Works & Process Premieres Commissions by Ashley Laracey, Troy Schumacher and Gabrielle Lamb

This weekend, Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presented the premieres of new commissions from Ashley Laracey and Troy Schumacher, and Gabrielle Lamb.

"7:30/7:30" by Ashley Laracey and Troy Schumacher

Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.

This short film, a depiction of an average day in our lives during the pandemic, goes out in tribute to everyone raising children during this unprecedented time. It's special and beautiful to be together as a family, exhausting without a minute to spare, and a struggle to find enough time to maintain our identities as artists.

Capturing every moment during a single day gave us the opportunity to zoom out and see what we are really working on right now: the art of raising two humans into this world.

Thank you to Works & Process for inspiring us to create this film, something which we know we will continue to watch as Willa and Charlie grow up.

7:30/7:30 by Ashley Laracey and Troy Schumacher, Music: "Willa, Charlie" by Troy Schumacher

"5x8"by Gabrielle Lamb

Commissioned by Works & Process at the Guggenheim.

Co-presented by CUNY Dance Initiative and The Next Festival of Emerging Artists.

"5x8" explores the theme of home. A few weeks into the lockdown, after years of choreographing for companies, I returned to creating on myself. I began a series of "Quarantine Dances," short solos on a 5x8 Persian rug in my front room. For the Works & Process commission I decided to take the rug outdoors for the first time, to several locations in my Hamilton Heights neighborhood. Home and the outdoors have been our refuges during this time of uncertainty, so there was a peculiar logic in the combination. The choreography finds its own home base in the repeated motif of my crossed hands holding my temples.

I asked composer James Budinich to work with Henry Purcell's "Music for a While," which has become a musical home base for me. I have used versions of it in four previous creations; but the lyrics "Music for a while / Shall all your cares beguile" seemed to speak specifically to our times. Borrowing a segment from Purcell's bass line, James recomposed it to fit into a single key, and layered on newly composed material. "5x8"'s music is something we can live in-the repeating material creates a blanket of sound where we can discover our own experiences.

During my shoot with cinematographer Melissa Wu, I noticed that outdoor rug dancing provokes a lot of curiosity in passers-by. I have since expanded the project into a rug tour of NYC, giving popup performances across the boroughs with four members of my company Pigeonwing Dance. I am grateful to Works & Process for this commission that has pushed me to expand and to connect with audiences in ways I could never have imagined.

Special thanks to Richard Ward for production help and location scouting, and to Duke Dang, Caroline Cronson, and everyone at Works & Process for supporting artists during challenging times.

5x8 by Gabrielle Lamb, Choreography/Performance/Editing: Gabrielle Lamb, Original Music: James Budinich, Cinematography/Color Correction: Melissa Wu

Works & Process Artists (WPA) Virtual Commissions, a direct response to the pandemic, was launched to financially support artists and nurture their creative process during these challenging times. Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, is granting more than $150,000 in commissioning funds to artists who have been or were supposed to be featured at Works & Process. Artists from a wide variety of genres have been commissioned to create new works, less than 5 minutes long, while social distancing, that will premiere on Facebook, Instagram and YouTube (@worksandprocess) every Sunday and Monday at 7:30pm and can be viewed anytime after.

WPA Virtual Commissions Playlist

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=X6On3OKBegI&list=PLJ08rQmWB63RFC3avQF-nDsneUXLrUd4X

Upcoming Schedule of Premieres:

August 9 Michael Novak and Josh Prince

August 10 Malcolm Jason Low and Jodi Melnick

August 16 Adrian Danchig-Waring, Joseph Gordon and HIPS

August 17 Alejandro Cerrudo and Ana Lopez

August 23 Silas Farley

August 24 Andrea Miller

August 30 Courtney Cochran

August 31 Carson Murphy and Nicholas Van Young

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