Baryshnikov Arts Center Announces Fall 2021 Digital Season

Baryshnikov Arts Center announces the Fall 2021 digital season of free online presentations, including four world premieres made possible by BAC Artist Commissions.

Through the initiative, established September 2020, BAC has continued supporting the development of new work by providing artists with resources to realize their creative visions for the digital stage. The offering of world premieres from three New York-based artists and one Belgian-based artist innovating in dance, music, and multimedia will include a live-streamed conversation series, to be announced.

Three special projects rounding out the digital season lineup include a co-presentation with the Merce Cunningham Trust featuring excerpts from Cunningham's Landrover (1972) and world premieres from Kyle Abraham and Liz Gerring; an exclusive screening of two dance solos created and performed by Swedish choreographer Mats Ek and dancer Ana Laguna; and a dance-theater work by Israeli choreographer and BAC Resident Artist alumna Ella Rothschild.

All programs, released on Mondays at 5pm EST, will be free and available to watch on demand at bacnyc.org for up to two weeks.

On September 20, a co-presentation with the Merce Cunningham Trust launches the new season. In Conversation with Merce-filmed at BAC's John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio-features a suite of solos and duets from Cunningham's Landrover. The program, streaming until September 30, also includes two world premieres co-commissioned by BAC and the Trust, which were created in response to the 1972 work: a playful duet from Kyle Abraham and a duet from Liz Gerring considering landscape and scale.

Next, October 4 - 14, BAC premieres two filmed dance solos by Mats Ek-Whilst, performed by the acclaimed Swedish choreographer himself, and My Letter, performed by dancer Ana Laguna, his artistic and life partner. The exclusive footage, filmed by the iconic pair at their country home in Northern Sweden as a means to fuel creative process during quarantine, responds to feelings of isolation brought on by the pandemic.

Streaming October 18 - November 1 is the first of four premieres this season made possible through the BAC Artist Commissions initiative. From NYC-based comedian, musician, and writer River L. Ramirez is GhostFolk, a lively New Americana variety show filmed at BAC's Rudolf Nureyev Studio, offering an anti-capitalist reclamation of their Afro-Latinx non-binary trans experience.

The second BAC Artist Commission, premiering November 1 - 15, is from Belgian-based Sooraj Subramaniam. Created during global lockdown with fellow Odissi Indian classical dancer January Low, who is based in Kuala Lumpur, Other Places of Being reveals the power of social media and technology to overcome distance and despondency.

The BAC-commissioned premieres continue November 29 - December 13 with NYC dance artist Jordan Demetrius Lloyd. Trip Gloss, filmed at BAC's Rudolf Nureyev Studio, is performed by six dancers whose movements create a textured collage of footage exploring ways live performance can transpose to the digital space.

Another offering this season, streaming December 13 - 23, is a filmed dance-theater work from Israeli choreographer Ella Rothschild, a former performer with Batsheva Dance Company. Pigulim, developed during a Fall 2019 residency in BAC's Rudolf Nureyev Studio, uses the familiar ceremony of a shared meal to explore themes of materialism and mortality.

The final BAC Artist Commission of the season extends into 2022, available January 10 - 24. NYC dance artists Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith use abstract dance as a means to break down patriarchal systems of degradation in Box, filmed at BAC's Rudolf Nureyev Studio, and offering a meditation striving toward catharsis despite deep communal grief.

A complete schedule of BAC's Fall 2021 Digital Season follows.

BARYSHNIKOV ARTS CENTER: FALL 2021 DIGITAL SEASON

In Conversation with Merce

Co-presented by the Merce Cunningham Trust

Excerpts from Merce Cunningham's Landrover (1972)

And World Premieres by Kyle Abraham and Liz Gerring

September 20 - 30 (Monday at 5PM EST until Thursday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 45 Minutes

In Conversation with Merce is a filmed presentation featuring an arrangement of solos and duets from Merce Cunningham's Landrover, and two world premieres by choreographers Kyle Abraham and Liz Gerring created in response to the 1972 work. According to Cunningham, Landrover - a large-scale ensemble piece created at his Westbeth studio in Manhattan - was inspired by "people moving in different landscapes. American perhaps in the sense that we move in our country - across varied spaces - with varied backgrounds." The Landrover excerpts, performed by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater members Chalvar Monteiro and Jacquelin Harris, and the new works by Abraham and Gerring, performed by members of their companies, were filmed August 2021 in the John Cage & Merce Cunningham Studio. The program includes interviews with the choreographers and with Merce Cunningham Trust stager Jamie Scott and trustee Patricia Lent.

Credits - Landrover (Excerpts)

Choreography: Merce Cunningham

Music: John King and Anaïs Maciel, 15/2

Costumes: After the original design by Jasper Johns

Costume Reconstruction: Reid Bartelme & Harriet Jung

Staged by: Jamie Scott

Dancers: Jacquelin Harris and Chalvar Monteiro

Landrover (1972) by Merce Cunningham (c) Merce Cunningham Trust.

Credits - World Premiere Choreographed by Liz Gerring

Composer: Michael Schumacher

Dancers: Mariah Anton and Cemiyon Barber

Rehearsal Assistant: Jamie Scott

Costumes: Reid Bartelme & Harriet Jung

Credits - World Premiere Choreographed by Kyle Abraham
Dancers: Claude "CJ" Johnson and Donovan Reed

Costumes: Reid Bartelme & Harriet Jung

Filmed by Tatyana Tenenbaum at Baryshnikov Arts Center

Mats Ek & Ana Laguna

Whilst & My Letter

World Premieres

October 4 - 14 (Monday at 5PM EST until Thursday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 50 Minutes

Whilst & My Letter, two never-before-seen solos from Swedish choreographer Mats Ek and dancer Ana Laguna, his wife, offer a personal response to feelings of isolation brought on by the global pandemic. Periods of quarantine during fall 2020 and winter 2021 spurred a heightened sense of the passage of time, fueling the legendary duo's artistic practice and leading to dance works created and filmed at their country home in Northern Sweden. The program includes a recorded conversation with the artists and dance writer Jann Parry.

Whilst (2020)

Choreographed and Performed by Mats Ek

Music by Franz Liszt

Filmed by Ana Laguna

Editing by Moment 22

My Letter (2021)

Choreographed by Mats Ek

Performed by Ana Laguna

Music by J.S. Bach

Filmed by Mats Ek

Editing by Moment 22

River L. Ramirez

GhostFolk

World Premiere commissioned by BAC

October 18 - November 1 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 20 Minutes

Queens-based comedian, musician, and writer River L. Ramirez performs a New Americana variety show offering an anti-capitalist reclamation of their Afro-Latinx non-binary trans experience. Joined by Lou Tides (bass) and Sarah Galdes (drums), Ramirez performs guitar and vocals in GhostFolk, sharing everyday stories of love, heartbreak, youth, aging, and death with a nuanced perspective of "the oppressed."

Guitar, Vocals, Performance: River L. Ramirez

Drums: Sarah Galdes

Bass and Vocals: Teeny Lieberson/Lou Tides

Consultant: Andrew Kircher

Filmed by Tatyana Tenenbaum at Baryshnikov Arts Center

Sooraj Subramaniam

Other Places of Being

World Premiere commissioned by BAC

November 1 - 15 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 25 Minutes

A digital collaboration from Belgian-based Sooraj Subramaniam and Kuala Lumpur-based January Low explores their parallel experiences of the Odissi Indian classical dance form. Created during global lockdown in an effort to overcome distance and despondency, Other Places of Being reveals the bridging power of social media and technology and the rekindling of a friendship made possible through dance.

Concept and Direction: Sooraj Subramaniam

Screenplay, Choreography, and Performance: January Low and Sooraj Subramaniam

Music Score (voice recordings, soundscape): January Low and Sooraj Subramaniam

Video Editing: Tom Decuyper and Sooraj Subramaniam

Jordan Demetrius Lloyd

Trip Gloss

World Premiere commissioned by BAC

November 29 - December 13 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 20 Minutes

Brooklyn-based dance artist Jordan Demetrius Lloyd's Trip Gloss is an experiment in translation from a 3-dimensional world to a 2-dimensional screen. Layered animation captures an amalgamation of movements by six dancers drawing from a web of inner stories and imagined fantasies. A textured collage of footage unpacks how the physical postures, tones, and intentions from live performance can transpose to the digital space.

Conception and Choreography: Jordan Demetrius Lloyd

Featuring: Quaba Ernest, Wendell Gray II, Mia Martelli, Mykel Marai Naine, José Lapaz Rodriguez, and Kennedy Thomas

Filmed at Baryshnikov Arts Center

Ella Rothschild

Pigulim

December 13 - 23 (Monday at 5PM EST until Thursday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 60 Minutes

In Israeli choreographer Ella Rothschild's filmed dance-theater work, Pigulim, a cultural narrative unfolds around themes of materialism and mortality. Characters struggling with loneliness and the search for happiness gather around a table, using the familiar ceremony of a shared meal to explore banality and fantasy, fear and desire.

Choreography: Ella Rothschild
Performers: Ariel Freedman, Adi Zlatin, and Keren Luria Pardes

Also featuring dancers of the Maslool Professional Dance Program: Noga Eliezer, Gilly Geva, Noa Gronich, Romy Duvdevani, Shani Zargari, Noam Hayoun, Noa Toledano, Omer Tichauer, Adam Ishay Eldar, Roni Morhalachmi, Lal'el Pillora, Yahav Sabag, Tal Cohen
Lighting Design: Ofer Laufer
Table and Art: Ofer Laufer
Costumes: Inbal Ben Zaken
Music: Gershon Waiserfirer
Dramaturgy: Tal Yahas
Photos: Efrat Mazor
Trailers: Roee Shalti
Directors of Maslool Professional Dance Program: Naomi Perlov, Offir Dagan

Film Producer and Director: Jonathan Mordechay

Photographer and Editor: Nir Weiss

Second Unit Photographer: Shay Farage

Editor: Ziv Karshen

Sound: Yohay Ben Zvi and Elad Goldberg

Pigulim was developed, in part, during a BAC Residency.

Molly Lieber & Eleanor Smith

Box

World Premiere commissioned by BAC

January 10 - 24 (Monday at 5PM EST until Monday at 5PM EST)

Free and available on demand at bacnyc.org

Running Time: 35 Minutes

Box is a feminist work continuing NYC-based Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith's fifteen-year choreographic partnership using abstract dance as a means to break down patriarchal systems of degradation. The artists position themselves as recognizable images of female objectification, only to deconstruct and reconstitute these forms through embodied movement and connection. Box is a meditation striving toward catharsis despite deep communal grief.

Choreographed and Performed by: Molly Lieber and Eleanor Smith

Sound Design: James Lo

Filmed by Tatyana Tenenbaum at Baryshnikov Arts Center