Works & Process at Lincoln Center World Premiere Video Performance: A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time by Jamar Roberts and David Watson, Filmed by Dancing Camera

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts announce three newly commissioned video performances developed during Works & Process bubble residencies at Bethany Arts Community, Catskill Mountain Foundation, and Mount Tremper Arts that were sequenced directly into filming on location at The New York Public Library at Lincoln Center, facilitated by the Jerome Robbins Dance Division. The video performances, which premiere on Sundays in April at 7:30pm ET, are part of the series Works & Process at Lincoln Center, which began in November 2020. Each work will premiere digitally at LincolnCenter.org and Lincoln Center’s Facebook and YouTube as well as on Works & Process at the Guggenheim’s Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time by Jamar Roberts and David Watson
Filmed by Dancing Camera
In March 2020, just as the pandemic hit, Works & Process invited Jamar Roberts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s first resident choreographer, to develop a piece for Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions. Roberts created Cooped, with music by David Watson, which was described by the New York Times as “one of the most powerful artistic responses yet to the COVID-19 crisis.” In this Works & Process bubble residency, Roberts continued to choreograph a new work that was first developed in a summer 2020 Works & Process bubble residency. Dancers include Patrick Coker, Ghrai DeVore-Stokes, Jacquelin Harris, Courtney Celeste Spears, and Brandon Michael Woolridge, with commissioned music by Watson. The work will premiere in the 2021-2022. To go into the bubble residency watch Works & Process at the Catskill Mountain Foundation’s presentation of A Chronicle of a Pivot at a Point in Time, where Roberts discusses his creative process.

“Commonly, when a choreographer tries to express a state of emergency though dance, the results are obvious, didactic, or maudlin. An ability to avoid those traps seems to be part of Mr. Roberts’s gift.” —The New York Times

Since the pandemic began, Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts has driven efforts to bring the power of the arts to New Yorkers outdoors and digitally—from Love From Lincoln Center concerts for individual essential workers to works of art that elevate the voices and lived experiences of people of color in America, such as Carrie Mae Weems’ installation Resist COVID/Take 6!, Davóne Tines’ Vigil, and digital commissions like The Baptism by Carl Hancock Rux. Future international collaborations with the Stavros Niarchos Cultural Center in Athens (SNFCC) will bring new approaches to cultural engagement in both cities. These are just the beginning of a reorientation towards prioritizing openness, access, and inclusive excellence – elevating talent from every corner of the globe and fostering a sense of radical welcome on the campus.

Works & Process bubble residencies and reopening performances are made possible by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, and Stephen Kroll Reidy.

Works & Process at Lincoln Center digital premieres are made possible by The Audrey and Martin Gruss Discovery Fund. This performance is made possible by Jody and John Arnhold, Arnhold Dance Innovation Fund, and First Republic Bank.

Lead funding for the 2020-21 Works & Process season is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation, Ford Foundation, the Christian Humann Foundation, Leon Levy Foundation, Mertz Gilmore Foundation, NYC COVID-19 Response and Impact Fund, Rockefeller Brothers Fund, Evelyn Sharp Foundation, and The Geraldine Stutz Trust, with public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim
Described by The New York Times as “an exceptional opportunity to understand something of the creative process,” for since 1984, 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. Traditionally, most performances took 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. To forge a path for artists to safely gather, create, and perform during the pandemic, in summer 2020, Works & Process pioneered and continues to produce a series of bubble residencies that resulted in co-producing with Kaatsbaan Cultural Park some of the first permitted outdoor performances in America during the pandemic. The docuseries Isolation to Creation capturing the bubble residencies premiered in 2021 and can be seen on WNET’s All Arts. On March 20, 2021, after over a year of shuttered indoor performances, with special guidance from New York State’s Department of Health, Works & Process, in the rotunda of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, was the first cultural organization to reopen live indoor performances. For more information, visit worksandprocess.org.

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