Composer: Nicky Sohn, www.nickysohn.com Choreographer: Jennifer Hackbarth Guitarist: Bokyung Byun, https://www.bokyungbyun.com This work was created as a part of the Cloud Collaboration 2021 with Sounding Board Project (https://www.soundingboardfest.com/) This year’s project, Cloud Collaboration, aims to bring artistic minds from all around the world to create multidisciplinary works through virtual collaboration. The extended isolation from the pandemic has made collaborative art making more challenging than ever, but through virtual collaboration, the Sounding Board Project was able to provide a platform where artists can meld their creative ideas and energy together for creation of new works regardless of any distances or barriers between them. The Cloud Collaboration invited a diverse array of four guitarists, four composers, and four choreographers from all around the world. Each group consists of 3 artists from each discipline, and together they will present multi-perspective and multi-cultural forms of expression through music and dance. The Cloud Collaboration will be premiered in August 2021.

Composer: Soomin Kim Choreographer: Angela Falk Guitarist: Jiji, http://jijiguitar.com Program note: When the three of us got together via Zoom for the first time, we quickly learned that we were all drawn to the nuances and complexities of the various emotions we experienced during the pandemic. We’ve felt immensely hopeless at times, feeling stuck and alone; we’ve also experienced unlimited joy, as we continued to make art and express our feelings. Then we realized that these feelings, seemingly at the opposite ends of the spectrum, were much closer to one another. For example, why does it feel really sad when you’re really happy?; is my “pandemic art” cute and relatable, or is it pathetic?; is dancing alone in the living room cool and fun, or is it super lonely? What Words We Had came about as a result of reflecting on how these intense feelings are sometimes indistinguishable from one another. The middle section of the piece features clips of Angela dancing alone on her birthday and on New Year’s Eve, accompanied by obsessive guitar music that spirals into a manic state. The extended absence of music at the end of the piece evokes a sense of relief and quietude. The title came from Franny Choi’s poem, We Used Our Words We Used What Words We Had, which goes as follows: we used our words we used what words we had to weld, what words we had we wielded, kneeled, we knelt. & wept we wrung the wet the sweat we wracked our lips we rang for words to ward off sleep to warn to want ourselves. to want the earth we mouthed it wound our vowels until it fit, in fits the earth we mounted roused & rocked we harped we yawned & tried to yawp & tried to fix, affixed, we facted, felt. we fattened fanfared anthemed hammered, felt the words’ worth stagnate, snap in half in heat the wane the melt what words we’d hoarded halved & holey, porous. meanwhile tide still tide. & we: still washed for sounds to mark. & marked. --------------------------------------------------- This work was created as a part of the Cloud Collaboration 2021 with Sounding Board Project (https://www.soundingboardfest.com/) This year’s project, Cloud Collaboration, aims to bring artistic minds from all around the world to create multidisciplinary works through virtual collaboration. The extended isolation from the pandemic has made collaborative art making more challenging than ever, but through virtual collaboration, the Sounding Board Project was able to provide a platform where artists can meld their creative ideas and energy together for creation of new works regardless of any distances or barriers between them. The Cloud Collaboration invited a diverse array of four guitarists, four composers, and four choreographers from all around the world. Each group consists of 3 artists from each discipline, and together they will present multi-perspective and multi-cultural forms of expression through music and dance. The Cloud Collaboration will be premiered in August 2021.

Composer: Tiffany Cuaresma Choreographer: Joshua Guillemot-Rodgerson Guitarist: Mircea Gogoncea, https://www.mirceagogoncea.com This work was created as a part of the Cloud Collaboration 2021 with Sounding Board Project (https://www.soundingboardfest.com/) This year’s project, Cloud Collaboration, aims to bring artistic minds from all around the world to create multidisciplinary works through virtual collaboration. The extended isolation from the pandemic has made collaborative art making more challenging than ever, but through virtual collaboration, the Sounding Board Project was able to provide a platform where artists can meld their creative ideas and energy together for creation of new works regardless of any distances or barriers between them. The Cloud Collaboration invited a diverse array of four guitarists, four composers, and four choreographers from all around the world. Each group consists of 3 artists from each discipline, and together they will present multi-perspective and multi-cultural forms of expression through music and dance. The Cloud Collaboration will be premiered in August 2021.

Composer: Lucy McKnight Choreographer: Katerina Beckman Guitarist: Henry Johnston This work was created as a part of the Cloud Collaboration 2021 with Sounding Board Project (https://www.soundingboardfest.com/) This year’s project, Cloud Collaboration, aims to bring artistic minds from all around the world to create multidisciplinary works through virtual collaboration. The extended isolation from the pandemic has made collaborative art making more challenging than ever, but through virtual collaboration, the Sounding Board Project was able to provide a platform where artists can meld their creative ideas and energy together for creation of new works regardless of any distances or barriers between them. The Cloud Collaboration invited a diverse array of four guitarists, four composers, and four choreographers from all around the world. Each group consists of 3 artists from each discipline, and together they will present multi-perspective and multi-cultural forms of expression through music and dance. The Cloud Collaboration will be premiered in August 2021.