Tipping Pointe

Artist: Christina Massey | Choreographer: Juliette Rafaël

The work was informed by the unprecedented orange skies that settled over New York City during the 2023 Canadian wildfires, using environmental phenomena as a framework for exploring adaptation, disruption, and uncertainty.

Dancers: Evelyn Dugan, Nikola Heers, Tanner Hutchinson, Colleen McKenzie

Music: Erupting Light by Hildur Guðnadóttir and Jóhann Jóhannss, Opaque by Hildur Guðnadóttir and

Skúli Sverrisson, Outta Pulsor by Peter Gregson and Gabriel Prokofiev

Photography by: Julie Lemberger

Four women performing a dance on stage with metal structures holding colorful aluminum weavings.
Two ballet dancers perform on stage, lifting their back legs in unison, one dancer is inside a woven aluminum sculpture attched to a coat rack.
Two performers on stage, with one bending backward in front and the other's arm outstretched toward her, surrounded by a green and blue abstract artwork that looks like leaves attached to a metal coat rack.
Three dancers on stage with colorful sculptures made of repurposed aluminum cans on two coat racks, performing ballet poses under yellow lighting.
Four women on stage with a coat rack sculpture with aluminum weavings in yellow and organce made from repurposed cans, with one woman posing holding onto the sides of the coat rack while two other dancers move her across the stage.
A performer in mid-air leap in front of another performer about to be pulled through a sculpture made of colorful woven aluminum, during a theatrical dance or performance.
A performer dressed in black and a shiny silver costume is surrounded by two women pushing a coat rack filled with colorful woven aluminum. The performer is to mid-air with her knees bent and arms crossed above her to hang from the rack.
Four performers on stage wearing black shorts and legs warmers, hold two coat racks decorated with colorful woven aluminum that looks like leaves, performing a dance or theatrical piece in a dark setting.

This collaborative performance created as a part of the Norte Maar | CounterPointe12 productions. Choreographed by Juliette Rafaël, who transformed Christina Massey’s sculptures into dynamic dance partners.

The work was informed by the unprecedented orange skies that settled over New York City during the 2023 Canadian wildfires, using environmental phenomena as a framework for exploring adaptation, disruption, and uncertainty. Dancers dove through, hung from, and twirled with the sculptures: two coat-rack-like forms adorned with large-scale weavings made from repurposed aluminum cans.

These sculptural elements served as both props and metaphors, highlighting the impact of consumer culture and the often-unseen dangers of climate change. The performance invited audiences to feel the tension between beauty and threat, movement and inertia, awareness and neglect.