
Rena Butler, Isaies Santamaria, Eoghan Dillon and Elena Valls in ‘Walls Are Here To Fall’ choregraphed by Manuel Vignoulle. Photo: Lora Robertson Photo: Satellite Collective

Satellite Collective, Photo: Lora Robertson Photo: Satellite Collective

Marika Anderson and Lauren King, New York City Ballet, “Weimar” Photo: Lora Robertson Photo: Satellite Collective
To produce an innovative collaboration for the series at 92Y, Satellite Collective entered into the realm of social architecture as art form by inviting SiTE:LAB, a Grand Rapids based non-profit arts organization to participate. Their artistic platform involves regional art production and the revitalization of urban space. From this collaboration three separate but linked events emerged: Gran Jericho, a film by Lora Robertson; a discussion between members of SiTE:LAB and Satellite Collective on the meaning of place; and an installation of a church steeple that SiTE:LAB excised from an old Grand Rapid’s church and transported to 92Y’s Buttenwiser Hall. In Robertson’s film with a score by Stelth Ulvang of The Lumineers and singing by soprano Catherine Hancock, Marika Anderson and Lauren King of New York City Ballet move dreamily around the church grounds and balance precariously yet imperiously on the church steeple. This collaboration may seem quite conceptual and complex as far as performances goes but Satellite Collective aims to open up the stage to diverse artistic practice, producing alternate channels for performance to envelope the audience—expressing the theatrical and choreographic gesture, sound, décor, film, stagecraft and storytelling into a total artwork. “Dance is at the heart of Satellite programs because it brings so many arts forms together so transparently on the stage; in a similar fashion, short film allows us to use the talents of many different artists on a single work,” says Draper.