Gibney Company Embarks On Second Leg Of First-Ever International Tour

Gibney Company's first national tour continues this week with stops in Los Angeles, CA (Jan 20, 2023); Lone Tree, CO (Jan 27, 2023); Provo, UT (Feb 3 & 4, 2023); Des Moines, IA (Feb 24, 2023); Tel Aviv, Israel (Feb 28 - Mar 2); Purchase, NY (Mar 11, 2023); Annandale-on-Hudson, NY (Mar 15, 2023) and Boston, MA (Mar 17-19, 2023). Performances will feature commissioned repertory including Yue Yin's A Measurable Existence (2022) and Sonya Tayeh's OH COURAGE! (2021), as well as Ohad Naharin's Yag 2022 (company premiere), Johan Inger's Bliss (North American Premiere) and Sharon Eyal and Gai Behar's SARA (company premiere). In May, the Company returns to The Joyce with a program featuring commissioned world premieres by Tiffany Tregarthen & David Raymond / Out Innerspace Dance Theatre and Yue Yin as well as Bliss (May 17-21, 2023).

Gibney Company is an acclaimed contemporary dance company that presents a breadth of works by emerging and renowned choreographers. Based in New York City at Gibney, a dance and social justice organization founded by Gina Gibney in 1991, the Company underwent an ambitious expansion and reinvention in 2020. Over the past few years, Gibney Company has commissioned new works and is building a repertory for performances in New York and around the world. Gibney Company dancers, known as Artistic Associates, support the Gibney organization's mission as both artists and activists, advancing artistry through performance while also leading entrepreneurial advocacy projects.

"The impeccable dancers of Gibney Company are the living embodiment of why everyone at Gibney believes wholeheartedly in the limitless potential of dance," said Gina Gibney. Founder, Director, and CEO of Gibney and Artistic Director of Gibney Company. "It has been so gratifying to see how audiences across the country are embracing these performers and performances."

"At Gibney Company, we are committed to creating the optimum environment, while providing opportunities for our artists to develop individually and collectively." said Gibney Company Director Gilbert T Small II. "Being able to perform in a variety of venues, and share our work with diverse communities provides invaluable experiences for the Artistic Associates."

Artistic Associates for the 22-23 season are: Scott Autry, Alicia Delgadillo, Graham Feeny, Miriam Gittens, Zui Gomez, Eddieomar Gonzalez-Castillo, Eleni Loving, Jesse Obremski, Kevin Pajarillaga, Jordan Powell, Jie-Hung Connie Shiau, Jacob Thoman, Jake Tribus.

Tour Repertory

North American Premiere

Bliss (2016 / Company Premiere 2022)
Choreography: Johan Inger
Staging: Yvan Dubreuil
Scenery Design: Johan Inger
Costume Design: Johan Inger & Francesca Messori
Costume Construction: Victoria Bek
Lighting Design: Peter Lundin
Lighting Adaptation: Tsubasa Kamei
Music: Keith Jarett - The Köln Concert, Part 1
Commissioned and premiered by Aterballeto | World Premiere, 2016, Modena, Italy

For this large-scale ensemble piece, Swedish choreographer Johan Inger uses the legendary "Köln Concert" by jazz pianist Keith Jarrett; music that many consider to be the epitome of virtuoso improvisation. Rather than translating the music one-to-one into movement, it is more the feeling of Jarrett's iconic music-free, soaring and ecstatic-that Inger translates into beautifully crafted dance, sending not only listeners, but audience members into a state of bliss.

This work is made possible by the generous support of Andrew A. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.

Company Premieres

SARA (2013 / Company Premiere 2023)
Co-produced with MART Foundation
Choreography: Sharon Eyal, Gai Behar
Assistant and Stager: Keren Lurie-Pardes
Costume Design: Odelia Arnold
Costume Construction: Victoria Bek
Lighting Design: Alon Cohen
Sound Artist: Ori Lichtik
Music: "From Off To On" by The Knife; "Saratan" by Ori Lichtik
Mixed arrangement: Ori Lichtik
Originally created for NDT2 | World Premiere, 2013

SARA is like a pearl in a treasure, a box of jewels that smells ancient with the feeling of a new. The box cannot be opened all the way, its charm will fade. White pearl, transparent, leaking colors but always remains a pearl. SARA is minimalist, gentle, emotional and sensitive, hardcore, and old fashioned at the same time. There's a sense of restraint and taking advantage of the minimum and the maximum. She is not allowing distance and is getting closer to the heart. She comes from there and leaves into the world as a cloud crumbles into the dust of love.

Yag 2022 (1996 / Company Premiere 2022)
Choreography: Ohad Naharin
Assistants to the Choreographer: Rachael Osborne, Ian Robinson
Lighting & Stage Design: Maxim Warrat
Lighting Adaptation: Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design: Eri Nakamura
Costume Construction: Victoria Bek
Music: Gaetano Donizetti, Ran Slavin, John Taverner, and John Zorn
Originally commissioned for Batsheva Dance Company | World Premiere, 1996, Suzanne Dellal Center, Tel Aviv

Gibney Company Up Close returns with Yag 2022, a reimagining of Ohad Naharin's acclaimed 1996 work for Batsheva Dance Company. The work features six dancers whose relationships are gradually revealed through the work's deft storytelling incorporating dance, speech, visual symbolism and imaginative staging.

This work is made possible by the generous support of Andrew A. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, and the Consulate General of Israel in New York.

Commissioned Repertory

A Measurable Existence (World Premiere 2022)
Choreography: Yue Yin
Original Score: Rutger Zuydervelt
Lighting Design: Asami Morita
Lighting Adaptation: Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design: Christine Darch

Our existence is often measured, remembered, shared and felt by our interactions with space, time and each other. In A Measurable Existence, Yue Yin delves into how we discover aspects of ourselves by discovering others. The moment we realize our journeys parallel, intersect, repel or collide with others' experiences, we begin a new understanding of our own existence that may frighten, challenge and, at the same time, sustain us.

This work is made possible by the generous support of Andrew A. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund.

OH COURAGE! (World Premiere 2021)
Choreography: Sonya Tayeh
Associate Choreographer: Jenn Freeman
Original Music: The Bengsons
Set Design: Rachel Hauck
Lighting Design: Asami Morita
Lighting Adaptation: Tsubasa Kamei
Costume Design: Márion Talán de la Rosa
Costume Construction: Victoria Bek

OH COURAGE! is a piece about self-reflection, truth, and resilience. It is a soul march that navigates what occurs when there is a guttural need for change. In that need, there is a sense of euphoria in possibility, and a vivid mourning for what is being lost along the way. How do we create a sanctuary for both?

This work is made possible by the generous support of Andrew A. Davis and the Shelby Cullom Davis Charitable Fund, the Mertz Gilmore Foundation, the New York State Council on the Arts, the O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, and the Omomuki Foundation.

Chronological listing of performances

January 20 at 7:30 p.m. | Los Angeles, California*
Bovard Auditorium
Presented by USC Visions and Voices
A Measurable Existence, Yag 2022

January 27 at 8:00 p.m. | Lone Tree, Colorado*
Lone Tree Arts Center
A Measurable Existence, Yag 2022

February 3 at 7:30 p.m. & Feb. 4 at 2:00 & 7:30 p.m. | Provo, Utah*
Richards Building Theatre
Presented by BYUArts
Bliss, A Measurable Existence, Oh Courage!

February 24 at 7:30 p.m. | Des Moines, Iowa
Des Moines Civic Center
Bliss, A Measurable Existence, Oh Courage!

February 28-March 2 | Tel Aviv, Israel
Mart Festival - Suzanne Dellal Centre
Feb 28: Bliss, A Measurable Existence, Oh Courage!
March 1 - 2: Sara (Company Premiere), Oh Courage!, Bliss

March 11 at 7:30 p.m. | Purchase, New York*
PepsiCo Theater
Presented by The Performing Arts Center, Purchase College
Bliss, A Measurable Existence, Oh Courage!

March 15 at 7:30 p.m. | Annandale-on-Hudson, New York
EJ Thomas Hall, Bard College
A Measurable Existence

March 17-19 at 8:00 p.m. | Boston, Massachusetts*
Institute of Contemporary Art Boston
Programs to be announced

May 17 - 21 | New York City*
The Joyce Theater
New Work by Yue Yin (World Premiere), Bliss, Untitled by Tiffany Tregarthen & David Raymond (World Premiere)

* denotes tour stop is in home or college town of Gibney Company Artist Associate. Details available upon request.

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