COMMUNION by Sidra Bell Dance New York and Immanuel Wilkins Quartet Comes to Gibney

Gibney, the New York City based dance and social justice organization, will present COMMUNION by Sidra Bell Dance New York and Immanuel Wilkins Quartet May 16-18, 2024.  

Sidra Bell Dance New York is an internationally recognized boutique brand of prolific movement illustrators based in New York City that presents and fosters a canon of innovative and progressive dance theater programming in realms of ideas, environs and (im)possibilities.

Sidra Bell Dance New York and acclaimed saxophonist, composer, and arranger Immanuel Wilkins, are premiering COMMUNION. Bell is the inaugural artist in residence at Gibney and the work was supported by expanded residency time at the center.  The result is a pure dance display of the joy and ecstatic spontaneity created through improvisational modalities that Wilkins’ contemplative and rich composition evokes. 

COMMUNION was born out of research prompted by Bell’s navigation of disconnection, loneliness, and faithfulness. With a poetic structure that’s based on imagery, emotional structures, body design, and sensation, the work examines the current trajectory of despair and dystopia that permeates the way that we connect with our bodies through society’s apparati. How does humanity intersect and transform through struggle? We allow the viewer to see and feel through frames, ruptures, forgiving structures, wandering pathways, and fragments. Things fall apart. This piece focuses on the ascendancy of community (muscle), compromise, effortfulness, support, simplicity, and love. This elegiac experience is a series of impressions, human huddles, and hybrid forms of movement set against a wild mixture of textures, design, and sound. 

The work features lighting by resident designer Amith Chandrashaker, set design by architect Cass Calder Smith, costumes by Caitlin Taylor, and sound design by Michael Roche. Sidra Bell Dance New York’s eight-member company performs with live music by Immanuel Wilkins Quartet. 

Sidra Bell Dance New York is presented by Gibney and curated by Nigel Campbell as part of the organization’s 2023-2024 Center Season. COMMUNION is made possible with principle support from Creative Capital Wild Futures Art, Culture, Impact Award, Gibney, Gibney’s Dance in Process Residency, Danse Mirage Foundation, Tisch Summer Dance Festival Residency (NYU), Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund, ArtsWestchester, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts Emergency Grant.

Gibney’s support for Sidra Bell Dance New York includes financial, residency, administrative, and production support. 

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