dArK oXyGen

Performance Overview

dArK oXyGen is a sonic dance exploring choreographies of breath. The title refers to the recent discovery of oxygen production in the deep ocean where no sunlight can reach (thus photosynthesis cannot take place). The performance plays with the possibility that entering darkness is a generative process. Inspired by ocean cosmologies from the Global South, spiritual connection between 2025–2026 Artist in Residence mayfield brooks' experience as child singer of Black gospel music, and dances that rely on breath to move the body and the voice—the work takes place as an immersive experience, bringing audiences into a sense of depth and submersion to explore the way light and dark, life and death, are always entwined. It is an exorcism of the machines that mine our minds, the machines that disconnect us from the depths of our own psyches, and how that disconnection might be connected to the machines that mine our deep sea ocean ecosystems.

Through this work, brooks calls attention to the movement to permanently ban deep sea mining. They hope that their creative work can urge deeper introspection into how to care for ocean ecosystems under threat. The public is invited into the space as active participants in a dance installation that conjures breath and breathlessness as spiritual and eco-conscious awakening. Can we catch our breath and catch the spirit collectively in these trying times? Movement into shadows that speak and ghosts that dance fill the air. What happens when the ocean whispers our ancestors' names? ⁠Are we listening? Can we join together in a cacophony to exorcise the sounds of machines that mine our minds and extract from our oceans? The ocean is the lung of the earth. What would happen if the ocean couldn’t breathe?

Choreographer: mayfield brooks
Performer: camilo
Electric Cellist: Dorothy Carlos
Lighting Design: Tuçe Yasak
Sound Designer: James Kogan
Set Designer: camilo
Production Designer: Assistant Professor of the Practice in Dance Chelsie McPhilimy

The development of dArK oXyGen has been supported by a Pillow Lab Residency at Jacob’s Pillow as well as a residency at The Church Sag Harbor.