OBSTACLES
Obstacles looks through the lens of mallory smith, a twenty-three year old with cystic fibrosis, to discover how to overcome a challenge, the repetitive nature within, and the intense physicality between the person and their obstacle.
Choreography and performed by Jacob Jonas and Marissa Labog
Written in collaboration with Mallory Smith
Lighting design William Adashek
Music Phillip Glass
15 Minutes
“Obstacles, which Jacob Jonas and Melissa Labog performed at the Kennedy Center Arts Summit, was one the most stirring pieces of dance I have ever witnessed. It expresses the Sisyphean struggle against our own frailties and ailments, and the relationship of dependency and betrayal between body and spirit. It opens the heart to empathetic engagement with our fellow citizens.”
— Eric Liu, founder, Citizen University
“Watching them perform [Obstacles] was one of the most tactile visualizations of a human’s struggle with disease that I have ever seen. It was heart-wrenching and deeply uncomfortable, but valuable. It humanized the patient and her existential fight in an extraordinary way.”
— Yo Yo Ma
“The performance by Jacob Jonas The Company at the 2017 Kennedy Center Arts Summit was the perfect punctuation to the morning session’s exploration of the interdisciplinary nature of the arts. Jacob’s piece, Obstacles, was a powerful mix of narrative and movement that clearly resonated with our audience.”
— Mario R. Rossero, Senior Vice President, Education, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
