Covenant Keepers
A Screen dance by Keely Song
Made possible by a grant from the Center for Latter-day Saint Arts, Art for Uncertain Times Project.
Special thanks to Brigham Young University Film & Digital Media Funding.
The World faces uncertainty…
Covenant Keepers is a work that honors the legacy of pioneer women (both past and present) who traverse unknown planes. Reflecting on their struggles and sacrifices, this screen dance places contemporary women on the physical path of the pioneers.
The world faces a coronavirus pandemic that leaves many jobless and in economic, emotional and psychological uncertainty. However, many are making it through by keeping their covenants, with hope and faith in the light of the Gospel. Remarkably, the pioneers also faced physical turmoil, economic uncertainty, and emotional difficulties similar to what we endure now. Hope in the gospel and the strength from keeping covenants is what helped them through their life-changing journey and will support us through our burdens as well.
Covenant Keepers was filmed in the summer of 2019, but it was only in the quietness of Covid-19 I was able to return to this footage for editing. As I reflect back, I am grateful muscles hold a memory of a place. Indeed, I can breathe in the sensation of the humidity of the East to the dry wind of Wyoming. I feel the brushing, tall grass and the swampy wetlands; and as I peruse the footage, I am back in the dirt and the cow pies with these two brilliant dancers. --Keely Song
Watch Covenant Keepers on YouTube
Special thanks to:
Dancers: Abby Trinca and Bronte Hopkins (dancers), who performed this duet across the country in seven states, as it became a tribute and a prayer of thanksgiving for those who paved the journey before.
Musicians: Claudine Bigelow, Hunter Montgomery, Madeline Montgomery, Julia Bigelow
Visual Artists: Marissa Albrecht Paige
Concept Team & Developers: Claudine Bigelow (music), Joseph Ostraff (visual), and Robert Machoian (cinematography), Keely Song (dance), Scott Cook (editing)
Locations: Palymra, New York; Nauvoo, Illinois, Winter Quarters, Iowa; South Pass, Wyoming; Scottsbluff, Nebraska; Emigration Canyon, Utah.
Keely Song
is an Assistant Professor of Dance at Brigham Young University and a Certified Laban Movement Analyst. She received her MFA in dance from The University of Iowa and was awarded the prestigious Dean’s Graduate Fellowship. Previously, she graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy and after high school received her B.A. in dance education from Brigham Young University.
As a teacher, Keely enjoys working with diverse populations and has taught in inner city public schools, summer dance intensives across the nation, and universities.
As an independent movement designer she plays with the idea of the absurd and the familiar to create accessible works for the child and the adult. She blends urban arts, classical stylization, and athleticism into her choreography and is exploring new ways of using technology to make, perform, and teach dance. Find her at keelysong.com or @songkeely.