VASTNESSESS is an evening-length dance work by performance maker Valerie Oliveiro. Conceived during unprecedented time, the piece searches for possibility. The dance finds support through, and relishes in, deep patterning—while accepting the sometimes bizarre coexistences of our current experiences. Techniques are passed down for centuries, birds migrate over great distances over thousands of years, dances move through thousands of bodies on the internet, and there are habitual ways to get off. 

The choreography explores vastness at many scales—from durations that span beyond a single lifetime, to the feeling of expansion that may arise from the smallest places in the body. In VASTNESSESS, vernaculars may pass by, get picked up, come apart, walk alongside, or arrive at the same time. Form sets, then resets. Simultaneously we witness the beauty, the labor, and the journey of grief. Dance is devotion, dance is loss, and then—dance is stunningly available.

Choreography, lighting, sound design: Valerie Oliveiro
Created with and performed by: Sam Johnson, Judith H Shuǐ Xiān, and Pramila Vasudevan
Guests: Emily Gastineau and Jennifer Monson
Environmental treatment and fabrication: Jess Kiel-Wornson 
Liminal space technician: matt regan
Writing vectors: Emily Gastineau (on devotion), Rachel Jendrzejewski (on deep pattern), Marcela Michelle (on queer versatility), and aegor ray (on grief)