Page - 206 - in JRFM - Journal Religion Film Media, Volume 07/01

206 | Brandon Ambrosino www.jrfm.eu 2021, 7/1, 205–210 ghettoized. Roberts was one of dozens of artists benefiting from the Guggen- heim’s performing arts series Works & Process Virtual Commissions, which was launched in April to help artists create shorts works while abiding by social distancing guidelines. More than $150,000 was allocated by the commission- ing organization, which is now in its 35th year.2 A few performers were se- lected to participate in special Bubble Residencies, held through summer and fall 2020 across the Hudson Valley. Some of these culminated in live shows at the Kaatsbaan Festival in Tivoli, NY, and some were filmed at Lincoln Center in New York City. All 37 performances can be watched on the Works & Process YouTube channel.3 The performers and their pieces feature a wide range of diversity, span- ning different genres, subject matter, age, body type, and professional noto- riety. Some names, such as the prestigious Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Tony-nominated Joshua Bergasse, are well known to audiences. Others, less familiar. The pieces too display a diversity of aims, and along with those, of achievement. Some artists, like Roberts, use their bodies and various media to explore the psychological and emotional angst of inhabiting a world bat- tered by COVID. Others, like “100 Days” (2020), featuring the quirky yet lyrical movement of Ballet X dancer Chloe Perkes, are much more lighthearted.4 The lighthearted pieces seem to be a better fit for their digital medium, as their creators appear aware of the constraints of the project and work within and around those limits. That’s not to say that all such pieces will be everyone’s cup of tea. “O Cir- cle” (2020), a six-minute piece showing dancer Burr Johnson merely spinning around in a circle as classic nursery rhymes are read in the background, seems overly simple.5 “Is this … all?”, I asked myself every few seconds, not sure why such a capable dancer would be content to sign his name to this. But that’s the risk with art: it can and does disappoint some of its audience, at least some of the time. Another risk – or, perhaps better said, an avenue of promise – is that even when it disappoints, art invites its audiences to engage with it, with themselves, with the world. There have been many times since the start of the pandemic that I’ve found myself, like Johnson, spinning idly through 2 The Guggenheim 2020. 3 https://www.youtube.com/user/worksandprocess [accessed 5 January 2021]. 4 Caili Quan, “100 Days”, 14 June 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SxQvb6BJLSo [accessed 5 January 2021]. 5 Burr Johnson, “O Circle”, 16 November 2020, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xJtOmZbJrRQ [accessed 5 January 2021].