Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance Presents MYTHOLOGIES - A New Work In Four Parts

After 21 months without live performance, Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance will return to New York City November 27 and 28 with the premiere of MYTHOLOGIES (2021), a new dance work inspired by the stories of Ancient Greece. Performances will take place at the Paul Taylor Dance Company Sam Scripps Studio Theater, 551 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002, at 7pm and 6pm respectively. Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5268149.

Conceived in 2019, Mythologies is a four-part dance work, consisting of twelve dancers, one violinist, one vocalist, original scores, costuming, and lighting design. Inspired by the stories of Ancient Greece in and around the time of the Trojan War, characters include sensual sirens, ferocious Amazonian warriors, and the devoted Band of Thebes.

Mythologies is an expansion of Lavagnino's most recent work, "Monsters of Grace," which premiered at the Association of Performing Arts Professionals (APAP) conference in January 2020. (See APAP 2020 showcase here.) In 2019, Lavagnino began her choreographic process with five women en pointe, reflecting the Amazonian community of Ancient Greece. She explored how strength, grace, and femininity can co-exist in a single body, using the percussive and ethereal qualities of the pointe shoe. The strength and ability of the women on stage is explored, without losing touch with their intrinsic femininity.

The work has since been expanded. Her further research into Greek history discovered the existence of a group of homosexual male warriors called the Band of Thebes, comprised of 150 male couples whose devotion and excellence made for one of the best armies in Greece. The developing movement with male dancers' centers around camaraderie and the deeply committed loyalty these warriors held for one another. A partnering section in Mythologies brings the male and female warriors into combative yet ardent coupling. This exploration of non-traditional gender roles continues as an undercurrent throughout.

CLD celebrates the unique qualities and individualism of each company member as this work puts forward a vision of full-bodied, qualified dancers whose varied inner lives and ways of occupying space lend strength and poignancy to their performance, defying stereotypes around what bodies are suited to ballet.
Mythologies is set to a commissioned score composed by Scott Killian (keyboard artist), Jacob Lawson (violinist and sound engineer) and Carol Lipnik - featured vocalist who will be performing live. At once primal, mysterious and atmospheric, the music embodies and supports the dynamic and multi-layered richness of Ms. Lavagnino's choreography.

November's two full-evening performances will also include excerpts from Tales of Hopper (2020): Sunlight in a Cafeteria, Nighthawks, and Automat. Tales of Hopper, a collaboration between choreographer Cherylyn Lavagnino and composer Martin Bresnick, uses dancers cast as figures plucked from selected Edward Hopper paintings. Human connections are illuminated though gestural movement steeped in subtext, with Bresnick's original composition for piano, violin, and cello bringing emotional undercurrents to the surface. Tales of Hopper asked each of the dancers to step into the new roles of actor and collaborator in the company's most character-driven work to date.

MYTHOLOGIES and Tales of Hopper (Excerpts)
November 27 at 7pm, and November 28 at 6pm at the
Paul Taylor Dance Company Sam Scripps Studio Theater
551 Grand Street, New York, NY 10002
$30 General Admission, $20/students with valid student ID
Tickets: https://www.brownpapertickets.com/event/5268149
Ticketing phone: 800-838-3006