Christopher Williams’ SPECTRE DE LA ROSE to Make World Premiere at 92NY

The 92nd Street Y, New York will present Bessie Award-winner Christopher Williams in a double bill that includes the world premiere of Spectre de la Rose, the sixth work in his ongoing Queering the Canon: Reimagining the Ballets Russes series, and the New York premiere of the series' La Rhétorique des Dieux. Part of the Harkness Mainstage Series' Home season, performances are in Buttenwieser Hall at the Arnhold Center at 7 pm on Thursday, October 29 and Friday, October 30. Tickets start at $45 and are available here.

A 92NY commission, Spectre de la Rose reimagines Fokine's 1911 Ballets Russes classic starring Karsavina and Nijinsky, in which a young woman dreams of dancing with the spirit of a souvenir rose from her first ball. Williams refracts the original scenario through a prismatic queer lens inspired by elements of contemporary ballroom culture, drawing on its traditions mingling fantasy and realness in performance. Set to an array of musical selections including Carl Maria von Weber's Aufforderung zum Tanz (Invitation to the Dance) and sound design by Tei Blow, the work features designs by longtime collaborators Joe Levasseur (lighting) and recent Bessie Award winner Andrew Jordan (costumes).

Set to excerpts from Denis Gaultier's eponymous suite for Baroque lute, La Rhétorique des Dieux foregrounds the mythic figure of Phaëthon — cast down to the realm of mortals from that of the divine — exploring his encounters with an array of figures from Greco-Roman mythology appearing in unexpected contemporary guises. The work also features lighting by Joe Levasseur along with costumes by Andrew Jordan and Williams.

“I'm a firm believer that storytelling must evolve as societies reform over time,” comments Williams. “I've recently been reimagining a series of Ballet Russes era ballets as my own queer-inclusive cultural contribution to help further this evolution. Recontextualizing historic scenarios through a queer lens has become especially important to me as a choreographer, not only as a significant artistic gesture paying homage to the birth of modernism in dance, but as a gesture of present-day activism promoting LGBTQIA+ inclusivity. I'm excited to see how all the work's elements – choreography, costumes, lighting, sonic designs, and music – come together in front of a live audience in my signature mythopoetic style harkening back to the Gesamtkunstwerk spirit of the Ballets Russes era.”

The Harkness Mainstage Series' Home season explores how dance maps the shifting terrain of home, identity, and belonging, and the borders — visible and invisible — that shape us.

92NY Harkness Dance Center recognizes the ongoing generosity of The Harkness Foundation for Dance. Major funding is provided by Jody and John Arnhold | Arnhold Foundation; and The New York Community Trust. Additional support is provided by The Howard Gilman Foundation; The Mertz Gilmore Foundation; The Henry and Lucy Moses Fund, Inc.; The Jerome Robbins Foundation; SHS Foundation; Barbara J. Sinclair; and an anonymous donor.

About The 92nd Street Y, New York: