Because

2025-2026 because performances & events:

Friday, October 3 and Saturday, October 4, at 7 pm in the gym of PAVE Academy Charter School, 732 Henry St., in Red Hook, Brooklyn, NYC. (NYC Premiere)

Tickets are $25 or PAY-WHAT-YOU-CAN. (Tickets available beginning September 1, 2025.)

Choreography: Shannon Hummel in collaboration with the dancers

Dancers/Collaborators: Nikki Assanti, Ross Honaker, Ammara Shafqat, Keon Washington, with additional contributions by Katie Dean

Original Score by Hans Bilger with source material from Fiona Apple, The Alan Parsons Project, The 1999 College of Wooster Scots Marching Band, and Pink Floyd

Production and Company Manager: Kaitlyn Hawkins

Company Management Assistant: Sarah McCullough

Production Assistant: Tyler Renfroe

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Photos above by Jada Callender of dancers Nikki Assanti, Ross Honaker, Ammara Shafqat, and Keon Washington in Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance’s Because. Shot on location at the Clifton Forge Armory in Clifton Forge, VA.

BECAUSE:

Gymnasiums hold a unique place in our collective memory, serving as spaces of triumph, defeat, intensity, and mundanity. Distinctly different yet universally familiar, gyms are timeless. Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance’s latest work, Because, transforms these spaces into a stage for an expansive, intimate, and existential exploration of athleticism, humanity, sweetness, and nostalgia.

Because unpacks how, like gyms, we are simultaneously constant and ever-changing, reflecting on the hopes of youth, the inevitability of endings, and the hard-won beauty of shared experiences. Through an evocative blend of movement and music, Because invites us to experience how memory intertwines fantasy and fact, connecting our stories across time and place. A powerful reminder of who we are and the connections we keep, lose, seek, and rediscover through time, Because is a welcome respite from the divisiveness of the moment, offering an evening of tenderness as beautiful as our very first high school dance… and we hope you are there to make more sweet memories with us.

Because was created by Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer, Shannon Hummel in collaboration with dancers Nikki Assanti (New York City); Ross Honaker (Seattle, WA); Ammara Shafqat (Harrisonburg, VA); and Keon Washington (New York City) performing to an original score by company composer Hans Bilger (Berlin, Germany).

Tickets: $25 or pay-what-you-can available September 1 by clicking here.

Grape soda and Twinkies follows the Friday, October 3 performance!

The Saturday, October 4 performance is followed by a Tribute Reception* honoring Cora Dance Founder, Shannon Hummel. (*Ticketed separately, click here for details).

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