down here (2015)

Premiere: 2015 at BAM/Brooklyn Academy of Music. Restaged for the Historic Masonic Theatre in Clifton Forge, VA: November 2024.

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.

Performed by Calia Marshall and Katie Dean
Costumes by MalcaBK
Photos by Steve Pisano

“…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