Mark Morris Dance Group Revives a Long Lost Work for 45th Anniversary

Some choreographic works become audience favorites, performed over and over as part of a dance company’s repertory. Others quietly wait in the wings of a company's history for the right moment and the right artists to bring them back to the stage.

As Mark Morris Dance Group closes its 45th anniversary season at The Joyce Theater with Dances to American Music this July, one of the program’s most intriguing revivals is Deck of Cards — a work that has not been performed since 2000. The piece returns after more than two decades at a fitting moment, celebrating both the company's history and America's musical traditions during the country’s 250th anniversary year. In addition to reflecting on legacies of the past, the program introduces a new generation of dancers to choreography they have never performed.

“Before we started working on [Deck of Cards], there was excitement about this less familiar piece amongst the dancers,” says Elisa Clark, rehearsal director for Mark Morris Dance Group — a position she has held since 2024. “I would say that a decision to bring a piece back like this has to do with who Mark trusts to be able to carry the story, the performance, and the execution of it.”

Dances to American Music is a three-program engagement running July 14–25 that celebrates American music through works inspired by jazz, bluegrass, country, and experimental composers. Deck of Cards in particular is comprised of three movements, with the first featuring a solo by a remote control truck operated by a dancer backstage. The second two movements are solos for company performers.

“So it’s only two performers on stage,” Clark says. “It’s a very small piece made up of these three solos.”

This is a departure from Morris’s usual choreographic style, which typically comprises group work with eye-catching patterns and lines. 

“He’s very mathematical, so if you can only afford a cheap seat at a venue, Mark's work looks fabulous from up there too because there are so many patterns in the space,” she says. “That’s a part of his gift being a dance maker. This is different because we have one person on stage at a time, so what’s important to the choreography are different things, and it requires the performers to really use their imagination.”

That’s not the only unique element of this piece — it also marks a significant milestone in the company's history. For the first time, someone other than Morris will perform the solo role he originally created for himself. That dancer is Billy Smith.

"It's always exciting to bring something back that was done so long ago," Smith says. "I feel like the style of the company and the way Mark has choreographed throughout the years has changed so much, so it’s a welcome difference from what we normally do."

Although Smith - who joined the company in 2010 - has spent 16 years dancing Morris's repertory, stepping into the choreographer's own role has proven unlike anything he's done before. He describes it as both an honor and an artistic challenge.

"The way Mark choreographs is usually very meticulous," Smith says. “Everything — every detail, every rhythm, every beat — is so fine-tuned, and our freedom is usually found in the subtlest of things within the dancing. With this solo, it's completely free.”

That new style of freedom, he admits, is "a little scary," but also "a welcome, exciting challenge.” Clark says that's exactly what makes this revival so special.

"The Mark solo has never been performed by anyone other than Mark," she says. "This will be the first time that Billy Smith has been cast in that role, which Mark was very excited about handing over and trusting him with his old part.”

Fellow longtime company dancer Dallas McMurray, who has been with the company for 20 years, steps into the role of the soldier. He is facing his own mix of excitement and challenge filling big shoes.

“There are four different people that have performed this role before,” he says, before naming four dance legends: Pat Graney, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Donald Mouton, and Michelle Yard. “Each one did it different from the other, and they each solved the problem a little bit differently. I was trying to take cues from each one and figure out how I can solve this task. Basically, it was about learning the language that I'm trying to speak, and then being able to speak it fluently, fast enough, in the amount of time that is required.”

McMurray’s role juxtaposes Smith’s by trading freedom and improvisation for mechanical stiffness and Morris’s signature meticulous detail.

“It's like the Billy solo speaks the same language, but maybe with a different accent,” he says. “And so now, I have to figure out how I can speak the same thing, but with a little bit more wooden soldier/tin soldier stiffness.”

Having danced with the company beginning in 2005 before returning two years ago as rehearsal director, Clark has seen Morris's creative process from multiple perspectives. She believes reviving a work after such a long absence requires more than simply re-staging choreography. It requires longevity with dancers like Smith and McMurray who understand how Morris thinks.

“There's something about investing repetition and investing time in the process for artists that is really the thing that allows for this kind of opportunity,” she says. “It’s through putting in time, consistency, and many different processes, seeing the range of his work, getting to know him, all of those things that I think have really allowed both Billy and Dallas to be so prepared for taking on these parts and us being able to show this work after so many years of it not being seen.”

Dances to American Music presents three programs, with the return of Deck of Cards featured in Program B: American Heartbeat. This program is anchored by The Sweetest Gift, a world premiere by Morris set to music by Hazel Dickens. Program A: Soul of America presents highlights that include Morris’s newest work, Pizzica, set to music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. Program C rounds out the 45th anniversary season celebration with the theme of American Mavericks, presenting pieces that explore the music of West Coast composers Henry Cowell and Lou Harrison.

“For me, what keeps the work interesting is that Mark never makes the same dance twice,” McMurray says. “I feel like for every single piece that you do, there is something new as a dancer to learn, to embody.”

For Clark, the company's 45th anniversary season isn’t just about looking back, but looking ahead. This is especially evident in Deck of Cards, as after 26 years, the piece is no longer a work of the past. It’s a work of the company’s future, carried forward by a new generation of artists.

“It's such an incredible honor not just to be a rehearsal director for an established company, but because we are a single choreographer company and Mark is still making work,” she says. “It's quite an accomplishment to be making dances for this number of years, and to be maintaining a company, and to be doing a New York season in this post-pandemic era for nonprofits and for dance organizations. We hope that people come and check out what it is that we're doing — newer works, older works, having a variety of programs to offer. Hopefully there is something for everyone.”

Tickets start at $25 and are available at The Joyce Theater box office and online at joyce.org.

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