"Crack Nerve Boogie Swerve" | Alexis Blake on the High Line

For the High Line, Blake presented a new iteration of her work "Crack Nerve Boogie Swerve," a work that takes up glass and breaking as metaphors for the fragility and strength of the individual and collective body. The three performances took place on Septembe 5, 6, 7 in 2023. Both an installation and a performance, the work starts with sheets of glass nestled in moveable steel bases. The performers, who are a percussionist, low frequency sound artist, and four dancers coming from different dance genres such as hip hop, contemporary, ballet, Afro-fusion, and tap, activate the glass to explore transparency, resistance, resonance and breaking—breaking free from constraints and liberating oneself from the confinement of oppression. Presented at TENT in Rotterdam in 2019 and KW Institute for Contemporary Art in February 2023, Blake’s work on the High Line will marked the work’s US premiere and the artist’s first performance in New York City.