Everett’s Bliss Body

About The Piece

BLISS BODY COLLAGES DANCE, IMAGERY AND TRUE STORIES, TO EXPLORE AND SHARE EXPERIENCES OF BLISS. THE PIECE IS A PROVOCATIVE AND MOVING HOUR OF DANCE AND THEATER THAT INCLUDES QUIET MEDITATION AND ENERGETIC DANCING, THAT CONSIDERS PEACE AND STRUGGLE, THAT ASKS HOW WE FIND BLISS IN TODAY'S WORLD. IT IS AN INVITATION TO BE PRESENT, TO LET GO, JOIN IN AND FEEL BLISS!

Bliss Body is available for touring. For more information please contact Aaron Jungels at ajungels@everettri.org or by phone at (401)831-9479.

Premiere & Touring

Everett’s Bliss Body premiered at Brown University’s Granoff Center in November of 2022 followed by a three weekend run at Everett Stage in December. These performances were well received by audiences from across Rhode Island. The production was then presented by Maine Inside Out at SPACE theater in Portland, ME in September, 2023. The company will bring Bliss Body to Albuquerque, NM in January, 2024.

Below are some audience comments.

  • “I had a different idea of what dance performances could look like before this…what they’ve expressed throughout their movements and stories is so powerful.”

  • “It was absolutely amazing. I was touched by the performance, the expression, vulnerability, intersectionality, and the biographical aspects of it.”

  • “As the world around us is collapsing, I spent my Sunday afternoon having a life changing experience at Everett. I was fortunate enough to see the play Bliss Body… It helped me escape reality and see and experience bliss through this powerful performance… I feel so fortunate and thankful to see this play. Thank you for giving us great art!”

Press

Bliss Body - Struggle Is A Part Of It

“The piece has a way of positioning dark melancholy memories against other bright, almost manic instances of pure elation. Some say that what we created is a microcosm of life itself – demonstrating the highs and lows of a universal human experience. Together we offer the ingredients of a storm — pressure, cold and hot air, clouds, water – all hovering, swirling above the heads of both performer and audience.” Full Article Here

- Anjel Newmann, Motif Magazin


Everett Company’s ‘Bliss Body’ uses personal stories to explore bliss, Black experience

“Everett Company’s ‘Bliss Body’ uses personal stories to explore bliss, Black experience. An interactive, multidisciplinary performance featuring dance, rap, poetry and more, “Bliss Body” invited audience members to contemplate the idea of bliss through the lens of Black experiences in America, telling the personal stories of four performers.” Full Article Here

- Sofia Barnett, The Brown Daily Herald


RI PBS, Art Inc. Episode 2 - Bliss Body

Healing life-long trauma can be a painful subject to address, but at Everett: Company, Stage & School, an immersive art experience centers on the bliss that can arise after acknowledging trauma, and forgiving. Watch seven artists come together and perform through dance, spoken word, image projection, and theater, what bliss means to them. Video Link Here


Thank You to our Funders!

Bliss Body was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. Additional funding was provided by the National Endowment for the Arts, Champlin Foundation, Brown Arts Institute, Providence Tourism Council and Providence Department of Arts, Culture and Tourism. 

Funding provided in part by a grant from the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts, through an appropriation by the Rhode Island General Assembly, a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts and private funders.