Nostalgia is not merely an emotion: it is a rhythm, a groove, a dance that lives within the body.

Cassette Vol. 1 by Kyle Abraham pays tribute to the cultural landscape of the 1980s, shaped by the rise of music videos, street culture, and hybrid artistic forms. Drawing on personal memories and iconic pop sounds, the work explores how popular music influences identity and collective imagination, creating a vibrant and nostalgic shared experience.

“I wanted to create a work that paid tribute to a different side of my influences—a piece capable of evoking what it felt like to dance in the back of black-and-yellow school buses during my school years, to music that blended equal parts M/A/R/R/S, Suzanne Vega, Salt-N-Pepa, The B-52s, LL Cool J, and Prince.”

A performance that is both homage and critical reflection. There is room to laugh at the excesses of an era while also acknowledging what has been lost. Against a white backdrop streaked with graphic lightning bolts, surrounded by glossy mannequins, a telephone booth, and suspended television screens playing commercials and music videos, Abraham creates a collective ritual that questions the ways in which music shapes who we are.