WEAVE to Make NYC Debut in five two dance company's 5th Anniversary
The women-led collective will showcase Robert Rubama's commissioned work alongside an expanded restaging of the company's first piece, featuring a new score by Andrei Ere
five two dance company will celebrate its 5th Anniversary Season with two works at Gibney: Agnes Varis Performing Arts Center in Manhattan on October 15 and 16 at 7:30 p.m. The program will feature the NYC premiere of Weave, commissioned and choreographed by Robert Rubama, alongside the restaging and expansion of five two's first-ever work, If ever, featuring a new original sound score by Andrei Eremin.
A women-led dance collective founded by New York City and Philadelphia-based dance artists Olivia Passarelli and Sophie Gray-Gaillard, five two dance company, shares highly physical contemporary movement rooted in connection, collaboration, and care. The company centers dynamic partnering between people of all gender identities, exploring the fluidity of identity, connection, and relationships.
Weave marks five two's first commissioned work and is choreographed by NYC-based choreographer and performer Robert Rubama. The trio explores the relationship between the individual and the collective, with three dancers remaining intertwined throughout much of the work as they navigate shifting pathways of support, control, and surrender. The dancers move between acting independently and relying on one another, gradually discovering how to support, carry, and be carried by each other.
If ever, originally created in 2021 as five two's first work, has been reimagined and expanded into a full-length work for the company's 5th Anniversary Season. The work explores human affinity across gender, sexuality, age, and the many forms that intimate relationships can take. Through highly physical partnering, If ever investigates touch, vulnerability, comfort, strength, tension, and the ways we find connection with one another. The expanded work features a new original sound score by Philadelphia-based artist Andrei Eremin.
The performance will feature Vivianna DeSantiago, Nolan Eisenhaur, Sophie Gray-Gaillard, Rachel Ha-Eun Lee, Olivia Passarelli, and Daniel Ricardo Rocha.
'We're excited to bring these two works together for our 5th Anniversary Season,' says Co-Artistic Director Olivia Passarelli. 'If ever was the first work Sophie and I ever made together, and returning to it five years later has been a really meaningful process. At the same time, commissioning Robert for Weave has allowed us to expand the company's voice and explore about five two's movement from a different perspective. Both works are deeply rooted in connection and partnering, but they approach those ideas in very different ways.'
The 5th Anniversary Season represents both a look back at five two's beginnings and a step toward the company's future. With If ever, five two revisits and expands the work that first established its artistic language, while Weave marks a new chapter through the company's first choreographic commission.
Tickets are on sale beginning Monday, September 14.
