Ticket purchase to this Underground Uptown Dance Festival performance includes admission to the Rotunda Dance Party Waacking Battle at 8:30 pm with Princess Lockerooo.

In this two-part evening, discover how THE DRAMA and The Night Falls center storytelling as salves on stage. Then express yourself and enter a space of liberation and empowerment by joining Princess Lockerooo for a lesson and waacking battle in the rotunda.

Created by Martha Graham Dance Company principal dancer Lloyd Knight, choreographer Jack Ferver, and filmmaker Jeremy Jacob, THE DRAMA highlights Knight’s life in an intimate and personal solo dance work inspired by two important women in his life: his mother and the legendary modern dance choreographer Martha Graham. This Works & Process commission lays bare what it takes both physically and psychologically to pursue a life in dance and touches on Knight’s upbringing and what drew him to dance from an early age. THE DRAMA immerses the audience in its shifts between high octane choreography and a candid script, set against a sweeping film and sound score.

Choreographed and directed by Troy Schumacher (New York City Ballet)— with scenario and lyrics by Pulitzer Prize–finalist Karen Russell (Swamplandia!) and music and lyrics by Ellis Ludwig-Leone (San Fermin)—The Night Falls is a new myth for the present, fractured era. In this New York Times “2023 Best of Dance” selection, people across the U.S. begin to have the same nightmare. The haunting song eventually lures these lost souls, cleaved into a dancing body and a singing spirit, to a kitschy Floridian roadside attraction that is inhabited by the creatures who make the seductive refrain. The Night Falls explores the visceral power of art to brace us against the abyss. Members of the creative team will participate in a moderated discussion with Spoleto Festival General Director and CEO Mena Mark Hanna.

Distinguishable by its rotational arm movements, posing, and emphasis on expressiveness, waacking brings together the glitz and glamour of Hollywood films, the vibrant energy of disco, and the colorful underground gay club culture of 1970s Los Angeles. Get ready to be blown away in the rotunda with a waacking battle organized by Princess Lockerooo, who was recently featured on Dancing with the Stars and lauded by the New York Times as the “Queen of Waacking.” Enrich yourself in a waacking 101, go head-to-head in an epic showdown and battle, then dance the night away in the rotunda.

THE DRAMA is commissioned by Works & Process and DANCECleveland and has received Works & Process LaunchPAD residency support at Bridge Street Theatre (2024 and 2025), Modern Accord Depot (2022), and Watermill Center (2023). Additional residency support was provided by a fellowship at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts, Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Leadership support for THE DRAMA is provided by Christopher Jones and Deb McAlister.

Co-produced by BalletCollective, Inc., and PEAK Performances at Montclair State University, The Night Falls was developed during a Project Springboard: Developing Dance Musicals 2018 residency and further support was provided during a virtual creative residency in 2021. It was made possible, in part, by the Alexander Kasser Theater Endowment Fund, PEAK Patrons, and the New Jersey State Council on the Arts. Watch (https://youtu.be/FfidIh8pi0o?si=QVoN5RZaknL7vRhX) the 2023 Works & Process program of BalletCollective: The Night Falls.

Princess Lockerooo has been supported by Works & Process LaunchPAD residencies at Bridge Street Theatre (2022), The Pocantico Center (2023), Watermill Center (2023), and Catskill Mountain Foundation (2025).

THE DRAMA by Lloyd Knight, Jack Ferver, and Jeremy Jacob (in-process) at Works & Process at the Guggenheim on January 14, 2024. Written and performed by Lloyd Knight, choreographed by Jack Ferver, and video by Jeremy Jacob. Photo: Erick Munari; right: BalletCollective and PEAK Performances: The Night Falls by Karen Russell, Ellis Ludwig-Leone, and Troy Schumacher, performed at Works & Process at the Guggenheim on January 22, 2023. Photo: Steven Pisano