they have taken nothing

2018

choreography: Heather Stewart

created with dancers: Cacia LaCount, Emily Jerant-Hendrickson, and Jessica Smith

original Music: dull

rehearsal director: Emily Gualtieri

costume Design: Heather Stewart

length: 25 minutes

Choreography: Heather Stewart

they have taken nothing is a work that inhabits the charged space between surrender and resistance. Through a trio of female performers, the piece unravels the dynamics of power, intimacy, and endurance. Their movements create a complex physical dialogue where tension and submission emerge not only through force, but also through moments of stillness, yielding, and release.

At its core, the piece reflects on feminine resilience and the nuanced negotiations we make to survive, adapt, and assert our needs. Each dancer seizes fragments of the others—constructing a visceral landscape of collision and coalescence. they have taken nothing challenges the binary of giver and taker, suggesting instead that the act of withstanding can itself be a method of reclamation.

Conceived and choreographed in Boston, MA from 2016 - 2017 they have taken nothing had its premiere at the Multicultural Arts Center in Cambridge, MA in 2018 and was later presented by the Boston Center for the Arts during HubWeek Boston. The creation and development of the piece were generously supported by a Live Arts Boston Grant.

Thank you to Emily Jerant-Hendrickson, Cacia LaCount and Jessica Smith, who were in the original cast and helped build this work. Thank you to Emily Gualitieri who worked with us as an outside eye during this time and offered invaluable feedback

• photos by The Fleet NYC | trailer by Marc Bartissol