down here (2015/2025)

Premiere: 2015 at BAM/Brooklyn Academy of Music. Revived premiere: The Pittman Theatre on the campus of Appomattox Regional Governor’s School, February 2025.

Performed by Katie Dean and Calia Marshall, down here is a dance of attachments existing because of, in spite of and within the compromises we make to survive working together. down here makes visible, with the help of hundreds of tiny silver dolls, the little scars we leave on one another in our pursuit of control. At its core, it is simply about relationships; to each other, to outside forces we cannot control and to our own power to knowingly and unknowingly harm and heal.

2015 Original Work

Choreography by Shannon Hummel in collaboration with dancers Calia Marshall and Katie Dean

Music by Bruce Kaphan and MANOISECA
Costumes by MalcaBK

2025 Revival

Choreography by Shannon Hummel in collaboration with the original cast and 2025 dancers Ross Honaker and Ammara Shafqat

Music by Bruce Kaphan, MANOISECA, and Hans Bilger
Costumes by Shannon Hummel

“…a rare gem.”

––––––––––––––Brian Seibert, The New York Times

“Hummel’s strongest asset is her ability to create a new world onstage. Communicating feelings through a set gestural language…was eerie to see. The evocative nature of the stage picture and the graciousness of the dancers was palpable through every second. A truly magical night of dance.” 

––––––––––––––Annie Woller, EYE ON THE ARTS, NYC

“Calia Marshall and Katie Dean articulate the ins and outs of long term love in down here. Down here focuses on the ebbs and flows of long-term relationships and is unnervingly articulated by (the) dancers…”

––––––––––––––Brooklyn Based

“Calia Marshall and Katie Dean dance out the drama of their relationship, with a brilliant twist, or twists, in down here…it’s powerful.”

––––––––––––––Quinn Batson, Off Off Off