On a cold night in Grand Marais, a crowd gathered at the Rec Park Sledding Hill to witness an otherworldly performance: Untitled Night by Morgan Thorson. Untitled Night is an outdoor nocturnal dance event made for extreme climates, which invites audiences to immerse in the elements of winter under the dark cover of night. The performance also aims to bring awareness to light pollution and climate change. The event was part of the 6th Annual Dark Sky Festival, an event that celebrates Cook County’s world-class dark sky.

Thorson is a dance-maker based out of Minneapolis. A few of her many honors include the prestigious Doris Duke Performing Artist Award and Guggenheim and McKnight Fellowships. The performance also featured Sam Aros-Mitchell, Alexandra Beaumont, Dienae Hunter, Eva Mohn, and Arwen Wilder. Each of these artists are well known and important in their respective fields. 

Related: NASA scientist talks all things Mars at the 6th annual Cook County Dark Sky Festival

The performance began at dusk, with a trail of lights moving through the trees, eventually emerging near the top of the sledding hill and making their way toward the audience. The lights were small beacons attached to the custom-made fluorescent snowsuits of the dancers. As the performance went on, the sky grew darker, and they danced an ode to winter, to the dark sky, to the stars, and to other unseen forces. 

 Dancers emerged from the trees and made their way down the sledding hill and toward the crowd under a darkening sky.

 Costumes for the performance were brightly colored snowsuits with small lights attached.

Uniquely, the dance performance did not include any music. Thorson mentioned that a previous iteration of Untitled Night included music and audio descriptions of the movements. This time, she chose not to include any music so that they could be with the music of the lake, the wind, and the witnesses. The only sounds were a few words spoken by performers into walkie-talkies and crunching of feet on snow.

 A dancer performing a movement close to the audience members, or "witnesses."

Following the performance, a reception was held at North House Folk School. The audience was able to meet the artists, and ask questions to demystify the performance.

 Thorson and the other artists held a reception after the performance at North House Folk School, were they answered questions from the audience and explained the performance.

 Thorson described the piece as a collection of dance essays, which are articulations of micro-movements shared by all living things.

 The only source of light created an empyreal vibe.

 In true Cook County fashion, the cold did not deter this crowd from attending an artsy performance in the dark.

To learn more about Untitled Night, click here.

To learn more about Morgan Thorson, click here.