Weathering

There may be only one continent left on earth, or a simple raft: a platform on which little by little, ten performers’ bodies are welded together in precarious equilibrium. They enact a living sculpture, a morphing glacier, a tableau in which limbs, faces, and humanity seem to melt into rapturous languor and sensuality. Water is sprayed on their entangled flesh as if to nurture this collective body, at once strange and sublime, whose panting breath ultimately merges with that of the audience.

Somewhere between choreography and installation, Weathering is a multi-sensory performance where bodies, sounds, scents, liquids, and objects gradually become the final vestiges of our species. This stunning, radiant work by the New York based choreographer Faye Driscoll is a unique expression of both the disasters and the transformations haunting our times.

Companionate Reader

Learn more about the piece, the works that inspired it, and the ecological thinking that drives it with the companionate reader Durations of Soft Detail, written by Faye Driscoll, Dages Juvelier Keates and Jesse Zaritt.

Produced by Faye Driscoll
Conceived, choreographed and directed by Faye Driscoll
Performed by James Barrett + Kara Brody + Amy Gernux + David Guzman + Shayla-Vie Jenkins + Jennifer Nugent + Cory Seals + Maya LaLiberté + Carlo Antonio Villanueva + Jo Warren
Set Design Jake Margolin + Nick Vaughan
Lighting Design Amanda K.Ringger
Sound and Music Direction Sophia Brous
Live Sound and Sound Design Ryan Gamblin
Composition, Field recordings, Sound Design Guillaume Soula
Costume Design Karen Boyer
Dramaturgy and Scent Design Dages Juvelier Keates
Choreographic Assistant Amy Gernux
Intimacy Coordinator Yehuda Duenyas
Lighting Director and Stage Manager serena wong
Production Manager Lilach Orenstein

Commissioned and produced by New York Live Arts as part of the Randjelović/Stryker Resident Commissioned Artist Program made possible with funding from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation named for lead donors Jon Stryker + Slobodan Randjelović
Co-commissioned by Theater der Welt 2023 (Frankfurt – Offenbach) + The Joyce Theater Foundation’s Artist Residency Center made possible by funding from Andrew W. Mellon Foundation + Howard Gilman Foundation + LuEsther T. Mertz Charitable Trust + Doris Duke Charitable Foundation
Additional commissioning support Wexner Center for the Arts + Members of Faye Driscoll’s Commissioners Circle
With the support of New York State Council on the Arts + Café Royal Cultural Foundation + NYC Department of Cultural Affairs
Creative residencies Carolina Performing Arts at the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill + Maggie Allesee National Center for Choreography at Florida State University (Tallahassee) + Pillow Lab at Jacob’s Pillow(Becket) + Dancers’ Workshop

Presented in association with Usine C

Premiered on April 5, 2023, at New York Live Arts

Written by Catherine Girardin
Translated by David Dalgleish