Image: Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art, North Adams
MASS MoCA will present ‘The Oath,’ a film by filmmaker Alla Kovgan and choreographer Annie-B Parson of Big Dance Theater, beginning January 11, 2027. The work will be on view in gallery B6.2 at the Massachusetts Museum of Contemporary Art in North Adams, Massachusetts. No closing date has been announced.
Based on Parson’s stage choreography, ‘The Oath’ examines the ways people move together in groups, from community, clan and congregation to clubs and other collective formations. The film considers both “vernacular and poetic” group actions, presenting movement as a means to gather, bond, intimidate, believe, fight and promise.
The work unfolds in a vivid, color-saturated universe that spans time from the primeval age into the future. Its performers are seventeen women and femmes, who move as one for both purpose and pleasure. The presentation at MASS MoCA is identified as an exhibition, extending a project rooted in stage choreography into a film-based gallery setting.
Parson is the artistic director of Big Dance Theater. Her choreography has also been created for artists and institutions including David Byrne, David Bowie, Lorde, St. Vincent, Kim Deal, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Wendy Whelan, Anne Carson, Esperanza Spalding, Suzan-Lori Parks, Laurie Anderson and the Martha Graham Dance Company. She choreographed and provided musical staging for Byrne’s ‘American Utopia’ on Broadway and for Spike Lee’s film adaptation, and was nominated for a Tony Award for her choreography in Byrne’s ‘Here Lies Love.’ Her book, ‘The Choreography of Everyday Life,’ was published by Verso Books.
Kovgan is a Moscow-born, New York-based filmmaker whose work has occupied the intersection of cinema and the performing arts for more than 25 years, according to MASS MoCA. Her credits include the feature documentary ‘Cunningham’ (2020), about choreographer Merce Cunningham; the short film ‘Nora’ (2008); the documentary ‘Traces of the Trade’ (2008); and the 3D virtual-reality experience ‘Devil’s Lungs.’ ‘The Oath’ is listed among her recent collaborations with Parson, alongside a film and public-art installation presented on 29 screens at New York’s Penn Station.
The presentation is part of MASS MoCA’s broad programme of exhibitions, performances, film, music, public programmes and artist residencies across its North Adams campus. Other exhibitions announced for the 2026–27 season include ‘Technologies of Relation,’ on view through July 25, 2027, and ‘Machine Dazzle: Changes: The Costume Design for Taylor Mac’s A 24-Decade History of Popular Music,’ opening December 19, 2026. ‘The Oath’ will remain on view in B6.2 from January 11, 2027, with the museum yet to publish an end date.
