Co-presentation with Jacob’s Pillow 

bLUr, choreographed by Kimberly Bartosik, is a highly physical and emotionally intense dance piece in which five performers navigate scenes of desire, care, violence, and tender rescue.

Exploring the haunting impact of witnessing a loved one’s overdose, but moving beyond explicit narratives of the opioid crisis, the work uses visceral movement cycles to embody the violent cravings and internal battles of substance abuse. Built out of Bartosik’s own experiences and deeply shaped by the individuality of her performers, bLUr is both personal and universal as it warps time and reminds us of our fragility, power, and need for one another.

About the artist
Kimberly Bartosik is a choreographer, performer, educator, and writer. As a member of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company for nine years, Bartosik received a Bessie Award for Exceptional Artistry. She is currently an Advisor for The Ailey School/Fordham BFA Program and teaches at SUNY/Purchase and the Merce Cunningham Trust.

She is a 2024 National Dance Project Production Grant (NDP) recipient from the New England Foundation for the Arts; a 2025 New York State Council on the Arts/NYSCA Support for Artists Award grantee with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; and a 2025 Harkness Foundation for Dance Project Grant recipient, among numerous other awards. Bartosik’s work has been commissioned and presented by BAM Next Wave, New York Live Arts, Crossing the Line Festival, Bates Dance Festival, Torn Space Theater,  American Dance Festival, LUMBERYARD, American Realness, Abrons Art Center, Gibney, Danspace Project, The Kitchen, La Mama, and others. She has toured to Supersense: Festival of the Ecstatic (Melbourne, Australia), Bratislava in Movement (Slovakia), Wexner Arts Center, Dance Place, American Dance Festival, The Yard, MASS MoCA/Jacob’s Pillow, Flynn Space, Bates Dance Festival, Columbia College, Centre Chorégraphique National de Franche-Comté à Belfort, Festival Rencontres chorégraphique internationales de Seine-Saint Denis, Artdanthe Festival, Church, Mount Tremper Arts, and others. 

This program is supported in part by the Irene Hunter Fund for Dance at MASS MoCA in association with Jacob’s Pillow.

bLUr was co-commissioned by L’Alliance New York’s Crossing the Line Festival and by ADF/American Dance Festival with support from the Doris Duke/SHS Foundations Award for New Works. bLUr is also made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Foundation and the Mellon Foundation. General operating soupport was made possible by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project with funding from the Doris Duke Foundation. bLUr is also made possible by the New York State Council on the Arts with support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature and with project support from The Harkness Foundation for Dance. The creation of the bLUr Community Engagement Workshop, made possible through NDP, was also developed with support from the 92Y Harkness Dance Center and in collaboration with Recanati-Kaplan teen scholars. bLUr was developed in residency at Marble House Project, the Ragdale Foundation during a Sybil Shearer Fellowship, and as an Artist in Residency at Bates Dance Festival. bLUr is also supported through the generosity of individual donors, with major support by John Robinson.