UnderScored is a multi-faceted project rooted in the intergenerational stories and memories of NYC underground club heads. Created in collaboration with legendary elders from the underground dance community, Archie Burnett, Michele Saunders (both featured in this video), Louis (Loose) Kee, and Brahms (Bravo) LaFortune, the cast ranges in age from age 25-77. This project takes shape as a series of performances, community based events and an oral history archive.

Originally commissioned by Works & Process for the subterranean theater at the Guggenheim, this work continues to evolve. Before the creators of Underscored exited their Works & Process bubble residency, they created a site-specific work for and filmed at Lincoln Center. While the pandemic has brought club life to a halt, the bonds created on dance floors across boroughs and across generations continue to provide the company with a sense of family and community.

In conjunction with this project, the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at The New York Public Library for the Performing Arts will provide a fellowship for Asherie to collect and archive oral histories. This archive will focus on elders who are part of the generation of dancers who helped create and usher in NYC’s underground dance culture in the 1970s and ’80s. When it is safe, Underscored will officially premiere in front of a live audience at Works & Process at the Guggenheim.

In order of appearance:
Teena Marie Custer, Manon Bal, Val (Ms. Vee) Ho, Ephrat (Bounce) Asherie, Dorren (Moglii) Smith, Ron (Stealth-1) Chunn Jr., Matthew (Megawatt) West, Michele Saunders, and Archie Burnett

The work will premiere digitally on Sunday, November 15 at 7:30 pm ET on this page and Lincoln Center’s Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube as well as on Works & Process at the Guggenheim’s Facebook, Instagram and YouTube.

Works & Process at Lincoln Center
Works & Process at the Guggenheim and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts present four newly-commissioned video performances created during Works & Process bubble residencies at Kaatsbaan Cultural Park in rural Hudson Valley and filmed on the Lincoln Center campus. The works are co-produced by Works and Process at the Guggenheim and Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts, and filmed by Nic Petry at Dancing Camera. When it is safe for artists and audiences to gather, these works will premiere in full form at Works & Process at the Guggenheim. Click here to learn more.