COMMUNITAS:
5 YEARS LATER

“We had said that Communitas was about the formation of society- five years later it feels like a re-formation of boundaries and trust. We wanted our dancing to reflect changes in our friendships. Would our friendships keep pace with our dancing?”

— Company Member Adam Kerbel

First Performed May 16, 2019 at Funicular Station Philadelphia, Communitas 5 Years Later was created as a reimagining of Communitas, where wordless acrobatic encounters tell the story of the founding of a society in which all members are equals. Re-envisioned for changed bodies and a changed world, Communitas 5 Years Later was shown at the “Shut Up and Dance” Fundraiser for MANNA as well as Fit Fest in Shackamaxon (Penn Treaty Park).

Communitas 5 Years Later is a full-length evening of acrobatic dance and live music, in which acrobatic effort becomes a language of storytelling in action. As four performers encounter each other, they tumble and fly across the stage, pushing themselves to reach new levels of trust, strength, and risk-taking. Starkly simple in its design, Communitas is a meditation on balance through human structures, and a deep exploration of individuality and cooperation. Taking the concept of a “communitas” -- an unstructured society in which individuals are equals -- as a provocation and starting place, Almanac’s ensemble indexes the experience of their relationships across over 6 years of collaboration.

“The audience is rapt during the riveting moments of connection and electrifying feats of the human body”

Read the thINKingDANCE review: https://thinkingdance.net/articles/2019/05/23/43/Almanac-Dances-Toward-a-Classical-Ideal-of-Equality/