CUNY Dance Initiative to Host RISING by Pigeonwing Dance and Neave Trio in NYC

The CUNY Dance Initiative (CDI), an expansive program providing New York City choreographers and dance companies with creative residencies on CUNY college campuses, announces the New York premiere of Rising by Pigeonwing Dance and The Neave Trio at Baruch Performing Arts Center on April 23, 24, and 25, 2026 at 7PM. Tickets are $35, $20 with a CUNY ID.

Dances about water - rivers and oceans - are among the oldest human forms of expression; but in this time of climate change and rising sea levels, Rising takes on heightened significance. An exploration of our connection to Earth's oceans, this evening-length work intertwines Robert Sirota's emotive, lyrical music, performed live by the GRAMMY-nominated Neave Trio, with Gabrielle Lamb's evocative and articulate choreography for her chamber company, Pigeonwing Dance.

The score includes recorded text from oceanographer Curtis Ebbesmeyer (Flotsametrics and the Floating World) and naturalist Craig Foster (My Octopus Teacher). Rising was developed over three years with The Neave Trio, who handpicked both the composer and choreographer. The musicians and dancers, who perform together onstage, shaped the work's vision.

Rising premiered on September 27, 2024 at Oregon State University as a co-presentation by the Patricia Valian Reser Center for Art and Creativity (PRAx) and the College of Earth, Ocean, and Atmospheric Sciences. Rising was made possible by a commissioning grant from the O'Donnell-Green Music and Dance Foundation, with additional support from Ballet Vero Beach, the Riverside Dance Festival, the Lower Manhattan Cultural Council, and the Arts Center at Governors Island.

The program runs approximately 60 minutes with no intermission.

PIGEONWING DANCE

"to cut a pigeon wing": Dictionary of American Regional English. To execute intricate dance steps gracefully...to dance in a fancy way

Described by The New Yorker as "eccentric...playful...curious", Pigeonwing Dance (PWD) seeks the coordinates where beauty turns to awkwardness and tension dissolves into ease. Whirlwinds, accidents, and chance encounters are caught, preserved, and folded into dance. This improvisatory abandon is counterbalanced by meticulous calculation, revealing intricate architectures where fleeting moments of resolution open into new wonderings.

Pigeonwing, named for its blend of airiness and NYC grit, was founded in 2016 and has been presented by New York City Center, the MIT Museum, 92Y, the New York Botanical Garden, Garth Newel Music Center, and Jacob's Pillow. They were the first dance company commissioned by Symphony Space's beloved "Selected Shorts" and have been featured in SCIENCE Magazine.

During the pandemic, their artistic model was transformed by the 2020 premiere of The Carpet Series, a compact outdoor performance taking place on an 8x10 Persian carpet in public spaces throughout NYC. It has been performed 100+ times in all 5 boroughs and has been featured in the NY Daily News and DANCE Magazine, which observed, "the geometric patterns of the Persian rug echo and amplify Lamb's idiosyncratic movement vocabulary, which is both intensely intricate and unusually syncopated."