What Keeps You Going?

Through an organic blend of dance, live music, storytelling, structural & mental disruptions, and video design, What Keeps You Going? is an intimate & participatory performance that invites audiences through three levels of the cell’s historic townhouse. Time, defined as the indefinite continued progress of existence, is so often measured in homogenized moments that it is easy to forget that every moment in time exists as a wholly unique instance. By conforming to the constraints of time, it can feel like one is falling into slow stagnation or an extreme acceleration.What does that mean in terms of overcoming the linear nature of time and finding purpose? What Keeps You Going? delves into the paradoxical aspects of how we navigate the present moment whilst learning from our past and preparing for our future.

What Keeps You Going? is directed and conceived by HOLDTIGHT founder Gwendolyn Gussman in collaboration with artists Nico Gonzales, Emily Haughton, Dervla Carey-Jones, and Xenia Mansour. Featuring Music and Sound Design by Grammy-award winning saxophonist Johnny Butler, Scenography by Anna Driftmier, Lighting Design by Aja M. Jackson, and Video Design by Alex Taylor. HOLDTIGHT was last seen at the cell in 2019 for It’s Not What You Think inspired by the work of Mikel Glass.

Founded in 2016, HOLDTIGHT is an experimental dance theater company using an interdisciplinary approach to developing, creating, producing, and presenting evening-length productions including the Nourishment series. While generally leaning towards non-conforming and site-specific work, HOLDTIGHT has been seen in numerous festivals and proscenium stages as well. HOLDTIGHT productions have psychologically-driven processes that, in performance, blend the narrative with the abstract while leaning into the paradox of the human condition. Based between New York City and Denver, HOLDTIGHT has worked with over 40 national and international collaborators and been featured in 303 Magazine, No Proscenium, The Denver Post, Colorado Public Radio’s ‘Colorado Matters’, Westword, The Stewardship Report, Presenting Denver, offoffoff, and more. For more details and info on the cast visit holdtightcompany.com & @holdtightcompany

Nancy Manocherian's the cell theatre (Artistic Director Kira Simring) is a non-profit dedicated to the incubation and presentation of new works that mine the mind, pierce the heart, and awaken the soul. After successfully moving into the digital sphere by streaming virtual concerts and socially distanced programming such as Dark Matter Immersive’s Garden of Eden (New York Times’ Top Ten Things to Do This Week), and Tolerance Party (Time Out New York Best Theater to Stream this Week) the cell moved back into live performance with One Whale’s Tale’s Persou and Fruma Sarah (Waiting in the Wings) starring Jackie Hoffman (Time Out New York Recommended). Past productions include Found, Hoard (co-produced with Off the Wall), The Pink Unicorn starring Alice Ripley (co-produced with Out of the Box), The Evolution of Mann starring Max Crumm, Bastard Jones (Drama-Desk Nominated), Crackskull Row, Hard Times: An American Musical (now the Broadway bound Paradise Square), The McGowan Trilogy, Hey Jude, Horse Girls and more. www.thecelltheatre.org @thecelltheatre

COVID PROTOCOL

All audience members will be required to show proof of vaccination and wear a mask.

Pre-show screeners will be required upon entry, asserting that audiences members have had no contact in the past 10 days with a COVID-positive individual and that they are experiencing no symptoms of COVID-19 including Fever or chills, Cough, Shortness of breath or difficulty breathing, Fatigue, Muscle or body aches, Headache, New loss of taste or smell, Sore throat, Congestion or runny nose, Nausea or vomiting, Diarrhea

ACCESSIBILITY

This show requires the audience to walk up and down several flights of stairs. There will be seating.

TICKET CHANGE & CANCELLATION POLICY

Tickets are priced as Sliding-Scale from $50-75. 24 hour notice is required for any ticket changes or cancellation. Please contact thecelltheatre@gmail.com for customer service.