Jitterbug and the Aftermath

Jitterbug and the Aftermath is a raw, expressionistic performance work exploring an unmoored feminine identity at midlife. The piece wrestles with social conceptions of a diminishing feminine cachet, the confusion of “post-feminist” gender roles, and aging as a slow corporeal death.

Created by Donna Costello (a dance artist) and Jennifer Sargent (a physical theater artist), Jitterbug puts the body at the center of storytelling. The creators play two female figures, fragments of the same character – at times in harmony and at times combative – laboring to reclaim ownership of their bodies, their value, and, ultimately, their humanity. The work weaves together gestural movement, comic clown states, text culled from dated feminist art, and an auditory score composed from the recorded sounds of the bodies and objects onstage.

Jitterbug was nominated for a Big Easy Classical Art Award for "Outstanding Dance Presentation (short)” in New Orleans 2018.