HOLDTIGHT Company
presents
alone : un/tethered
Co-Presented by the Newman Center Presents Series
December 5-7th, 2024
The Byron Theatre
At the Newman Center for Performing Arts
Denver, CO
Beginning as a solo and ending with the collective, alone : un/tethered explores how we are inextricably linked to each other and to the earth, even when we feel most alone.
Cast and Collaborators:
Direction, Concept, Choreography & Performance: Gwendolyn Gussman
Sound Design & Live Musical Performance: Nicholas Caputo
Set Design: Maki Teshima
Lighting Design & Production Management: Alex Taylor
Costume Sourcing: Gwendolyn Gussman
Stage Manager: Emma Kimball
Assistant Director: Bailey Harper
Initial Musical Development & Collaboration at Carroll Hall: Daniel Weidlein
This piece has been developed with support from the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Denver Theater District, Denver Arts and Venues, CreateArt, and Carroll Hall.
About un/tethered:
un/tethered is a performance trilogy exploring interdependence composed of three distinct parts: alone, mother, and together. Each of these pieces will premiere in Denver & NYC over the course of 2024-2025, culminating in a durational, epic trilogy in 2026.
un/tethered is inspired by the work of prolific environmental scientists, eco-psychologists, indigenous communities, activists, writers, and others, and marries high quality performing arts with participation -- tasks incorporating environmental and psychological reflection, expression, and ritual. This partnership transforms the audience from removed spectator to empathetic participant. un/tethered is HOLDTIGHT’s most sustainable production to date, incorporating natural elements such as food-scrap dyed set pieces and costumes, reclaimed set materials and more. This piece has been developed with support from the Newman Center for the Performing Arts, Denver Arts and Venues, Denver Theater District, Denver Performing Arts Complex, CreateArt, and Carroll Hall.
About alone:
alone, the inaugural section of un/tethered, is a show about the miracles that arise when trying to hold seemingly contradictory concepts: magic vs logic, science vs story, nature vs human, alone vs together. Using dance, original live music, personal narrative with immersive and participatory elements, the audience explores how we are inextricably linked to each other and to the earth, even when we feel most alone. Beginning as a solo and ending with the collective, this piece challenges the concept of isolation and individuality, suggesting an ever-present, albeit invisible, connection to the larger world.
About HOLDTIGHT Company
HOLDTIGHT is an interdisciplinary performance art company based between Denver & New York City, creating and presenting experiential, interactive, and urgent contemporary works based in eco-psychology. HOLDTIGHT’s mission is to create transformative experiences which elicit questions, conversations, interconnection, and deep joy, supporting humanity toward healing and radical forward-thinking change. Founded in 2016 and led by Gwendolyn Gussman, HOLDTIGHT illuminates the intersection of art, environmental activism, psyche, and body through the interconnected nature of various perspectives and identities.
HOLDTIGHT has collaborated with over 50 acclaimed artists, including Grammy and Emmy-award winners, in genres such as dance, theater, music, scenography, video design, visual arts, sculpture, lighting, digital rendering, and the culinary arts. The company’s repertoire includes site-specific work created for non-traditional performance spaces including an 1800's carriage house, an armory, historic mansions, and unconventional theaters. Since its founding, HOLDTIGHT has created & premiered 9 evening-length immersive works, including the Nourishment series. HOLDTIGHT has been presented nationally at The Arts Complex with Denver Arts & Venues (CO), The Cell Theatre (NYC), The Olympic Auditorium Complex (CO), Carroll Hall (NYC), MOVE! Dance and Arts Space (CO), Church Street School for Music and Art (NYC), The Wadsworth Museum (CT), YourMove Festival (NJ), HiArtist (NYC), and more. HOLDTIGHT has been featured in publications such as The Brooklyn Rail, The Dance Enthusiast, The Denver Post, 303 Magazine, Colorado Public Radio’s ‘Colorado Matters’, Westword, OnStage Colorado, Front Row Center, No Proscenium, Presenting Denver, Interludes, and more. HT is committed to fostering conversations and community both within and beyond performance experiences; HOLDTIGHT hosts quarter-annual Community Events and offers open-level educational workshops.
Company Biographies:
Gwendolyn Hope Gussman is a director, choreographer, creative producer, performer, movement teacher, and generative artist based between Denver, Colorado (Ancestral Lands of Ute, Cheyanne and Arapaho peoples) and New York City (Ancestral Lands of the Lenape peoples). Gussman is the Founder and Artistic Director of interdisciplinary performance company, HOLDTIGHT, which was established in 2016. Gussman holds a BFA in Dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Gussman’s work has been produced and presented by institutions including National Sawdust, the cell theatre, James Madison University, Seaside Dance Festival, Nimbus DanceWorks Offline Series, Denver School of the Arts, and YourMove Festival. Gussman has been awarded residencies with Newman Center Presents (Denver, December 2024), Denver Arts & Venues (Spring 2024), Carroll Hall in Brooklyn, NY. (2023), The Cell Theatre in NYC (2020-2022), MOVE! Arts Space in Colorado (2019), Nimbus DanceWorks (2018), and in 2021, was named a Toulmin Creator through the support of National Sawdust, Center for Ballet and the Arts, and The Virginia B. Toulmin Foundation. In addition to her work with HOLDTIGHT, she has collaborated, performed, and worked on both live and film projects with artists such as Lisel (Eliza Bagg), Johnny Butler, The Warp Trio, Jett Kwong, Trevor New, Hallie Spoor, and Meredith Rose. In Fall 2023, Gussman choreographed the musical, Once, at the renowned Gallery Players in Brooklyn, NY. Most recently, Gussman is choreographing From The Ashes, a 90-min Contemporary Dance meets Chamber-Jazz piece following the life-cycle of a forest fire, conceived by composer Daniel Weidlein. As a performing artist, Gussman has worked with Shen Wei Dance Arts, Sean Curran Company, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, Vanessa Walters ‘Ripening’, Heidi Latsky, Control Group Productions, Cleo Parker Robinson, Roger C. Jeffrey, Amy Sedaris, Daniel Fish, Ashley Tata, among others. Her performance career has included venues and festivals such as The Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, MASS MoCa, Stanislavsky Theater (Moscow), Teatro Arcimboldi (Milan), Shanghai Cultural Square Theater, Teatro Comunale Modena, American Dance Festival, Spoleto Festival, Theater Olympics Festival (Beijing), Off The Grid Festival, and many others. Gussman has accepted positions as a master guest teacher for Yale University, New York University, Cleo Parker Robinson Dance Academy, Denver School of the Arts, Opening Act (NYC), Steps Ahead (NYC), BOUNCE Festival (NYC), and MOVE! (Denver). In addition, Gussman is honored to maintain a private practice of Pilates/Somatics/Yoga students.
Nicholas Caputo (Sound Designer & Musical Performance)
Nicholas Caputo is a musician, multi-disciplinary artist, audio engineer, and sound designer from Stuart, Florida. A lifelong musician, he has spent time touring in numerous bands, recording records, producing, street performing, and composing for theater and dance. After arriving in Denver during the summer of 2017 after leaving Gainesville, Florida, he started working with the Immersive Theater world by working with Control Group Productions as sound designer, composer, and associate director along with immersive production company Invisible City creating immersive activations, curating spaces, and working as a performer, divisor, and sound designer. He has also worked as sound designer and composer alongside Denver companies ODDKNOCK PRODUCTIONS, and THE EXPOSURE PROJECT. Most recently Nicholas has been working as sound engineer for local group Itchy-O as well as Conjure Productions. Nicholas has been working with HOLDTIGHT since early 2024.
Maki Teshima (Set Design & Installation)
Maki Teshima is a botanical dye textile artist. Born and raised in Japan, she moved to the U.S. to pursue her dream of becoming an artist. She studied botanical drawing, painting and printmaking at Corcoran College of Art in Washington, D.C. She learned natural dyeing techniques at the Fashion Institute of Technology, the Textile Art Center, and private studios in Kyoto, Japan. In early 2021, she relocated to Denver, Colorado after living in New York City for 15 years. She actively organizes natural dyeing workshops to share her passion. Her workshops are conducted in unique venues like cafes, hair salons, flower shops, and compost sites, in addition to renowned institutions such as the Boulder Museum of Contemporary Art, the Denver Art Museum, and the Denver Botanic Gardens. Maki just completed a solo artist-residency at Understudy Gallery in Denver where she showed her work, Botanical Stories. Maki has been working with HOLDTIGHT throughout 2024. https://www.tomorrowisalwaysnew.com/
Alex Taylor (Lighting Design, Production Management, & Creative Collaboration)
Alex Taylor currently works as the Lighting Designer for the Denver Center of Performing Arts Seawell Ballroom. From 2011-2023 he worked in the New York theater scene as a lighting supervisor and designer. His career includes four years as Assistant Lighting Supervisor for The Public Theater followed by seven years as the Lighting Supervisor at St. Ann’s Warehouse. Shows at St. Ann’s Warehouse include: Nice Fish (ART), A Streetcar Named Desire (Young Vic), A 24-Decade History of Popular Music (Taylor Mac), People, Places & Things (National Theatre), The Jungle (Good Chance/National Theatre/Young Vic), and Oklahoma!. He has had the pleasure of working as Lighting Supervisor and Production Electrician on a variety of amazing productions at The Public. These include: Into The Woods, Giant, Here Lies Love, Fun Home, The Library, Hamilton, and Grounded. Additionally, he has worked for The Today Show (Electrician), Shen Wei Dance Arts (Lighting Supervisor), Noche Flamenca (Production Electrician), and Control Group Productions (Lighting Designer & Videographer). His videography has been presented at National Sawdust (Lisel/Gwendolyn Gussman/Booker Stardrum), Next Gallery Denver (Control Group Productions), and The Cell Theatre (HOLDTIGHT). Alex has been working with HOLDTIGHT since 2019. https://www.alextaylorlighting.com/
Emma Kimball (Stage Manager)
Emma S. Kimball is an independent dance theater artist who directs, choreographs, performs in, and collaborates on projects for stage and film. She has worked with companies and artists in Colorado and New York including Stain’d Arts, Built for Collapse, Nerd Rat Media, Theater Reconstruction Ensemble, Canyon Concert Ballet, and Control Group Productions, among others. Emma is currently a company member of Life/Art Dance Ensemble and employee at DCPA, and an artist in residence at MOVE Dance Space & Arts Center. Emma has worked with HOLDTIGHT since 2023. emmaskimball.com
Support and Acknowledgements
Major thank you to our Board Members Jonathan Bost, Ariel Kiley, and Joseph Giordano. HOLDTIGHT’s Board is comprised of people who are experts in their respective fields, passionate about the mission of HOLDTIGHT, and eager to contribute to the organization’s growth. This group is inspired to lend their time, expertise, support, and networks to garner interest in our work in an effort to expand the organization's impact on our audiences and community. The members are interested in individually and collectively moving the company from ideation to action.
Sending a huge thank you to the generous network of individuals who have helped make these performances possible in a variety of ways including (but not limited to): Kohn Family Corp, Ginny & Joe Gussman, Annette Taylor, Pam & Jeff Cramer, Richard & David & Laura Goldstein, Mary Egleston, Kathleen Kennedy, Lorraine & David Poor, Nancy Dunlop, Michael Levin, Deborah Gauchat, Sue & Joe Gonzales, Harris & La Vonne Poor, and others.
Thank you to the peripheral circle of knowledgeable consultants with whom I’ve had thoughtful, eye-opening, heartfelt, and action-packed conversations with over the years, surrounding the environment, plant and herbal medicine, climate change, somatics, traditional Chinese medicine, change and environmentalism through art, and beyond: Nini Mai, Ann Inai, Vanessa Walters, Dana Egleston, and Cat Pantaleo alongside many others.
Thank you to HOLDTIGHT Company’s Administrative Assistant, Corinne Hart, and to our Social Media Assistant, Xenia Mansour.
And HUGE thank you to all of our friends, family, and support systems who make this work possible. You mean everything to us!
