Tag Archives: Gina Gibney

CHILDS, CHU, AND ASSAF: GIBNEY AT THE JOYCE

Gibney Company will be at the Joyce May 6–11 with three premieres (photo by Hannah Mayfield)

GIBNEY COMPANY
The Joyce Theater
175 Eighth Ave. at Nineteenth St.
May 6–11, $62-$82
www.joyce.org
gibneydance.org

“This season at The Joyce embodies what Gibney Company stands for — bringing together choreographers with distinct voices, movement languages, and artistic philosophies to shape a program that challenges, inspires, and moves us,” founding artistic director and CEO Gina Gibney said in a statement. “Lucinda Childs, Peter Chu, and Roy Assaf each bring a unique lens to dance, offering profoundly different yet equally compelling perspectives on how movement can communicate, resonate, and evolve.”

The New York–based dance and social justice troupe will be at the Joyce May 6–11, presenting three works. The evening begins with the US premiere of Roy Assaf’s A Couple, a fifteen-minute duet about relationships, set to music by Johannes Brahms performed by Glenn Gould and featuring “Perhaps you are a couple” text by Ariel Freedman; the pairings will be Graham Feeny and Zack Sommer, Madison Goodman and Lounes Landri, and Madi Tanguay and Andrew McShea.

The bill continues with two world premieres, first Peter Chu’s Echoes of Sole and Animal. The full company, consisting of Tiare Keeno, Jie-hung Connie Shiau, Feeny, Sommer, Goodman, Landri, Tanguay, and McShea, explore how sound shapes space, with movement inspired by animal Qi Gong and Taiji philosophies in search of human compassion and connection, with music and sound design by Djeff Houle in addition to immersive guitarist Ferdinand Kavall’s 2024 “Flageolets.” Chu also designed the costumes with Victoria Bek.

The program concludes with Lucinda Childs’s Three Dances (for prepared piano) John Cage, which takes Childs back to her Judson days, examining transdisciplinarity and formalism through structured repetition. The twenty-minute work, performed by all eight dancers, is set to recordings of Cage’s 1944–45 three-part piece played by Xenia Pestova and Pascal Meyer.

“Gibney Company is built on the idea that dance is a conversation — between artists, disciplines, traditions, and generations,” company director Gilbert T. Small II added. “This program brings together choreographers whose work is shaped by their histories, their influences, and the questions they explore through movement. We are honored to collaborate with such extraordinary artists whose work expands the boundaries of contemporary dance.”

Some shows are nearly sold out, so act fast to get tickets. The May 8 performance will be followed by a Curtain Chat with Childs and biophysicist and applied mathematician Dr. Michael Shelley, who participated together in the Open Interval residency combining dance and science.

[Mark Rifkin is a Brooklyn-born, Manhattan-based writer and editor; you can follow him on Substack here.]

AN EVENING WITH GIBNEY COMPANY: GIBNEY’S 2021 VIRTUAL GALA

Who: Gibney Company
What: Thirtieth anniversary benefit gala
Where: Gibney online
When: Tuesday, June 30, free – $30, 7:30
Why: Founded in 1991 by choreographer Gina Gibney, Gibney Dance will be celebrating its thirtieth anniversary as a socially active company with a virtual gala on June 30 at 7:30. The evening will feature the world premiere of the dance film Dream Scenarium, by choreographic associate Rena Butler and performed by the newly expanded troupe, along with a look at both the history and future of Gibney Dance. Admission is free, although donations of $30 (or any amount) will gladly be accepted.

DUET: GIBNEY DANCE COMPANY

MAKING SPACE
Gibney Dance Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center
280 Broadway between Chambers & Reade Sts.
March 23-26, $15-$20
gibneydance.org

After premiering its twenty-fifth anniversary program, Duet, at the Sevgi Gönül Cultural Center in Turkey, Gibney Dance is bringing it all back home, presenting the work, which consists of restaged excerpts from throughout the company’s repertoire, at the Gibney Dance Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center at 280 Broadway. The performance will take place at various spaces throughout the center, with limited seating as the audience follows the movement conversations, which date back to Gibney’s 1992 piece, Landings, and include a sneak peek at Gibney’s newest work, which will debut later this year. The duets will be performed by Natsuki Arai, Nigel Campbell, Alexeya Eyma-Manderson, Amy Miller, Devin Oshiro, and Brandon Welch, with music by Ryan Lott (Son Lux). “Assembling this program has been a labor of love, and an opportunity for me to reflect upon twenty-five years of artistic collaboration and life experience,” Gibney explained in a statement. “In looking back, I have thought a lot about the uncertainty of making art and sustaining a career over decades — and what it means to make something that disappears before your eyes. . . . I hope you will join me in relocating these past works here in 280 Broadway’s smallest spaces and corners that I have come to love.” The company moved into the downtown space in the fall of 2014; Duet is part of a reimagining of the company and the location for the future.

GIBNEY DANCE: DoublePlus

Jennifer Meckley and Fiona Lundie perform in Abby Zbikowski’s “Destabilizer,” part of Gibney Dance’s DoublePlus series celebrating the opening of its new downtown space (photo by Nick Fancher)

Jennifer Meckley and Fiona Lundie perform in Abby Zbikowski’s “Destabilizer,” part of Gibney Dance’s DoublePlus series celebrating the opening of its new downtown space (photo by Nick Fancher)

Gibney Dance Performing Arts Center
280 Broadway between Chambers & Reade Sts.
Wednesday through Saturday, November 5 – December 20, $15, 7:30
www.gibneydance.org

Gibney Dance is celebrating its expansion to 280 Broadway with the six-week series DoublePlus, in which six established choreographers will curate programs by two up-and-coming dance creators. Founded in 1991 at 890 Broadway by Gina Gibney “to bring the possibility of movement to where it otherwise would not exist,” the company has now taken over 280 Broadway, the former home of Dance New Amsterdam by City Hall. Wednesday night shows will be preceded by a Meet the Curator talk, while Friday night performances will be followed by a discussion with the curator and dance artists. The series was developed by founding artistic director Gibney and new director of programs and presentation Craig T. Peterson as part of the company’s mission of “Making Space for Dance.” Gibney explained, “What we’re interested in building is a fully supported artistic ‘ecosystem’ that puts to use the unique set of resources at our disposal to benefit all of the communities we’ve been serving for the past twenty-two years: artists, audiences, and the vulnerable populations we reach through our Community Action Program.” The Community Action Program brings together dancers with domestic violence survivors for special programs and workshops. For the DoublePlus program, Annie-B Parson mentors Audrey Hailes (Death Made Love to My Feet) and Royal Osiris Karaoke Ensemble (The Art of Luv) November 5-8, RoseAnne Spradlin leads Daria Faïn (is as if alone) and Gillian Walsh (Continued™ Procedures) November 12-15, Miguel Gutierrez oversees Rakiya A. Orange (Aziza) and Alex Rodabaugh (g1br33l) November 19-22, Donna Uchizono counsels Alex Escalante (Venado) and Molly Poerstel (Stolen Grounds) December 3-6, Jon Kinzel advises Anna Azrieli (Averaging) and Stuart Shugg (Dear Washing Machine, Long Night) December 10-13, and Bebe Miller coaches Maree ReMalia (merrygogo) and Abby Zbikowski (Destabilizer) December 17-20.

DANCE CONVERSATIONS 2012

David Appel will present “a boat makes its way across the water” on Saturday night at free festival at the Flea (photo by Jim Willet)

The Flea Theater
41 White St. between Broadway & Church St.
Through March 25, free
212-226-2407
www.theflea.org

The annual free Dance Conversations festival runs through Sunday at the Flea Theater, combining dance, film, and discussion. This year’s program, curated by Nina Winthrop and Taimi Strehlow, continues Thursday night with performances by Jessica Ray, Movement of the People Dance Company, Vangeline, and Megan Sipe, moderated by Gina Gibney. Friday night’s show includes Molissa Fenley, Maggie Bennett, Caliince Dance, and binbinFactory, moderated by Carol Ostrow. Pele Bauch moderates Saturday night’s program, with Alaine Handa/A.H. Dance Company, David Appel, Beau Hancock, and Talya Epstein. The festival concludes on Sunday afternoon with presentations by Luke Murphy, BARKIN/SELISSEN PROJECT, Daniel Gwirtzman Dance Company, and Peggy and Murray Schwartz celebrating Pearl Primus, moderated by Jonah Bokaer.