Hopkins Center Video Honors a Community’s Resistance and Healing
More than an opera, The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist sparked an array of gatherings across New York
A new video from the Hopkins Center for the Arts captures the New York premiere of the Dartmouth-produced opera The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist, which launched a series of community events across the city’s five boroughs this past summer.
Developed by Enrico Riley ’95, the George Frederick Jewett Professor of Studio Art, creative writing professor; and poet/librettist Vievee Elaure Francis; and composer Jonathan Berger, the opera follows the story of the late Erica Garner, who became an activist against police violence following the death of her father, Eric Garner, who died in police custody.
The video includes moments of the opera performance itself, presented as part of the Lincoln Center’s Summer for the City festival, and features community members gathering to resist, heal, and celebrate in the following weeks.