A study on longing,
a meditation on desire,
a measure of distances between.
"an athletic exercise in kinetic memory and nostalgia for the current moment...
I fervently long for an unfettered societal interconnection and consciousness that allows young artists to make fearless art and for adult artists to create safety for the next generation of creators."
- Kitty Drexel, New England Theatre Geek
Directed and choreographed by Cassie Wang, the evening-length dance production responds to a selection of songs by American indie folk band Big Thief. As a meditation on desire, Wang fuses generative video art and projection into a performance of contemporary dance that is intimate and tender through moments of affective viscerality.
With the sound and lyricism of the music serving as inspiration for ethnographic inquiry and movement generation, six performers traverse through states of holding, witnessing, singing, chasing, and coalescing in embodiments of varying relationality. The audience frames the performance on opposite sides, positioned to witness both the dance and a reflection of themselves/the other. Throughout this multi-year process, Wang and her collaborators ground themselves in the questions: How does longing reveal identity? How do we sit with someone else’s longing? How do we measure the distance between subjects of longing? In process and in performance, this new work aims to cultivate mutual understanding of self and other.
"Tenderness, tenacity, relationship, musicality: all these elements were clear right from this opening... and poignant throughout the entire work.
The Head is not the Star of the Body held a mirror to big ideas such as nostalgia and interpersonal turbulence. Beautiful movement, abstraction leaving room for personal meaning, and a generally calming atmosphere made the view from that mirror both accessible and satisfying."
- Kathryn Boland, Dance Informa
May 8–11, 2025 Boston Dancemakers Showcase, Boston MA
February 27, 2025 Dancemakers Retreat Showing at Jacob's Pillow
September 22, 2024 Cotuit Dance Festival, Cotuit MA
July 13, 2024 MIDDAY Movement Rough Drafts Showcase, Cambridge MA
May 20, 2024 Rough Drafts Informal Showing, Cambridge MA
May 3, 2024 Calderwood Pavilion at BCA, Boston MA
March 30, 2024 NACHMO Boston, Cambridge MA
Director & Choreographer Cassie Wang
Performers & Collaborators Gabriela Amy-Moreno, Hannah Franz, Sasha Peterson, Noli Rosen, Cassie Wang, Maude Warshaw
Video Editors Kiki Temple & Cassie Wang
Dramaturg Ilya Vidrin
Rehearsal Director Dara Nicole Capley
Music Big Thief
Technical Director Anne Dresbach Mejia
Lighting Designer Andrea Sofia Sala
The Head is not the Star of the Body was incubated through the Dance Lab (2023–24) and Dancemakers (2024–25) Residencies at the Boston Center for the Arts. The development of this project has been supported by The Boston Foundation’s Next Steps for Boston Dance Grant, NEFA’s New England Dance Fund, Movement Arts Creation Studio, and generous donations from my community and family members, and with residency support from Jacob's Pillow and the Nautilus Chamber (San Miguel de Allende, MX).
