Previews: ARCADIA at Kelly-Strayhorn Theater

Maria Caruso’s Bodiography returns to Pittsburgh’s Kelly-Strayhorn Theater this weekend, April 17-19, 2026, for Arcadia, a mixed repertory program of past company favorites and new works, all choreographed by company Founding Director Maria Caruso, including the world premiere of the program’s namesake ballet.

Approaching its 25th-anniversary season, Bodiography, under the leadership of Caruso and Artistic Director Lauren Suflita Skrabalak, has remained a steadfast presence on Pittsburgh's dance scene. Arcadia introduces the company’s newest crop of dancers, including Johns Hopkins Peabody Institute graduate and principal dancer Marie-Amelle Thenoz, to some of the company’s classic repertoire while they and the new works help to define Bodiography today. 

The program’s first half begins with a reprise of 2008’s “Journey,” a trio danced to a recording of Kronos Quartet performing Philip Glass’s music. With sharp, musical contemporary ballet choreography, the trio has been called “Caruso at her creative best.”

Next, two more ballets venture down memory lane with 2006’s “Timeless,” a deeply personal and intricate pas de deux inspired by Caruso’s parents’ complicated relationship and love story danced to music by Stevie Nicks, and 2020’s 4-minute, Bob Fosse-esque chapeau-inspired duet “Under the Hat,” set to music by Florida duo, Midnight Mystery Club.

The program’s other world premiere, “Sisters of the Sword,” follows. The 8-minute pointe duet about female empowerment is danced to driving music by French music video director, graphic designer, and singer-songwriter Yoann Lemoine, known professionally as Woodkid.  

“In this duet, I wanted two women costumed in leather corsets to command the stage with ferocity,” says Caruso.

The program’s second half will feature the world premiere of its namesake ballet, “Arcadia.” The follow-up to 2024’s well-received “Evensong,” an exploration of transformation, human connection, and the cyclical nature of life from birth to death, “Arcadia,” picks up where “Evensong” leaves off and contemplates the belief in an afterlife.

A short film recapping “Evensong” will lead the audience into “Arcadia.” Like “Evensong,” this new 38-minute contemporary ballet is set to an original score by New York-based ambient chamber Music Composer Kevin Keller.   

While the ballet’s title often symbolizes paradise or utopia, Caruso, rather than taking an ethereal approach to depicting a possible utopian afterlife, has adopted a more corporeal, humanistic one. 

“I am looking at the afterlife as being a rebirth,” says Caruso. “In the ballet, a group of spirits that are somewhat child-like, inexperienced, and uncertain of their relationship to one another, come together in an unfamiliar place. They learn together and eventually build a community among themselves.” 

To help flesh out the ballet’s theme and movement, Caruso enlisted 11 Pittsburgh-area surgeons to share their perspectives on death and an afterlife. 

“I felt that because of their jobs dealing with life and death, the surgeons could offer a unique perspective on the ballet’s subject matter,” says Caruso.  

During the ballet’s creative process, Caruso matched the surgeons with Bodigography dancers in six groups and prompted them with questions such as what they imagined the afterlife to be like and how they experienced the thought of a loved one who had passed on. Movement phrases were then developed from those sessions that each of “Arcadia’s” cast of six dancers will embody onstage in the ballet. 

If “Arcadia” shares a similar acclaim to “Eversong,” audiences will be in for a real treat.

Maria Caruso’s Bodiography presents Arcadia, 7 p.m., Friday and Saturday, April 17 & 18, and 1 p.m. on Sunday, April 19, 2026. Kelly Strayhorn Theater, 5941 Penn Ave, Pittsburgh, PA. Tickets are $40 for General Admission and $20 for Students and Seniors, and are available at kelly-strayhorn.org/events/bodiographyarcadia.