THE SIXTH EXIT SERIES, is an evolving work of dance, film, and original music. The work began in 2018 with SIXTH EXIT, a dance work that over the course of two years developed into four chapters (Vermillion Clouds, Sun Over Ice, Ugly Hot, Clouds As Thoughts), created by Nicole Philippidis for 277 Dance Project. The work investigates humans' relationship with the natural world vs man-made world, questioning how pollution, climate change, and technology dependence are affecting society both on a personal and macro scale. 

 

In March of 2020 Nicole asked five dance artists to film routine moments of their lives during the start of the COVID-19 lockdown. As the days unfolded, a common theme that stood out greater than any other was a feeling of deep isolation. With this great isolation came a forced turn inward that provided a more intimate and personal exploration of ourselves as individuals. From these findings and investigations, Nicole created Inner Landscape, a short film set up as a video collage of various thoughts and emotions during the first three months of the pandemic.

 

The dance film Thoughts As Storms* (2022) is the latest installment of the SIXTH EXIT SERIES and is constructed around duets. The film is split in two parts. Part 1 looks at the psychological toll on two people as a result of the pandemic. Forced into isolation, the sense of being trapped, physically, mentally and emotionally, lead us to unnatural forms of communication and disembodied forms of connection. Part 2 looks at the fragility of human life and the delicate state of the environment that we know could so easily be tipped out of balance. The setting moves from a lush verdant field to a barren river bank, as the characters lose their connection and seek to find it again.

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*The development of SIXTH EXIT/Thoughts As Storms was created with financial support from the Harkness Foundation for Dance.

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