaring, but we clung to the hope of returning to a place of normalcy with the introduction of vaccinations. What I think we were instead facing was a new world order, if only temporarily.

I was participating in The Next Festival of Emerging Artists that summer, and as a part of the festival, composers were tasked with collaborating with a choreographer and a group of instrumentalists and dancers to create something new. We were given as a launch point idea “birds” and this idea of migration

With the pandemic still reigning large, this was all being created remotely. I sought ways to make this project as collaborative as possible. We had a series of improvisatory sessions and moments of discussion the impact of this new world in which we all work. The finished product was an exploration of seasons and their impact on birds in their efforts to migrate. The seasons were, in effect, our lived experiences with COVID-19, and the migration was our collective journey within those seasons, with the return to summer being one of optimism and hope. Each of the individuals listed below contributed to the creation of this project.

Composer - Henry Dorn
Choreography - Cyrian Reed
Violin - Becca Kasdan
Cello - Rocío Diaz de Cossio
Keyboard - Adam Kormondy
Dancer/Poet - Emmy Wildermuth
Dancer - Freya Starks

Where Do They Go was collaboratively created and premiered by the above group as a part of The Next Festival of Emerging Artist on July 1, 2021.