Concierto IV: Shoutout to Freud

Concierto IV: Shoutout to Freud

A shadow appears.

The shadow contains everything the ego refuses to recognize as part of the self, hiding the impulses that conflict with one’s self-image of “goodness”. The inner shadow is composed of what we repress; emotions such as fear, desire, rage, shame are hidden under the tip of an iceberg of our consciousness (shoutout to Freud). There is a danger of shadows unseen. The shadow we refuse to own, becomes an externalization of our inner conflict, slowly projecting its cast onto others. Gaston Bachelard wrote that “Memories are motionless, and the more securely they are fixed in space, the sounder they are.” To unfix the shadow, we cautiously cast a light, making peace with what flickers in the dark.

An array of light comes in.

This inquiry extends into the terrain of the body. The shadow becomes a passage into the domain of unseen forces, where consciousness confronts its own limits. Fragility seems to sit between the psychic and the political, the visible and the repressed, and its ties to the subconscious, to what the body carries even when unspoken.

The body whispers before it screams.

The show operates as a whisper of light, tracing the motion of the shadow as it moves from containment to expression. The body becomes an extension of the motionless into motion, unfixing shadow, allowing the repressed to become visible.

Work Description

Jess Silber, Jonah Bobo and Bella Crescenzi present Don’t Take the Music Out of Life (2025)

Don’t Take the Music Out of Life (2025) mirrors the quiet chaos of the mind in its most vulnerable moments. The piece moves through the nonlinear journey of depression, not as a problem to be solved, but as a landscape to be understood. Here, the inner shadow becomes the muse.

Through voice, piano, and dance, Silber draws audiences into the dark corners of her mind; a dialogue between the voice inside and the one the world can hear. Bella’s performance practice is deeply rooted in collaboration, as a deepening to the exploration of the singular body. This piece asks listeners to sit within stillness, to find rhythm in darkness, and to let the quiet parts of themselves be heard.

Artists Descriptions

Jess Silber

Jess Silber is a singer-songwriter and filmmaker whose work moves fluidly between sound, movement, and visual art. Her lyrics often unravel the chaotic intimacy of one’s inner monologue tracing the search for meaning and self within the confines of an often dissonant world. Silber is presenting Don’t Take the Music Out of Life (2025) which is a 40-minute musical piece composed and written by Jess Silber, instrumentally arranged by Jonah Bobo, and expressed through movement by Bella Crescenzi.

Bella Crescenzi

Bella Crescenzi is a New York–raised dance artist based in NYC whose work lives in the spaces between change, presence, and connection. Bella’s major influences in creating choreographic work is born through and with the essences and dynamics of sound, drawing inspiration from instruments, acoustic voices, and folk sound. She holds a BFA in Dance from the University of the Arts in Philadelphia and international studies in Performance Art from the Santa Reparata International School of Art in Naples and Florence, Italy.

Bella’s experiences in her dance and performance practices is deeply rooted in collaboration, as a deepening to the exploration of the singular body. Her practice is influenced by the simplicity of human existence and impermanence; to fully accept the finite happenings of life, we must surrender to the here and now.

Credits

• Dancer: Bella Crescenzi
• Musical Performance by Jess Silber
• Show Photo by James Hastur
• Show Video by James Hastur
• Poster Photographer: Sophie Barfod
• Show Producer: Sophie Barfod
• Curator: Sophie Barfod