DORCHEL HAQQ
the underscore

RUNTIME: Approximately 50 minutes with no intermission.

The creation of this new work began on April 6, 2026. During this process, I've been thinking a lot about who I am when no one is watching, a question Tamisha A. Guy asked me after my solo performance of 'ask and you shall receive' presented by Estrogenius Festival on May 10, 2025, at the Cell Theater. For me, the answer to this question is forever changing. This question challenges me to sit in the silence, listening to the sounds of my digestion, listening to my thoughts, and not act on them, to really be in a place of suspension, which is a place of possibility, malleability, and evolution. In creating this portal of intimacy, I referred to FROM SPACE TO SPACE: an illustrated guide to an infinite something by Wing Po So. She writes about suspension being an unsettling state. In my body suspension lies between my collar bone and pelvis, between each breath; it's the in between space, the space between a joke and a laugh. Floating just for a moment, without worry. oh, isn't that nice?

and so it begins again. each moment a new beginning. fall into________________.
the underscore

WHERE ARE WE??
WHATS GOING ON??
ARE YOU LISTENING??

Accompanied by Kneaku’s live DJ set, Dorchel Haqq, Nailah Murray, Ny Opong, and Ime Soul explore the weight of consciousness and grapple with the dimensions of intimacy within a home environment.

Inspired by Dorchel’s evening length Center for Performance Research AIR showing, ‘closed mouths dont get fed’, Dorchel transforms the black box theater into an episodic physical theatre play layered in found objects through a maze of curtains.

how did we get here
a plead for the future
an earthquake for the now

Directed and Choreographedby Dorchel Haqq

movement and text collaborators
Nailah Murray
Ny Opong
Ime Soul

soundscape by Kneaku

set design by Dorchel Haqq

lighting design by Connor Sale

costumes by Dorchel Haqq

flyer by Kat Bencosme

prints by Zaire Anderson

Thank you Ime, Nailah, Ny and Kneaku, my stellar collaborators, who are the eyes, ears, and soul of the underscore. Thank you for your patience, generosity, and for showing up full of grace. The mighty TRISK TEAM, thank you for making my dreams come to life; the work you do is so important and impacts the evolution of dance history. Rachel, thank you for continuing to pour into me since 2019. Triskelion was the first theater to show my work upon graduation, and look at me now! With your support, John, this piece was able to breathe a new light; my gratitude is immeasurable. Thank you mom for being my studio assistant and support in more ways than one. Thank you, Hakeem, for helping me build a moving couch over facetime and for always being there when my anxiety got the best of me. Thank you, Zaire, the printmaking master, you’re incredible; LAG all day! Thank you, Kat Bencosme, I couldn't have asked for a better flyer, unmatched. Thank you Chanel, Khufu, Majella, Devo, Quaba, Angel, Kat Sotelo, Laura, Jailyn, Taylor and Movement Research, my secret agents; when I say I could not do this by myself, chileeeee. From the ocean of my heart, thank you for bearing witness to this work; your presence is the definition of community.

the underscore was made possible in part, through the generous support by John Robinson.

If you would like to support Dorchel in her journey please consider making a tax deductible donation.

ABOUT THE ARTISTS

DORCHEL HAQQ
Dorchel creates physical theatre work as a vessel through which she and her collaborators navigate the complexities of being who they are in this present moment, while reflecting on how their collective history shape their future. Through improvisation, Dorchel shape memories into movement, a world-building practice, creating stories, characters, and set designs that explore time, space, and form in conversation with sociopolitical responses in the nervous system. Rooted in curiosity, Dorchel’s practice cultivates a sustainable ecosystem centering black culture with a deep value in care and trust between the body and space.

The following organizations have supported Dorchel in find herself again and again through singular and collaborative investigations: Springboard Danse and the Springboard Danse curated Jonah Bokaer Arts Foundation Founder's Residency (inaugural resident), Gallim Moving Artist(inaugural resident), Leimay Incubator AIR 2021, Center for Performance Research AIR 2024, Baryshnikov Arts Center AIR 2024, Triskelion Arts 2019+2026, Beyond the Black Box 2021+2023, Black Aesthetics Judson Commons 2024, MADE BY WOMAN Festival 2023, Estrogenius Festival 2025, Arts On Site 2019+2021, ART CAKE 2021, Movement Research Van Lier Artist of Color Fellow 2025, DraftWork- Danspace Project 2025, Battery Dance Festival 2020+2025, New York Live Arts, City Artist Corps Grant 2021, and the Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant 2024.

Raised in Harlem, Dorchel began my journey embodying history at LaRocque Bey School of Dance Theatre andthe Dance Theater of Harlem. Dorchel studied at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts and received her BFA from the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, SUNY. Upon graduating, she was commissioned to create a new work for the conservatory’s Fall Concert. Dorchel has performed in works by AIM by Kyle Abraham, Kayla Farrish, Loni Landon, Vanessa Goodman, Maya Lee-Parritz, Stefanie Batten Bland, Johannes Wieland, Punchdrunk’s Sleep No More Shanghai, and Emursive’s Life and Trust. Dorchel is in her first season with David Dorfman Dance and is currently touring Narcissister's Voyage into Infinity. Through her 2025 Movement Research Van Lier Artist of Color Fellowship, she was mentored by Nora Chipaumire. Dorchel is a 2025/26 New York Live Arts Fresh Tracks Resident.

NAILAH MURRAY
Nailah Murray (she/her) is a Brooklyn based mover and maker. Murray trained in Capoeira Angola with her father, Contramestre Chicago, throughout her childhood and adolescence. This early introduction to movement drove her to explore technical dance training. She studied at the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance before pursuing her BFA in Dance at the University of the Arts. Murray has performed in works by Niall Jones, Dorchel Haqq, Jesse Zaritt, Shayla-Vie Jenkins and Sidra Bell. Murray is adamant about meeting the world as she experiences it; to engage with work as a declaration of existing. Inspired and in conversation with artists familiar with the urgency of making, Murray uses interdisciplinary modes and textiles to create dynamic physical spaces.

NY OPONG
Ny is a movement and performing artist. They received a BFA from Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University in 2019. Upon graduation they joined The Bill T. Jones/Arnie Zane Company where they were a member from 2019-2024. Following their time with The BTJ/AZ Company, Ny joined the cast of the immersive theater show Life and Trust until its closing in 2025. They have also worked, collaborated with and performed works by artists along the East and West coasts including; Lee Mingwei, Evelyn Wang, Vinson Fraley Jr., Shamel Pitts, Huiwang Zhang, Volta Collective, Celia Rowlson-Hall, Marjani Forté-Saunders, Okuwi Okpokwasili [Sweat Variant] and others. Ny primarily uses improvisation as their movement medium. In an effort to get in touch with and reveal the generations of history and memory that are held in their body. Discovering how those memories influence, affect and aid in how we shape our lives to move through the world. Ny studies movement through themselves and others; the subtleties and extremities of effort, emotion and sound that come from and move through the body.

IME SOUL
Ime Soul is a live arts practitioner working on ephemeral installations, moving images, and performance. Ime Soul presents biomythological work exploring Blackness, abjection, sexuality, and the constraints of language as articulation. Their performances misuse formal qualities of Black church. Often a combination of extended duration and high intensity, Ime Soul uses fatigue as a vehicle to open up a sensorial and reflective space. Like church, witness and participation makes their work complete. Ime Soul received an undergraduate degree in Fine Art and American and Indigenous studies at Bard College (2022), as well as a graduate degree from the Center for Human Rights and the Arts (2024). Their work has been shown across New York State at spaces ranging from fine art institutions to public interruptions– Performance Space NY, Gallery 495 ('26), CultureHub (‘26), Intercomm (‘24, ‘25) to name a few.

Kneaku
Kneaku is a time based storyteller known for their energetic DJ sets, theatrical sound design, performance, and film work. Born and raised by Jamaicans in South Florida, they are influenced by Black dance music like Dancehall, Ballroom and East Coast Club.

Kneaku models the taste of South Florida DJs, cooking with Soflo Jook, Miami Bass, , Dancehall, NOLA bounce, Jersey Club, Philly Club, Bmore Club, Hip Hop & R&B; while infusing personal favorites, [Ghetto] House / Techno, Juke, Footwork, Bmore Club, Breakbeat and Ballroom!

Kneaku founded Cygnus x-1, a party that platforms local talent and champions progressive abstract black music, and Haus of Quench, a guerrilla theater drag collective.

Kneaku has extended their DJ Performance repertoire with theater works down&out vol. 2: crisis! and closed mouths don't get fed. They recently released an experimental film episodic, “i guess you can come in”, along with an accompanied live DJ set. Kneaku commits to creating a well-rounded experience that is rooted in theatrical traditions and multidisciplinary practices.

CONNOR SALE
Connor Sale is a Brooklyn-based Lighting Designer and the Resident Lighting Designer of Triskelion Arts. Recent collaborations include: til infiniti, Farewell My Fool, The Closties Variety Hour; The Suite; to begin with no end; ENUF (Triskelion Arts), The Missing Fruit, Part 1 (New York City Center/Fall For Dance), Das Ersatz (The Brick), Das Rauschgift (Box of Moonlight), MEOW! (Exponential Festival), With Tears (BEAMS), Femenine (PS21), the body || dust (Gibney), But, Soft (PAGEANT), and Sea Change (Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago). He’s toured internationally with Pina Bausch’s The Rite of Spring (École des Sables/Sadler’s Wells co-production), Akram Khan’s Gigenis, and Faye Driscoll’s Weathering. He’s interested in using the temporary nature of light to make people more active in space. More of his work can be found at connorsale.com and at @connorsalelight

We respectfully acknowledge that the work of Triskelion Arts is situated on the traditional, ancestral, unceded territory of Lenapehoking, the homeland of the Lenape peoples. We pay our respects to their land, water, and ancestors, past, present, and future. This acknowledgment demonstrates a commitment to the process of working to dismantle the ongoing legacies of settler colonialism and to learning to be better stewards of this land.