Works & Process At The Guggenheim Presents The World Premiere Performance Of ARRAY's LEAP

This World Premiere performance of The Reckoning is multidisciplinary choreographer and director Francesca Harper's response to the 2010 killing of seven-year-old Aiyana Mo'Nay Stanley-Jones at the hands of Detroit law enforcement. In collaboration with composer Nona Hendryx, Harper creates an expressive historical record of injustice as she explores the relationship between erasure and commodification in the media's coverage of brutality against bodies of color. Dancers from Ailey II and FHP Collective perform in costumes by Elias Gurrola, with lighting design by Itohan Edoloyi. The Reckoning exists as both an upcoming film and a live performance, premiered for one night only on March 11, 2023.

"Francesca Harper's choreographed movements, through every gesture and elongation offered by the dancers, stirs up the sorrow and frenzy that was dispensed the night Officer Joseph Weekly's bullet struck and killed Aiyana Stanley-Jones," said ARRAY SVP of Public Programming Mercedes Cooper. "By imagining the future self of Aiyana, the artist condemns the erasure of her young life and demands we confront the systems that police our communities with a carelessness towards Black bodies."

A behind-the-scenes video, additional information about the film, and information about the Works & Process performance at the Guggenheim Museum are available to view at leapaction.org.

The Reckoning was commissioned by ARRAY's Law Enforcement Accountability Project (LEAP), a propulsive fund dedicated to empowering activists to disrupt the code of silence that exists around police aggression and misconduct.

The development of The Reckoning and this live performance premiere is supported by Works & Process and developed in Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bethany Arts Community with the collaboration of Gabri Christa and The Movement Lab @ Barnard.