Tribute to Jada Callender - Join us for a tribute performance at 4:30 pm.
In 2021, Jada Callender became a dedicated collaborator of Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance, beginning a four-year relationship marked by her beautiful documentation of the company’s work. Shannon Hummel/Cora Dance is an acclaimed professional dance company based in New York City since 1998. In 2020, Founding Artistic Director and Choreographer Shannon Hummel relocated to her home state of Virginia, and the company established dual residency in New York City and the Alleghany Highlands.
Upon hearing about the company’s work, Jada reached out unprompted to ask if she could attend rehearsals and photograph the dancers. A longtime admirer of dance photography, she was eager to capture the company’s artists in motion. Her first images were of Grove, SH/CD’s premiere performance in the region, held at the Historic Masonic Theatre. The photographs radiated an understated yet powerful emotionality, capturing the internal human truths expressed in the simple, authentic moments the company is known for.
While many photographers have captured the grace and virtuosity of Cora’s dancers, few managed to reflect the soul and sensibility of the company as Jada did. A lasting collaboration and deep friendship quickly formed between Jada, Shannon, and the entire Cora company. Over the next four seasons, Jada became an invested and supportive presence at every company performance and many rehearsals.
In 2022, Cora established a free and pay-what-you-can dance school for local youth in the Alleghany Highlands: Cora Dance Alleghany. Jada quickly became a welcome and recognizable presence, capturing young artists in community events, rehearsals, and performances. As with the professional company, her lens revealed the spirit and soul of each dancer, highlighting fleeting moments of beauty and connection—moments that are the true heart of dancing together. Her photography not only documented the organization's educational work but illuminated the deep rewards of community, expression, and shared movement across generations.
In the Fall of 2024, Jada approached Shannon and company member Keon Washington about using some of her images of him in an upcoming series she was planning to create. The show would focus on Black men in various states of tenderness, strength, and vulnerability. The week of her passing, Jada installed one of these photographs—an image of Keon performing in Shannon’s work Because—in a group show at Alleghany Highlands Arts and Crafts Center. On Monday, she texted Shannon: “I think you’ll like the title!” Shannon stopped by the show and, as she was leaving the next day to perform with Keon in New York City, purchased the piece, titled Just Because. She took a photo of it to share with Keon upon arrival, the first in what was surely to be a beautiful new collection of Jada's work.
That weekend, moments before stepping onstage together, Keon and Shannon learned of Jada’s passing. The cover of the playbill each audience member held featured one of Jada’s images. In an instant, the performance became a makeshift tribute to her artistry—and a homage to the kind of connection that only art, collaboration, and the courageous act of sharing yourself with others can create.
The photographs displayed are just a few of the treasured images Jada took during her all-too-short but deeply impactful collaboration with Cora Dance. The artists of Cora Dance thank AHACC for the opportunity to share her work and to honor the talent, spirit, soul, and friendship of Jada Callender. We are forever grateful to have shared these beautiful years with her.
We love and miss you, Jada.
- Shannon Hummel and the artists of Cora Dance
