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Created against the backdrop of a global pandemic and social isolation, I : I follows four individuals as they excavate memories and experiences on a journey toward new ways of being and connecting with one another. The title of this film creates space for interpretation: one to one or eye to eye; a mirror image, a chance to reflect; a stretch of highway on the long road ahead. All of these images and more find a home in the original movement and music of this dance film by Janessa Clark, in collaboration with Attack Theatre.

Filmed on location at Attack Theatre’s new studios space and headquarters in Pittsburgh, I : I is a collaboration between Brooklyn-based choreographer Janessa Clark and artists of Attack Theatre: Michele de la Reza, Peter Kope, Simon Phillips, Dane Toney, and Sarah Zielinski.

On a micro level this film explores themes of personal emergence and growth. The performers excavate experiences and memories on a journey towards new resources and ways of being.

On a macro level this film is an examination of our society. We have been in a place of pain and trauma for the past months, years, centuries. As a people we must take a hard diagnostic look at ourselves and our past actions. This personal journey through a pandemic, systemic racism, and political divides are all stepping stones to becoming a more compassionate, inclusive world.

The original music composition by David Shane Smith (Santa Fe, NM) begins dark and low, inspired by the emphatic sounds of an MRI. In body, interpersonal relationship and societal ills, how can a problem be healed if it is not diagnosed first? The music score parallels the explorations of the choreography and space culminating in a rhythmic section that drives to a crescendo, then resolves and decays sonically.

This dance film is a complex web of spaces and scenes captured by cinematographer Joshua Sweeny. In this film the viewer may find an intimate look at the performers, the journey, and perhaps themselves.

| : | is conceived, devised, created and captured in the difficult year of 2020. The premiere of the work will launch the 2021 year in January as we invite the start of a new chapter for our world, our lives, and for Attack Theatre.