Gibney Dance Presents 20th Anniv Season at Ailey Citigroup Theater 5/12-14

Celebrating 20 years of pioneering dance that encompasses a broad social dimension, Gibney Dance is pleased to present a retrospective season of updated repertory works at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, May 12-14. The program will showcase Gina Gibney's richly textured and intellectually challenging cho­reography featuring excerpts from Several Truths (2001), Time Remaining (2002), unbounded (2005), Thrown (2004), and View Partially Obstructed (2009).

Gibney Dance's Retro-ACTIVE at the Ailey Citigroup Theater will bring a new perspective to 20 years of Gibney's repertory, with four of the five pieces re-worked to include men. Curated by current company members Natsuki Arai, Andrew Avery, Courtney Drasner, Lilly Ockwell, and Joshua Palmer, all of these excerpts will feature updated costumes by longtime Gibney collaborator Naoko Nagata.

Expressing the unique humanity and physi­cality of women, Gibney's works were originally performed by her powerful, all-female ensemble until 2009. Time Remaining, described by the Cleveland Plain Dealer as "a work so intelligently conceived and smoothly woven that all theatrical elements coalesce in a seamless fabric of movement, sound, texture and color," is a meditation on and celebration of time, inspired by an image of ancient temple ruins overtaken by entangled vines. Several Truths was crafted through a reflective process in which dancers and collaborators responded to a series of questions about personal identity. Praised as "quietly startling" by the New York Times, unbounded examines the human will to connect to, struggle with, and even cling to the familiar. Thrown (2004), an exploration of our yearning for stability in the face of constant disruption and unpredictability, asks the question: "If we are constantly ‘thrown,' how do we find our equilibrium?"

Developed after welcoming back men into her company in 2009, View Partially Obstructed delves into the subjective nature of perception and our struggle to create a full view of ourselves, others and the world, despite having limited or distorted information.

Gibney Dance's Retro-ACTIVE will be presented at the Ailey Citigroup Theater from Thursday, May 12 to Saturday, May 14 at 8:00pm. Tickets are $20 and $40 and can be purchased by calling SMARTTIX at 212-868-4444 or online at www.smarttix.com The Ailey Citigroup Theater is located at The Joan Weil Center for Dance, 405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue).

About The Company:
Gibney Dance was founded in 1991 as a performing and community action dance company with the two-fold mission of creating and performing compelling, humanistic choreography, and enriching and reshaping lives through innovative community partnerships. The company has presented its work at noted venues in the U.S. and abroad including Yale Repertory Theater, L'Agora de la Danse (Montreal), Works in Process at the Guggenheim, Danspace Project, The Joyce Theater, Internationale Tanzmesse NRW, and The Bagnolet Platform (Rencontres Internationales de Seine-Saint Denis). Gibney has also used the transformative power of movement and creativity to empower women, families and youth through programs for survivors of domestic violence and HIV/AIDS.

Gibney has received commissions from The Joyce Theater Altogether Different Fund for New Works, Danspace Project (4 commissions), DanceCLEVELAND, Groundworks Dance Theater, DanceNowNYC, and the Cleveland Museum of Art, among others. Reconceived in 1997 as an all-female troupe in response to Gibney's growing concern that women in professional dance were losing artistic and financial ground, the company was named to Vanity Fair's Hall of Fame for "making art and taking action," and has been recognized by community groups such as Sanctuary for Families, Safe Horizon and The Retreat (First Annual Inspiration Award). Gibney graduated summa cum laude and received an M.F.A. in Dance from Case Western Reserve University.

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