Past Presentations
World Premiere
Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, Hanover, NH
September 16-17, 2022
Photo by Ben DeFlorio.
The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist premiered at the Hop following developmental residencies in 2019 and 2022. The work was born of a collaboration between painter Enrico Riley and poet/librettist Vievee Francis—both members of the Dartmouth faculty—and composer Jonathan Berger. At Dartmouth, social impact director Shamell Bell and the creators worked with the community to develop seven rituals, tied to the themes and seven movements of the opera. These rituals, including groundings and both personal and communal activations were offered in the days leading up to the performance.
More on the Dartmouth premiere >
Stanford Live Presentation
Bing Concert Hall, Stanford University
October 14, 2022
Photo by Harrison Truong.
The Ritual of Breath was presented at Stanford Live, an original co-commissioner of the work. At Stanford, community rituals were offered over the course of the week prior to the performances, and led by community partners. They included a listening/noticing ritual designed to develop practices that regenerate intuition, enchantment and eco-social repair; a session on grief as sacrament, honoring the wisdom, grace and companionship that grief offers at a time when we have been systematically separated from traditions of collective grieving; and a procession of breath from the Black House to Bing Concert Hall before the first performance, with choreographed movement and song.