277 Dance Project’s newest work, Cardboard Stage, a cross-media work featuring dance, video, live music, and spoken word, is a culmination of a two-year collaborative experiment in urban immersion. Having spent an extensive period of time in the Bronx, exposed to a vibrant and gritty urban landscape, the choreographer Nicole Philippidis and her performers were compelled to delve into social inequities still plaguing the American metropoles. The resulting work is a story about power and powerlessness, told in six chapters, focusing on different facets of urban life in the shadows of what lies in the glamourous spotlight of the mainstream media. The piece features a dance film by Jennifer Klein. Original music and sound score for Cardboard Stage, created and performed live by Nicole’s brother John Philippidis (of the award-winning indie folk band Burlap to Cashmere,) captures the stark industrial mood of the inner city.

The six-person cast includes longtime company member Mika Yanagihara as well as dancers Stephen Galberth, Christopher Makens, Elisa Schreiber, Emily Tellier, and Eric Parra.