Karen Sherman: Soft Goods

Minneapolis-based artist Karen Sherman lays bare the behind-the-scenes intricacies of a dance performance in this evocative and insightful examination of work, life, and loss. Soft Goods illuminates the choreographic elegance of manual labor, the loneliness of theaters, the spectral beauty of a lighting focus, and the human hand behind all stage art. Created with and performed by an ensemble of 10 theater technicians and dancers. From every ticket, $1 will be donated to Behind the Scenes, a charity providing financial assistance to production personnel seeking treatment for chemical dependency or mental health issues.

World Premiere/Walker Commission

Funding

Commissioned by the Walker Art Center with support provided by the William and Nadine McGuire Commissioning Fund; the McKnight Foundation; the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation; and the National Endowment for the Arts. The work is supported by the National Performance Network’s (NPN) Forth Fund and is an NPN Creation Fund project created in partnership with the Walker Art Center, P.S. 122, the Center for the Art of Performance at UCLA, and NPN. Presentation, production, and production residency support provided by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts.

Soft Goods is made possible with generous support from the Jerome Foundation; the Minnesota State Arts Board; the National Endowment for the Arts; the MAP Fund, a program of Creative Capital; the McKnight Fellowship Program; and LUMBERYARD (formerly American Dance Institute).