ACC collaboration with Salt Lake City-based choreographer Kara Komarnitsky. A 10-minute short, Lake Bodies explores climate grief and how it manifests in the body. Developed in concert with four local artists, this screendance melds dance and poetry to provide a breathtaking and visceral response to the rapid disappearance of Utah’s Great Salt Lake. Ti'tsa-pa (Shoshone) is the largest saltwater lake in the Western Hemisphere with surrounding wetlands that provide a critical habitat for millions of migratory shorebirds and waterfowl and countless other cultural, economic, and ecosystem services.

​Due to extractive industries, industrial agriculture, and drought Great Salt Lake is shrinking at a deadly pace. If current conditions of diverting water continue, the ecosystem of the lake will collapse in 4-5 years. Lake Bodies grapples with what it means to steward a place that is the heart of a community while grappling with its historic and contemporary exploitation. The film will explore the experience of climate grief and how it manifests in the body as a heavy weight.

ACC recognizes and respects Utah’s Indigenous peoples, the original stewards of Ti'tsa-pa, the traditional and ancestral homelands of the Shoshone, Paiute Goshute, and Ute Tribes.

photos by: Veronica Harvey

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**All proceeds from this film have been donated to two organizations. 50% donated to the Northwestern Band of the Shoshone Nation in Utah and 50% donated to ACC's partnered organization, Earth Guardians.

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ABOUT THE FILM

The aim of this screendance is to address the sense of hopelessness that many people are feeling in regard to Great Salt Lake’s future and climate change in general. We need action to make change, and that action needs to come from a place of immense love if we hope for it to be sustainable for our communities.

The poetry used in the film describes the history of the landscape and the trauma that has been passed down through violent and extractive activities. It recognizes how human actions have the potential to hurt but also to heal and invites us to discover a perspective of awe, connection, and love at the center of our relationship with Great Salt
Lake. With movement, presence, and deep listening, the dancer transforms that weight into buoyancy
supported by the vitality of our sacred lake.

  
​CHOREOGRAPHER/DIRECTOR
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Kara Komarnitsky grew up in Salt Lake City, Utah, and graduated with her BFA in Dance from Ohio State University with minors in Environmental Science and Business. Most recently she has performed with the Interdisciplinary Arts Collective, Myriad Dance Company, Fem Dance Company, and Repertory Dance Theatre. Her work approaches the complexity of human interconnection with the planet, pulling inspiration from the natural world and environmental research. While her primary medium is dance, Kara regularly uses projections, film, sound, and interactive technology to create immersive performance experiences. Her piece Tales of the Deep (2018) won third place in the Midwest Climate Summit’s Climate Stories Competition and her thesis, Interconnect (2022), received an Honorable Mention at the OSU Denman Research Forum. Other places her work has been presented includes the Ohio Dance Festival Professional Concert, Illuminate Salt Lake Festival, RDT’s Heritage Concert, Hillcrest High School’s Dance Company Concert, Rowland Hall Middle School’s Spring Concert, and Repertory Dance Theatre’s LINK series.


POETRY

milo is a post-binary being and investigative poet with a fierce love for great salt lake. as a queer anarchist, their rage burns hot - as a meditator, they know love is at the center. their art originates from this place.

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PERFORMER

Severin Sargent-Catterton, of Ellicott City, Maryland, grew up immersed in various western dance techniques before setting sights on modern dance. Studying under Marilyn Byers, Severin practiced Nikolais technique before moving to Salt Lake City to continue her dance studies at the University of Utah. During her completion of her Honors Bachelor of Fine Arts at the School of Dance, Severin performed works by Anouk Van Dijk, Eric Handman, and others. She also performed Outdoors, Noa Zuk and Ohad Fishof, with Repertory Dance Theater during their Fall 2019 season. Post graduation, Severin taught for Johns Hopkins University.  She has performed with Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company, RDT’s Emerge, sonderIMMERSIVE, Interdisciplinary Arts Collective, Myriad Dance, and Deseret Experimental Opera. Severin continues to create and move for various artists around the Salt Lake Valley. Severin is the Touring and Grants Manager for Ririe-Woodbury Dance Company; and has worked with the company since 2016.


COSTUMING

Nathaniel Woolley is a Salt Lake City based performing artist. Nathaniel primarily works in the mediums of voice, dance, film, and theatre. He also involves himself in every aspect of theatrical production and enjoys choreographing and directing, and frequently costume designs for dance projects around town. A proud member of Interdisciplinary Arts Collective, Nathaniel has been at the forefront of bringing avant garde performance art to the SLC scene. In 2021 he co-wrote and starred in Unidentified Subject: An Operetta In One Act. Nathaniel appeared in Rites by Charles O. Anderson in Ririe Woodbury’s 2022/23 winter season and most recently performed with Salt Lake Ballet Cooperative. Nathaniel currently enjoys volunteering for Grey Matters Dance For Parkinson’s Disease and looks forward to working on the Dance for PD show that will premier later this year.

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VIDEOGRAPHY
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Veronica Harvey is a dancer, filmmaker, and photographer currently creating in Salt Lake City.  Her creative work is clean, sentimental, and vividly expressive. After earning a BA in dance from Brigham Young University, her passion for dance took her across the world to study and create work in New York, Spain, Italy, France, and throughout the United States. She has performed with Grupo E21, Myriad Contemporary Dance, and the Salt Lake Ballet Cooperative. Veronica frequently creates for photo and film in collaboration with other dancers, musicians, and artists. Her first film, “Relent”, was featured in the 2022 Utah Dance Film Festival. She has a special love for the Great Salt Lake and has used its unique beauty as the location of multiple film and photo projects.

Project Filmmaker, Veronika Harvey

featured dancer, Severin Sargent-Catterton

MERCH FUNDRAISER

The Merch Fundraiser has come to a close! Those who have ordered merch will receive it in the coming weeks! Please reach out if you have any questions.

*edited 8/19/24

consider donating anyway!

​ACC has created a fundraising campaign with our first ever line of MERCH to help raise the necessary funds in order to pay all of the artists involved in this project. If you are interested in supporting this work, please consider making a donation.

Your donation will help cover:
- artist compensation
- film costumes and transportation costs

T-shirts and sweaters are made from recycled materials and printed by a local designer in the Salt Lake area. 

SIZING: 

Available in size - XS-XXL

*** TO SELECT YOUR SIZE: YOU WILL BE EMAILED AFTER YOUR PURCHASE TO SELECT YOUR PREFERRED SIZE. 
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ACC is committed to equitably compensating all of our collaborating artists.

We could use your help making this project a reality. Consider donating!